First Solar (FSLR) Shining as OPEC Plans Another Production Cut


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December 17, 2008 2:57 PM EST

Shares of First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) are trading substantially higher today despite no company-specific news. The stock is currently up 11.75% to $141.28. Notably, First Solar's stock price is up more than 66% since November 20, when the stock hit a new 52-week low at $85.28.

The stock -- and the entire solar sector -- may be seeing upside today on the back of comments out of OPEC that it will cut daily oil production by an unprecedented 2.2 million barrels a day. With crude plummeting from all-time highs over the last few months, OPEC is beginning to look desperately for ways to control the price of a barrel of crude oil. Today's announced cut will be the largest reduction in production in OPEC's history.

Despite the clearly bullish news, crude oil is down nearly 4% today, once again approaching the $40 level.

While oil investors may have priced in the production cut (it was not unexpected), solar investors may have been lagging, hence the drastic upside move today. Besides First Solar, other solar stocks that are seeing material upside on heavy volume today include:

  • SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWRA) up 11% to $35.80
  • Energy Conversion Devices (Nasdaq: ENER) up 14% to $26.19
  • JA Solar (Nasdaq: JASO) up 17% to $3.40
  • Suntech (NYSE: STP) up 10.5% to $10.94
  • LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) up 10.2% to $14.60
  • Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) up 13.3% to $6.30
First Solar, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells solar electric power modules using a proprietary thin film semiconductor technology.


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CSIQ 17.15

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ENER 10.60

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FSLR 119.85

-0.05 -0.04%
Volume: 2,032,882
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JASO 3.87

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Comments View All Comments

$$$
P.Eng on Dec 18, 2008 12:03 AM

@ 0.5 - 0.8 $/kWh solar is the most expensive renewable energy technology. Once new silicon mines come on line this will drop. Efficiency needs to improve, terrestrial solar is at most 20%. I like solar and in the future it will play a big role, but right now it will help bankrupt the USA.

Warren Buffet Will Not Save Us
Gumby on Dec 17, 2008 11:32 PM

Warren Buffet may be a famous investor, but he is not the kind of investor that we need to invest in "Build America".. Warren is a kind of investor that "sucks blood off America" or something like that...

there was fslr news
scott on Dec 17, 2008 08:31 PM

not sure how you missed this, but yesterday, fslr announced they achieved grid parity with their solar cells. that was the news. scott http://www.solarfeeds.com

Maybe Firewood will be Banned
Gumby on Dec 17, 2008 04:08 PM

Dont be so quick to assume that we can always fall back on firewood to keep our houses warm... Firewood is not a clean energy... Firewood is far worse than coal! Firewood is right next door to yours especially if your neighbor use it all day. Soot and particulates get in your lungs unseen and can cause lung cancer.. Nah? Ask your doctor,, he probably is still clueless...

Solar Has Come A Long Way, Girlies!
Gumby on Dec 17, 2008 04:06 PM

I remember 30 years ago when I saw a solar photovoltaic cell for the first time. It was about three inch in diameter and it was so weak that it could capture only 3 or 5 % of the sun energy and costed far more than now. It was so uneconomical except for uses in satellites out in the orbit. We instead use solar energy to heat water to help reduce our hot water bills by using blacked out pipes wrapped in mysterious fabric and put on roofs of our homes.. Photovoltaic energy , forget it, beat it.. Solar photovoltaic technology kept on improving on sunlight capture and manufacturing costs quite gradually for years until now. It is no longer Star Wars anymore.. We can have photovoltaic energy if we want. It is economical enough to protect us from future oil shortages and associated price spikes that is still unthinkable even today.. Last summer when oil prices hit $145 a barrel is convincing enough to start ramping up production of photovoltaic modules on a massive scale. So far, our photovoltaic industry is able to produce enough solar modules to generate electricity only equivalent to one to three new coal fired powerplants a year. In case you are not aware ... the world is already planning for 300 new coal fired powerplants to be built in next 5 years.. We are not even counting dozens of new nuclear powerplants , gas fired powerplants, and even hydropower dams that will flood lands and displacing people. If you want to be able to produce more solar modules to displace only 50 coal fired powerplants over the 5 years, then you can help by investing in solar stocks and also call your local utility about their plans to install future solar modules . If not, you can ask them why not.. The standard answer would be cost versus today's cheap oil or coal... The standard answer is short sighted... The utilites still dont think that they will be held accountable for failing to plan ahead to prevent future price spikes in electricity because of overdependence on fossil fuels like coal, oil, gas and even nuclear... and hydropower.. too. You will be likely to forget that five years later when you are socked with $500 utility bills or higher... maybe $1000?

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