If you are looking for new stock picks to add to your investment portfolio, James Altucher's Stockpickr.com site is full of interesting model portfolios that follow certain themes. For example, there are model portfolios on the site that invest only in fast-growing biotech stocks or model portfolios that mimic the investments of well-known public figures.

In a guest article for TheStreet.com, James Altucher outlines some of the more interesting selections in the $1 billion Generation Investment Management fund launched by former vice-president Al Gore and his Goldman Sachs buddy David Blood. The fund, as might be expected, invests primarily in companies that are eco-friendly or that have cultivated a culture of ethical responsibility. Here are ten of the 20 picks in Al Gore's portfolio:

(1) Blackbaud (ticker: BLKB), a company that specializes in financial software for charities;

(2) Johnson Controls (ticker: JCI), an auto parts and services company that is building a niche industry by making parts for hybrid-electric vehicles;

(3) General Electric (ticker: GE), which has launched a well-regarded EcoMagination initiative;

(4) Autodesk (ticker: ADSK), a company that offers eco-friendly design software;

(5) Techne (ticker: TECH), which helps manufacture biotech products;

(6) Whole Foods Market (ticker: WFMI);

(7) Metabolix (ticker: MBLX), a biotech company that develops and focuses to commercialize alternatives to petrochemical-based plastics, fuels and chemicals;

(8) Waters Corp. (ticker: WAT), an analytical instrument manufacturer;

(9) Laboratory Corp. (ticker: LH), an independent clinical laboratory company;

(10) VCA Antech (ticker: WOOF), an animal healthcare services company.

There are certainly some interesting picks here, but I was certainly expecting a lot more emphasis on companies working directly to combat global warming - like ethanol producers, wind-power companies, and other alternative energy companies.


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[image: Al Gore via jotape85 on flickr] 

I get offended by companies or investment managers that use preening labels like ''culture of ethical responsibility''. It implies that the companies they don't favor don't have cultures that are ''ethical'' -- whatever they mean by that!

American public companies are the most ethical and financially transparent of any in the world. They don't engage in the murky self-dealing that many European or Asian companies are known for.

As a would-be leader of the nation, Al Gore ought to be celebrating American industry, not sneering at it.

Point well-taken. As a high-profile (former) politician, though, Al Gore no doubt feels that he must project a certain image.

Dominic
Editor, TradeKing Blog