PhillyInc

Ocean Power Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: OPTT), of Pennington, N.J. (just north of Trenton), has seen its shares plunge more than 20 percent since its U.S. initial public offering in April. Time for some incentives to get through rough waters? Ocean Power, which among other things makes a proprietary PowerBuoy system to generate power from ocean waves, said in an SEC filing today that it recently gave chief executive officer and founder George W. Taylor options on 50,000 shares. Half of the grant is exercisable this year, with the remainder maturing in 2008. Though the stock has languished (it also trades on the London Stock Exchange) Wall Street hasn't given up hope. Thomson Financial says at least three analysts who follow the stock say they expect, on average, that it will rise over the next 12 months. The company's shares did get a boost from last week's announcement of a $1.7 million contract with the U.S. Navy. But skeptics abound. Writing on the Motley Fool Web site, Jack Uldrich argued that Ocean Power's prospects are bleak.

"Like every other alternative energy source to date, it [ocean energy] is also still reliant on government subsidies to compete with more traditional forms of energy. ... In my opinion, relying on the whims of bureaucrats and politicians is never a good thing."

- Jonathan Berr