Solar Stocks Shine in January

By StockBaller:It's been an exciting couple of months for investors in solar companies. The market leader in the U.S., First Solar (FSLR), has absolutely crushed all expectations as it has jumped from the $20s in March and April up to the mid $40s.

Trefis submits: Suntech Power’s (NYSE:STP) sales of photovoltaic (PV) modules have increased steadily over the years as a result of various benefits and subsidies provided by governments on adopting solar energy. This combined with lower input costs led to a reduction in prices thereby increasing demand.

helios q submits:Over the next two weeks, the solar focus will be on the Q3 release of earnings for the eleven Chinese solar ADRs. The earnings rush for Q3 will start Monday of this week with Daqo New Energy (DQ) batting first. The eleven solar stocks discussed in this article are listed below:

By Trefis: Suntech Power (NYSE:STP), the leading producer of solar panels, expanded its product range in the U.S. with the launch of two high-performance solar panel products last week. The new offerings deliver higher power outputs and reduced levelized cost for customers, and reinforce Suntech’s commitment to differentiate its products on the basis of superior technology.

The Chinese solar industry has been one of the top-performing sectors over the past month, despite threats of a slowdown in the U.S. and E.U. end markets. Germany recently announced it would be lowering feed-in tariff rates by 15% next year, while a group of U.S. solar panel manufacturers recently filed a petition against the Chinese solar industry that could result in new import duties.Despite this seemingly bad news, Chinese solar stocks have rallied over the past month:

By Kevin M. O'Brien:Investing in any solar stocks right now, let alone a Chinese one, is an extremely risky investment. I have followed and traded options on Chinese solar stocks for about 5 years. There have been some ups and downs along the way, but I think that I have a reasonable idea on the ones that will survive the complete pounding they have taken recently.

Ganaxi Small Cap Movers submits: Leading hedge fund and mutual fund managers that have a long-term track record of generating high market-beating returns are severely underweight the solar energy group by a factor of six. These high alpha or guru funds number less than 100 or less than one percent of all funds, and they control almost ten percent of the U.S. equity discretionary fund assets.

Trefis submits: In addition to manufacturing and marketing of photovoltaic (PV) products, Suntech Power (NYSE:STP) provides integration services like engineering and maintenance in building solar power systems, as well as equipment automation.