A new reason to invest in clean energy stocks

They can act as a hedge against other portfolio losses, study claims.

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(Mark Hulbert, an author and longtime investment columnist, is the founder of the Hulbert Financial Digest; his Hulbert Ratings audits investment newsletter returns.)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (Callaway Climate Insights) — A new study has uncovered a compelling reason to invest in clean energy stocks that, ironically, has nothing to do with a desire to mitigate climate change.

The study’s authors found that clean energy stocks can help buffer the bear markets that the broad stock market periodically suffers. As a result, a stock portfolio that has a significant allocation to clean energy stocks will, while performing substantially the same as a broad-market index fund over the longer term, nevertheless be less volatile. That’s a winning combination.