How Hot Are These (Promoted) Small Cap Clean Tech or Renewable Energy Stocks? PHRL, VGPR & GARB

As we entered the final stretch of 2012, small cap clean tech or renewable energy stocks Premier Holdings Corp (PINK: PRHL), Vega Biofuels Inc (PINK: VGPR) and Garb-Oil & Power Corporation (PINK: GARB) have been getting some attention from investment newsletters thanks in part to a few paid promotions. Of course, small cap stocks in hyped sectors like clean tech and renewable energy can be risky for investors who don’t do their homework. With that in mind, here is a closer look at Premier Holdings Corp, Vega Biofuels Inc and Garb-Oil & Power Corporation to help you decide whether they are worth your attention:

Premier Holdings Corp (PINK: PRHL)Has an Interesting Lighting Concept (It Just Lacks Funds…)

Premier Holdings Corp is a Parent Holding Corporation that provides financial support and management expertise with an operating division called Energy Efficiency Experts - an energy integrator of products and services. Premier Holdings Corp also intends to acquire clean technology companies and energy efficient products and services. According to disclosures, a transaction or transactions of $6,250 has occurred to mention Premier Holdings Corp in various investment newsletters. On Friday, Premier Holdings Corp surged 38.46% to $0.180 for a market cap of $9.36 million. However, Premier Holdings Corp is still down 64% since the start of the year according to Yahoo! Finance.

What’s the Catch With Premier Holdings Corp? On Friday, Premier Holdings Corp announced that two separate pilot installations of the Active ES energy efficiency technology for high-masted lighting at two different facilities at the port of Long Beach have both posted excellent results with one installation expected to save the client over $1.4 million over 15 years while the other installation is expected to achieve savings of over $3.5 million over the next 15 years. Apparently, a LED alternative cost 700% more and promised only 40% of the light output of existing lamps. That’s exciting but what is not so exciting are Premier Holdings Corp’s financials which show limited revenues; net losses of $481k (most recent quarter), $1,182k, $452k and $3,077k for the past four quarters; and just 43k in cash to cover $713k in current liabilities as of the end of September. Nevertheless, Premier Holdings Corp does have an interesting lighting concept that makes the company worth watching – especially if they get some revenues coming in.

Vega Biofuels Inc (PINK: VGPR) Will Be Shipping Product Samples in January

Vega Biofuels is in the process of building a bio-fuels enterprise to supply utility owned pulverized coal fired power plants around the world with bio-coal. Plant will convert most forms of waste biomass, primarily timber waste into thermally treated biomass powder that is then turned into briquettes for shipment to the end user. According to disclosures, a transaction or transactions of $2,500 has occurred to mention Vega Biofuels in a couple of newsletters. On Friday, Vega Biofuels closed at $0.0007 for a market cap of $75,100. Vega Biofuels is down 95% since the start of the year and down 99.95% over the past five years according to Google Finance.

What’s the Catch With Vega Biofuels? Near the end of the week just before Christmas, Vega Biofuels announced that it will start shipping samples of torrefied pellets to European power companies for testing with the samples expected to be ready for shipping by the end of January. The press release noted that the EU is the world’s largest energy market and that European power companies have been mandated to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by the year 2020, but the continent’s biomass resources are relatively small and unable to meet the mandate. However, investors should note that financials for the first two quarters of this year are missing and for the quarter that ended at the end of September, Vega Biofuels had no revenues, a net loss of $107k and $17k in cash to cover $108k in long-term debt. So perhaps it would be better for investors to wait until Vega Biofuels has some confirmed sales of torrefied pellets before getting overly excited.

Garb-Oil & Power Corporation (PINK: GARB) Needs to Get Caught Up on Its Filings

Garb-Oil & Power Corporation was founded in 1972 by John C. Brewer who invented, patented and produced the first shredder in the world designed specifically for shredding tires. Today, Garb-Oil & Power Corporation is a pioneer in the recycling and waste industries with the new industries of Waste Rubber, Electronic Waste (E-waste) and Waste-to-Energy being areas the company is currently focusing on. According to disclosures, transactions of $2k and $15k have occurred to mention Garb-Oil & Power Corporation. On Friday, Garb-Oil & Power Corporation closed at $0.0001 for a market cap of just $234,791 but trading volume has been elevated. Garb-Oil & Power Corporation is down 87.5% since the start of the year and down 99.5% over the past five years according to Yahoo! Finance.

What’s the Catch With Garb-Oil & Power Corporation? Garb-Oil & Power Corporation has not produced any press releases since the earlier part of the month when it releases an update that noted the company plans for the first quarter of next year includes getting caught up in its public fillings (e.g. the 2011 Annual Report, all required filings for 2012 etc.) as the latest financial filing dates from the end of September 2011. Garb-Oil & Power Corporation also hopes to acquire an Ewaste company in the US (with a second acquisition planned for the second quarter), finalize an agreement for a JV for the Company's first recycling project in Nevada and break ground on its first recycling project in Italy. However and given that Garb-Oil & Power Corporation has not filed financials since 2011, investors might want to wait for them to do so to see what may lurk in them.