Tag Archives: Trina Solar

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Did First Solar Just Upend the Solar Industry?

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By Travis Hoium, The Motley Fool

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When First Solar announced the acquisition of TetraSun yesterday it really announced a fundamental shift in the company’s strategy. It isn’t giving up on thin film, not yet, but it is laying the groundwork for a future without its familiar CdTe panels. TetraSun is an investment in crystalline silicon solar cells that First Solar has been fighting against for over a decade. Silicon has won the battle, and now even First Solar will join the crowd.

The claims of TetraSun
First Solar says it is buying technology that will allow it to make panels that are more efficient and cheaper than competitors. So, is that claim really true? There are a lot of unknowns.

The press release from First Solar claims that TetraSun can make 21% efficient cells at costs similar to those of conventional multicrystalline silicon solar cells. If we use Trina Solar as the proxy, that means manufacturing costs of about $0.64 per watt.

The challenge is that TetraSun’s cost structure and manufacturing process are only hypothetical; at least on the scale First Solar needs to operate on. There’s no evidence that any significant manufacturing exists and First Solar is entering uncharted territory. It has no expertise with silicon and there have been plenty of new solar technologies that never lived up expectations. Evergreen Solar was supposed to have a better process for making silicon cells, amorphous silicon had high hopes, so did CIGS, and who can forget Solyndra.

But let’s assume that First Solar has a winner on its hands and TetraSun can produce 21% efficient cells at $0.60-$0.65 per watt. So what?

Another record in solar
We’ve been hearing about solar efficiency records for years. Yingli Green Energy said that its Panda cells reached 19.89% efficiency way back in 2011. Trina Solar‘s Honey technology can reach 19.6% efficiency. Then there’s the efficiency leader, SunPower , whose Maxeon cells can be 24% efficient, creating a 21.5% efficient production module.

The first thing to keep in mind with First Solar‘s claims is that cell efficiency and module efficiency are two different things, so let’s not jump to First Solar creating a 21% efficient module just yet. Even if TetraSun’s claims are true, a module would only be 18%-19% efficient, which isn’t off the charts against today’s competition.

 

Top Cell Efficiency

Top Module Efficiency

SunPower X-Series

24.0% 

21.5%

First Solar TetraSun

21.0%

~18.0%-19.0%

Trina Solar Honey

19.6%

17.4% 

Yingli Green Energy PANDA

19.9% 

16.5% 

Trina Solar Multicrystalline

n/a

16.0%

Yingli Multicrystalline

n/a

16.2% 

First Solar CdTe Panel

18.7% 

12.9%

Source: Company press releases and product datasheets.

The top cell and module efficiencies I’ve highlighted above also don’t account for a majority of sales at solar manufacturers. The multicrystalline lines from Trina and Yingli would be closer to an average efficiency of around

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Dow Keeps On Keeping On

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By Jeremy Bowman, The Motley Fool

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit yet another record high today, as stocks had a late-day run for the second session in a row today. The buying activity seems to indicate increased optimism about earnings season as the blue chips finished at 14.673, up 60 points or 0.4%, momentarily climbing above 14,700. Investors have now had a two-day breather from any significant economic reports or macroeconomic events, and stocks have made solid gains both days. Despite the continuing bull run, however, there have been 4.7 times as many negative pre-announcements as positive ones, the worst proportion since 2001, according to Thomson Reuters, indicating that there may be reason to fear earnings season.

Tech stocks led the Dow today, as Microsoft and Intel both moved up more than 3%. The Windows maker joined a group of tech companies including Oracle and Nokia filing a complaint against Google in the European Union, which accused the search giant of anti-competitive behavior in its Android strategy. One of the group’s lawyers called Android “a Trojan horse used to deceive partners, monopolize the mobile marketplace, and control consumer data.” Google has become a major rival of Microsoft’s in recent years, as Google vies for dominance in software with its Chrome Internet browser and Google Docs office products. Microsoft, on the other hand, has challenged Google’s search leadership with Bing and is also gunning for a piece of the smartphone and tablet market.

Intel, meanwhile, finished up 3.1% after it unveiled its new Thunderbolt interface technology yesterday, which runs at twice the speed of the previous model. The top chipmaker also said that it had begun shipping samples of a system-in-a-chip, known as “Avoton,” to Hewlett-Packard to be used in its new Moonshot servers. HP also finished the day up 1.5%.

One other sector flying high today was solar as First Solar jumped 46% after acquiring TetraSun, a Silicon Valley start-up, and providing an outlook way above Wall Street‘s estimates. The TetraSun acquisition, for an undisclosed amount, gives First Solar access to the higher-efficiency solar-panel market that its own panels are not suited for. The company also estimated EPS for the year to come in between $4 and $4.50, while Wall Street had projected just $3.51. The rally led other solar stocks up as well, as Yingli Green Energy finished up 21% and Trina Solar gained 15%.

On the other side of the spectrum, J.C. Penney dropped 12% as investors reacted to Ron Johnson‘s dismissal and replacement with Mike Ullman, the retailer’s former CEO. Johnson’s termination marks the end of a misadventure that included a new shops-within-the-shop strategy as well as the elimination of discounts that caused sales to drop by more than 25% last year. First-quarter same-store sales are also down 10% at Penney so far, according to The Wall Street Journal, indicating that the pain is far from over. What Mike Ullman‘s plans for the department-store …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

First Solar Outlook Pushes Entire Solar Industry Higher

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By Travis Hoium, The Motley Fool

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Maybe solar demand will be far better than we expected in the first half of 2013. That’s the thesis today after First Solar released a higher than expected full-year financial target.

At a conference today, First Solar said it expects 2013 sales to be between $3.8 billion and $4.0 billion, with earnings per share of $4.00-$4.50. That’s well above the $3.15 billion in sales and $3.46 per share earnings analysts had expected. When the numbers were announced, First Solar‘s shares shot higher and are up a whopping 48% at the time of this writing. 

Drawing wild conclusions
These numbers are outstanding and they’ve pushed the entire industry higher today. Yingli Green Energy is up 19% today, Trina Solar has jumped 12%, and LDK Solar is up 26% on hope that this will increase sales. Yingli and LDK, in particular, are two of the most highly leveraged companies in solar — the market is drawing the conclusion that higher sales at First Solar will be good for both, potentially leading to a profit later this year.

But let’s look closer at what First Solar had to say. Of the $3.8 billion-$4.0 billion in sales, $3.6 billion is expected to be in the systems business, a business Yingli, LDK, Trina, and most other Chinese manufacturers have little exposure to, especially outside of China. I don’t think we can draw the conclusion that a good year for First Solar will lead to a good quarter for Chinese solar because they have different businesses.

The real good news for First Solar
If you’re a First Solar investor then the improved guidance is good, but there’s even bigger news on the technology front. The company announced that it’s buying TetraSun, a PV start-up which has developed a cell architecture that can generate efficiencies exceeding 21% without the added cost that normally comes with high-efficiency modules. This is a direct shot at Chinese module makers like Yingli, LDK, and Trina Solar who have been able to take share because of low cost structures.  

What these companies don’t do well is research new technologies to increase efficiency. That usually falls on equipment makers like GT Advanced Technologies , who provide the equipment to make solar cells. But First Solar will now be boosting its efficiency capabilities, but SunPower is already well ahead with 21.5% efficient modules.

First Solar plans to launch this technology in the second half of 2014 and I’m sure we’ll hear more details about it when first-quarter earnings are released.

First Solar changes the game
It appears that First Solar will stick with the low-cost CdTe panels, which also got an efficiency boost today, in the utility-scale business, and use TetraSun to get into commercial and residential solar. First Solar has very little exposure to these two growing markets, which has investors concerned about reliance on giant utility-scale projects.

This is a huge catalyst for First Solar that could drive …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

China Continues to Give Away Solar

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By Travis Hoium, The Motley Fool

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Suntech Power isn’t the only solar company in China struggling to pay its bills. Across the board, companies are struggling with huge losses, stoked by excess supply in the industry.

In the U.S., many of these companies would have failed by now, but China funds solar companies through state-run banks such as the China Development Bank. Just last week, ReneSola, which has $902 million in debt and had a gross margin of just 3.3% last quarter, signed another $50.9 million loan agreement with the bank.

This free flow of money has nearly every Chinese solar manufacturer giving away solar panels.

Another bad quarter
Today’s news comes from JA Solar , one of the largest manufacturers in the world. The company shipped 500 MW of solar products in the fourth quarter but managed just $263.2 million in revenue and had a negative-4.6% gross margin. On the bottom line, the company lost $102.4 million, or $2.65 per share, almost as much as the entire company is worth.  

JA Solar shipped 80 MW more product than it anticipated, but even higher shipments couldn’t bring the company close to a profit. If you have to give away solar product at 4.6% below cost, even when you’re running close to capacity, there must be something wrong.

Hanwha SolarOne also recently announced a bad quarter. Shipments were 198.9 MW and revenue was $134.3 million, but the company had a negative 31.3% gross margin and lost $104.4 million, or $1.24 per share. In this case, that’s more than the entire company is worth.  

These aren’t unusual results in the Chinese solar market. Trina Solar and Yingli Green Energy , two more of the world’s largest solar manufacturers, also reported low-single-digit gross margins for the fourth quarter, despite strong shipments. The only hope is that all of this will lead to long-term profits as the solar market grows.

A means to an end — sort of
The goal for China is to basically starve everyone else out of the market. It’s worked in a way. Q.Cells, Energy Conversion Devices, Solyndra, and many others have gone bankrupt trying to compete against subsidized Chinese companies.

The U.S. and Europe are fighting back with tariffs on Chinese solar products, with some success. Companies have had to rely on China for more of their sales recently, and they’re having a hard time charging reasonable prices in the U.S. and Europe. But can companies survive long enough for supply and demand to get back into balance? And will they still be relevant by the time they do?

Fighting against the grain
The problem with China‘s strategy is that they’ve invested so much in technology that will eventually become obsolete. GT Advanced Technologies is constantly improving the efficiency and cost effectiveness of equipment it supplies to solar manufacturers. This summer, the company should be releasing a new HiCz product that brings efficiency to a …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

3 Stocks Worse Than the Dow

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By Rich Duprey, The Motley Fool

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So the markets decided the Cyprus bailout plan wasn’t a good thing. It certainly didn’t help that Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, said the Cyprus plan was a “template” for future bailouts, too. Oh, sure, he tried to walk back that statement, but you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube once it’s been squeezed out, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 64 points as a result.

The following three stocks got squeezed for different reasons, but don’t go running over the cliff with them like a bunch of lemmings just yet: This could just be a temporary situation. Let’s first see whether they had good reason to fall, as panic-fueled routs can sometimes lead to excellent buying opportunities.

Company

% Change

Trina Solar

(10.8%)

VirnetX Holding

(10%)

USG

(8.5%)

A dim future
It wasn’t just Trina Solar that collapsed yesterday, but Chinese solar stocks in general tumbled as JA Solar reported losses for the quarter that exceeded analyst expectations. Panel prices continue to fall, leading revenues to plunge 13% and the solar shop to idle capacity.

With Suntech Power’s subsidiary in bankruptcy, the worsening outlook for the industry dragged down Trina and Yingli Green Energy, which fell almost 10% itself yesterday. JA Solar was down 11% as well.

As the Fool’s Travis Hoium pointed out, it doesn’t matter that JA sold greater volumes of panels, because they’re being sold at such a discount it’s actually losing money on every panel that goes out the door. There’s only so long a company can do that, and considering this was the panel maker’s seventh straight quarter of recording losses, there’s plenty of reason to think Suntech won’t be alone for long.

Finger in the dike
Following the split-decision ruling in VirnetX’s patent infringement case against Cisco — the patents were ruled valid, but the equipment maker didn’t infringe on them — the Internet security specialist tumbled again yesterday as rumors swirled that Apple would appeal its decision. In December, a court ruled that Apple infringed on the same patents Cisco was cleared of violating and was ordered to pay $368 million.

Before the Cisco decision, VirnetX had cobbled together a string of victories that began a few years back with a $200 million decision over MicrosoftBut the singular loss has created a crisis of confidence that the wall will crack and the patent dam will crumble. The stock has lost more than 40% of its value in the past two weeks, and there’s nothing on the horizon at the moment that points to a turnaround.

A bitter pill to swallow 
Building-products supplier USG was pushed into bankruptcy protection in 2001 after it was beset with numerous lawsuits over asbestos claims and emerged in 2006 after making a final $3.1 billion payment to a trust set up for those claiming to …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Only One of These Stocks Won't Be a Winner

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By Rich Duprey, The Motley Fool

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Ten days and counting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added to its string of consecutive days moving higher, notching another 83-point gain to close above 14,500 for the first time ever. Jobless claims came in lower than anticipated yesterday and a bunch more economic data is due out today so we could see the index extend its winning streak to yet another day.

These three stocks had nothing to celebrate, however. But don’t go running over the cliff with them like a bunch of lemmings just yet — this could just be a temporary situation. Let’s first see whether they had good reason to fall as panic-fueled routs can sometimes lead to excellent buying opportunities.

Company

% Change

VirnetX

(27.8%)

LDK Solar

(10.1%)

Navidea Biopharmaceuticals

(7.9%)

That’s nuts
Proving it doesn’t matter if you win the battle only to lose the war, VirnetX announced its patents were validated by a jury, but it nevertheless lost its patent infringement case against Cisco because the jury says it didn’t violate them.

VirnetX claims to essentially owns the rights to the entire family of 4G and LTE security standards and has enjoyed a string of victories over industry behemoths such as Microsoft and Apple, the latter of which got socked with a $368 million penalty because its FaceTime software violated VirnetX’s patents. Those are the same ones that Cisco was accused of infringing upon.

But this time the jury ruled that, although VirnetX’s patents are valid over the prior art claims Cisco advanced, the network equipment maker’s routers that run virtual private networks didn’t violate them. Seems a bit of a head scratcher in reasoning, but VirnetX says it’s still going to assert its patents and license the technology and, besides, the Apple decision remains unaffected.

While disappointing certainly, the market‘s reaction seems a bit overblown. After a string of wins, one loss should hardly cause the elimination of more than a quarter of VirnetX’s market cap.

Lights out
With Suntech Power teetering on the brink of bankruptcy because the Chinese government won’t bail it out, the prospects for other solar shops surviving are diminishing as well. LDK Solar suffered a loss on the market yesterday second only to Suntech’s because it could soon be in the same financial crisis as its peer.

Suntech is expected to be pushed into default today over missed bond payments and LDK could face a similar situation next year. The Chinese government has suggested consolidation is needed in the industry and its decision to let Suntech go under rather than throw good money after bad is the first tangible evidence that it was serious.

But other solar shops might face more dire circumstances sooner than LDK, as the Fool’s Travis Hoium points out JA Solar has bonds due in May and Trina Solar follows in July. Not every solar company is on the brink of folding financially, of course, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Chinese Solar: First Bond Default Likely Tomorrow

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By Travis Hoium, The Motley Fool

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We’re mere hours away from the likely default of one of the largest solar manufacturers in the world: Suntech Power . The latest news reports have bondholders forcing the company into an involuntary bankruptcy tomorrow if the company doesn’t pay back $541 million in bonds. If that takes place it would be the first default for a bond issued by a company from mainland China.  

The likely default has implications for Suntech as well as many other companies in the solar industry.

What happens to Suntech?
In all likelihood, Suntech will go into some sort of default tomorrow. It’s likely that stockholders will be wiped out and bondholders will be heading to court to try and retrieve some assets. But it’s possible the company will survive in some form.

What we know for sure is that the central government or state-run banks won’t be running to Suntech’s rescue. If that were to happen it would have been done by now. Rumors are that the local Wuxi government will use its multi-billion dollar fund to bailout local manufacturing for Suntech. As I’ve said before, China‘s government is more concerned with employment than losing money, which is why local governments have helped LDK Solar and it looks like Suntech is next.

If the company does continue making panels it will be interesting to see how customers respond to a company that was losing loads of money, was mismanaged, and now had to be bailed out by a local government. If Suntech’s finances were bad as a well-known public company, then I would hate to see how much it loses under government control.

What about the rest of Chinese solar?
The real fun begins when we think about the future of the giant Chinese solar industry. China‘s new government has said that consolidation in solar is necessary and it will allow companies to combine or fail but this is the first indication that they’ll actually let that happen. Even in the past few weeks investors thought a white knight would arrive to save Suntech.

This has huge implications across the industry because Chinese solar manufacturers have billions of debt that they can’t possibly refinance on the open market or fund with money-losing operations. JA Solar  has convertible bonds due in May, Trina Solar has convertible bonds due in July of this year, and LDK Solar has bonds due in February of next year. Each of these companies could potentially face the same challenges Suntech has had to face this week.

For those of you who have followed my solar coverage on Fool.com over the past year, you know I’ve said over and over again that highly indebted Chinese solar companies are incredibly risky and worth avoiding at all cost. If you must play in Chinese solar, do it with a less leveraged company like JinkoSolar , which is at least less likely to default in the next six months. Personally, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Suntech Power on the Brink of Bankruptcy?

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By Travis Hoium, The Motley Fool

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Suntech Power is in a pickle that could lead to consequences as severe as an involuntary bankruptcy. On Monday, the company announced a forbearance agreement with lenders, essentially holding off payment on $541 million of bonds due on Friday. As more reports have emerged, it appears the forbearance agreement was only with 60% of bondholders and the other 40% want nothing to do with it.

Right now, it appears Suntech has no interest in paying bondholders on Friday and there’s now speculation this could lead to lawsuits and even an involuntary bankruptcy. Bloomberg interviewed a hedge fund manager who said that the fund sees it as worthwhile to pursue a lawsuit if they aren’t paid on Friday. But statements from law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP were even more telling. Bloomberg quotes partner James Millar as saying: “Every piece of information that I’ve looked at suggests that they will default on Friday.” That’s telling no matter what side you are on.  

What is interesting with this debate is that the company could have converted bonds into stock if it would have alerted bondholders three days prior to maturity, which was yesterday. Since it didn’t, it appears that the company will be forced to pay cash or wind up in court.  

Implications across solar
Suntech is the news of the day but this has much wider impact on the solar industry than just one company. China‘s state-run banks haven’t come to the rescue of Suntech even though it has billions of dollars of debt outstanding with them. China may finally be willing to let a few companies fail.

This is bad news for Yingli Green Energy and LDK Solar , in particular. Yingli has $2 billion of net debt, and at last count LDK Solar had $3.3 billion of net debt, both unsustainable in any normal business environment. Will the government let them fail as well, taking multiple gigawatts out of the industry’s overcapacity? Many companies hope so.

A Suntech failure would be good for everyone else
If Suntech goes down it would really be good for everyone else in the industry. Solar is oversupplied right now and Suntech would take 2 GW of that supply off the market. I think U.S. solar companies would benefit the most but there would be winners in China as well.

JA Solar and Jinko Solar have two of the better balance sheets, and they could pick up some of the slack. Trina Solar would also be able to fill in, and with a bigger brand name than JA or Jinko it could experience expanding margins.

Foolish bottom line
This is exactly what the solar industry needs, even if solar stocks aren’t reacting that way today. Keep an eye on Suntech’s developments over the next few days to see if it evades this somehow, or if bondholders try to …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Here's Why You Shouldn't Abandon This Solar Equipment Stock… Yet

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By Steve Symington, The Motley Fool

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No matter how the bulls try to spin it, GT Advanced Technologies‘ fourth-quarter and full-year 2012 earnings were ugly, plain and simple.

The numbers
For the quarter, revenue fell 33% from the year-ago period to $102.3 million, helping GTAT achieve an eye-popping net loss of $159.4 million.

Of course, it’s important to note those scary numbers incorporate nearly $162 million in one-time charges, including a nearly $72 million “write down of inventory and related charges” due to prevailing poor photovoltaic (PV) market conditions, $57 million “related to the impairment of goodwill related to the PV business,” and a $2.5 million hit from “certain sapphire materials assets acquired with the acquisition of the business which are now obsolete.” Ouch!

If we put these big charges aside, however, GTAT actually managed a slightly more respectable adjusted net loss of just $18.1 million. Interestingly enough, the folks at GTAT weren’t surprised in the least, with CEO Tom Gutierrez asserting:

Our Q4 results came in largely as expected as we continue to face challenging conditions in the solar and LED markets. We have taken steps to resize the business and manage our balance sheet and believe 2013 will be a year during which we continue to strengthen our foundation and further diversify the business.

As fellow fool Travis Hoium pointed out last week, while solar specialists including LDK Solar , Trina Solar , and Yingli Green Energy have historically been some of GTAT’s largest solar equipment buyers in the past, few are currently in the financial position to make additional investments in the company’s latest HiCz technology. Indeed, as the solar industry has continued to crumble over the last two years, shares of LDK, Trina, and Yingli have fallen 78%, 77%, and 87%, respectively.

What’s more, even GTAT’s customers who do have cash to purchase new equipment have been kept on the sidelines as the result of unresolved international trade tensions in the solar sector. Even still, Guiterrez also mentioned during the conference call he sees evidence that their “largest customers’ access to government and commercial capital is likely to improve over the next several quarters.” Considering HiCz will help the likes of LDK, Trina, and Yingli even further decrease the cost and increase overall efficiency of solar cells going forward, its a safe bet GTAT remains nicely positioned to profit when market conditions finally improve.

For now, however, with the current oversupply helping to extend the deterioration of GTAT’s core business, its shares currently trade hands more than 80% below the all-time high mark set less than two years ago. It’s reassuring, then, that the folks at GTAT have no delusions that market conditions will improve in the near future. As a result, the company plans to delay any significant expenditures related to market introduction of their HiCz product until 2014, at which time they believe market demand will finally drive adoption.

The potential
For its part, GTAT still isn’t content to rest on its …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Elon Musk's SolarCity Is Electrifying the Energy Industry

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By Tamara Rutter, The Motley Fool

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SolarCity   hit the public market in December, with an initial public offering price of $8 per share. The stock charged ahead in its first day of trading to close at $11.79, or 47% above its initial offering price. The fun didn’t stop there. Shares continued to gain momentum in the months following its IPO. In fact, shares are up more than 55% year to date.

That’s not bad for a company backed by rocket man Elon Musk. If you remember, Musk’s electric-car company, Tesla Motors , was one of the most shorted stocks on the Nasdaq following its IPO. We’ll get back to that in a minute. First, let’s shed some light on where SolarCity is headed in 2013 and see whether this stock is worthy of your portfolio.

Seeing the light
SolarCity, which installs solar panels and helps customers finance them, is trying to survive in a market that has burned investors in the past. Of course, it hasn’t been easy for the company to gain investor confidence when the pain of past failures, such as Solyndra, is still fresh in investors’ minds.

However, SolarCity is somewhat immune to the cost pressures that have unraveled other solar energy companies before it. Unlike names such as First Solar or Trina Solar, SolarCity doesn’t manufacture the solar panels. SolarCity found its niche in leasing panels to corporate and residential customers and overseeing the financing of such installations.

Meanwhile, First Solar and Trina Solar are locked in price and efficiency wars over the panels they produce. In fact, fellow Fool Travis Hoium recently explained in depth how First Solar‘s module manufacturing business is dragging down the company. While it makes sense for a company like First Solar to transition to a solar systems-focused business, it would mean increased competition for SolarCity.

Today, SolarCity stands out as the largest installer of residential solar energy systems in the United States. Still, it hasn’t yet earned a profit. The company just reported a wider-than-expected loss for its fourth quarter, its first as a public company.

SolarCity reported a net loss of $1.10 per share on revenue of $28 million for the period, because of increased operating costs. Analysts on average had estimated a per share loss of $0.54, according to Reuters.

But despite the disappointing earnings, SolarCity has one thing its solar peers don’t: The company’s chairman is billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Keeping it in the family
As far as betting on green tech goes, Musk is laughing all the way to the bank. The SpaceX and Tesla Motors CEO nearly bankrupted himself getting these companies to where they are today. However, Musk is now the majority shareholder in two of clean tech’s most promising companies: Tesla and SolarCity.

Musk had a big hand in developing the business model for SolarCity. His cousins later founded the company in 2006 and have retained control of SolarCity throughout its public debut: …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Solar Stocks Get a Jolt (TSL, STP, SPWR, FSLR)

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By 24/7 Wall St.

Solar rooftop installation

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Analysts at Raymond James raised their ratings on several solar stocks, saying that the risk of owning these stocks is now in balance with the potential reward. The four stocks included in the upgrade from Underperform to Market Perform are Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL), Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP), SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) and First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR).

These stocks have had a decent bounce since the beginning of the year, with SunPower getting the biggest jolt, up more than 138% at its peak in mid-February. Since then, shares have pulled back to a still-respectable year-to-date gain of 121%.

First Solar peaked in at the same time, up about 17% and has since moved steadily down to a year-to-date loss of more than 13%.

Trina Solar peaked in early January, up about 34%, and has trailed downward ever since to lose of about 3%.

And Suntech also peaked in early January, up about 22% and now down about 22%. Suntech has some unique problems, which we covered earlier today.

All except Trina Solar are already trading above their consensus price targets, even with the steep declines since the first of the year. None is a buy-and-hold candidate.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Alternative Energy, Analyst Calls, Green Biz, Technology Companies Tagged: FSLR, SPWR, STP, TSL

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance