Four St. Louis companies saw their stocks double in value during 2007, and three of them have to give some  credit to the alternative-energy craze. MEMC Electronic Materials, up 126 percent, is considered a solar-energy play because its silicon wafers are used in solar cells. Zoltek, up 118 percent, is a wind-energy speculation because its carbon-fiber composites are used to make windmill blades. And the ethanol craze boosted sales of Monsanto’s seed corn, helping push the stock price up 113 percent this year. The other local double, Express Scripts, does have some energy-efficient features at its new headquarters, but I don’t think that’s the explanation for its 104 percent stock-price  rise.

If alternative energy was hot this year, shoes were not. Three St. Louis companies saw their shares lose at least half of their value, and two of those are shoe sellers. Bakers Footwear, down 75 percent, had the biggest decline, followed by Charter Communications, down 62 percent, and Brown Shoe, down 52 percent.

Bloomberg’s index of 51 St. Louis stocks ended the year with a 6.1 percent gain, compared with a 3.5 percent rise in the Standard & Poor’s 500.