Crisis Investing: This Sector Is an Unexpected Winner

Amanda Heckman|February 26, 2022

If Manward had a theme this week, it was “crisis investing.”

As the world waited for the next move between Russia and Ukraine, we looked at the storm from a few unique perspectives.

The markets, after all, have been volatile as the “will they or won’t they” has played out over the past few weeks.

We told you about a few places to park your money. Some for safety… and some for speculation.

We pointed to safe, boring insurance stocks… the opportunity in crypto… and the big play on oil.

But as this crisis begins its next chapter, there’s another sector that’s a surprising winner…

Going Up

In his video call to paid Venture Fortunes subscribers this week, Andy sought to calm any nervous investors out there.

He said, “Russia’s not a good situation, but we’ve got to do what we do as investors and find a good opportunity.”

All it takes is a look at the commodities sector.

Russia is the world’s third-largest oil producer. It’s the second-largest natural gas producer. It sends its output to Asia, China and much of Europe.

As Andy told subscribers, “If that goes offline, what is coming out of the United States and South America and the rest of the world will suddenly get a higher bid. Demand and prices are going up.”

Oil should go over the triple-digit mark within the next 48 hours, he said.

Andy was quickly proved right. Fears over supply shutdowns and sanctions pushed the price of oil past $100 per barrel on Thursday for the first time since 2014.

This jump means U.S. energy producers are in for a nice boost, and it has helped push another sector into the green…

Renewed Interest

Concerns over commodities prices and shortages sent clean energy stocks soaring.

Europe is dependent on Russia for its energy needs. With Russia now the worst neighbor on the block, it’s clear that needs to change.

That means there could be a far more urgent push into clean energy.

Per Bloomberg, “European lawmakers may take steps to reduce the region’s dependence on Russian gas… [and] renewables could offer the fastest path for cutting gas use from the electricity industry.”

Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank, also weighed in. He said Europe will see “faster diversification away from Russian oil and gas, more spending on renewables.”

Smart investors took notice.

The European Renewable Energy Index (ERIX) rose nearly 10% on Thursday, its biggest jump since the pandemic lows of March 2020.

The Invesco Solar ETF (TAN) and the iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (ICLN) both ended the day up nearly 10% as well.

But individual clean energy stocks performed even better. Especially solar stocks. Sunrun (RUN) soared 22%. It’s the biggest residential solar company in the U.S.

It had good company. Sunnova Energy International (NOVA) leapt 18%. SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG) went up 15%.

The fallout from Russia’s attack could bring big changes to how Europe meets its energy needs. And that means big profits for investors who aren’t afraid to keep their eyes open during a crisis.