Best Solar Stocks For 2014

First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR  ) has been leading the solar industry for more than a decade but it's in a tough strategic position at the moment as the industry shifts into a new growth phase. The company's panels aren't as efficient as rivals and massive project developments that have driven earnings over the past few years are now few and far between.

The company's systems backlog has fallen from $9.4 billion�to end 2011 to $8.0 billion after Q1 2013, which isn't a good sign because the company is almost 100% reliant on systems. The high-margin systems that come with projects signed years ago will also likely evaporate as First Solar competes on cost per watt against SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR  ) , Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ  ) , and others. But the biggest challenge is the company's panels. �

Falling behind where the growth is
First Solar's product is not as efficient as competitors and now it doesn't have the cost advantage it once had. In fact, many Chinese producers are selling panels for less than the $0.69 per watt First Solar is now producing its panels for. We can debate all day how important efficiency is in solar panels, but when cost per watt is the same a buyer will go with the more efficient panel every time.

Top Forestry Stocks For 2015: Hanwha SolarOne Co. Ltd.(HSOL)

Hanwha Solarone Co., Ltd., an investment holding company, engages in the manufacture and sale of silicon ingots, silicon wafers, and PV cells and modules. The company also offers mono crystalline and multi crystalline silicon cells; and provides PV module processing services. It sells its products to solar power system integrators and distributors primarily in Germany, Italy, Australia, the United States, the Czech Republic, Spain, and China. The company was formerly known as Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Hanwha SolarOne Co., Ltd. in December 2010. Hanwha Solarone Co., Ltd. was founded in 2004 and is based in Qidong, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Stocks on the move: Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is up 31.5% at $5.13 on the announcement that Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) will acquire the Finnish firm�� mobile phone business for $7.2 billion. Chinese solar energy stocks are getting a boost again today, with Hanwha SolarOne Co. (NASDAQ: HSOL) up more than 15.9% and ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) up 14.9%.

• [By Travis Hoium]

  What: Solar stocks are shooting higher again today as the strong run in 2013 continues. LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK  ) , Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ  ) , Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE  ) , Hanwha SolarOne (NASDAQ: HSOL  ) , and JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS  ) led the way, gaining between 10% and 22% today.

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  One under-$10 stock that's starting to move within range of triggering a big breakout trade is Hanwha SolarOne (HSOL), which manufactures a number of silicon ingots, PV cells and PV modules using advanced manufacturing process technologies. This stock has been on fire so far in 2013, with shares up 301%.

  If you take a look at the chart for Hanwha SolarOne, you'll notice that this stock has been uptrending strong for the last month and change, with shares moving higher from its low of $2.60 to its recent high of $4.28 a share. During that uptrend, shares of HSOL have been making mostly higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of HSOL within range of triggering a big breakout trade.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in HSOL if it manages to break out above its 52-week high at $4.28 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above that level with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 1.61 million shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then HSOL will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are its next major overhead resistance levels at $6 to $7 a share.

  Traders can look to buy HSOL off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below its 50-day moving average at $3.40 a share, or near more support at $3.35 a share. One can also buy HSOL off strength once it clears $4.28 a share with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

Best Solar Stocks For 2014: Peabody Energy Corporation(BTU)

Peabody Energy Corporation engages in the mining of coal. It mines, prepares, and sells thermal coal to electric utilities and metallurgical coal to industrial customers. The company owns interests in 30 coal mining operations located in the United States and Australia, as well as owns joint venture interest in a Venezuela mine. It is also involved in marketing, brokering, and trading coal. In addition, the company develops a mine-mouth coal-fueled generating plant; and Btu Conversion projects that are designed to convert coal to natural gas or transportation fuels; and clean coal technologies. As of December 31, 2011, it had 9 billion tons of proven and probable coal reserves. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Finally, outside the Dow, earnings has helped drive smaller stocks higher as well. Coal stocks are climbing as Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU  ) jumps 5.4% after reporting that its profit didn't drop quite so much as expected, with cost-cutting measures offsetting some of the negative impact of falling revenue. Peabody's results helped send the Market Vectors Coal ETF up more than 2%, but the industry has a long way to go before it can climb out from under the longer-term losses it has racked up in recent years.

• [By Taylor Muckerman and Joel South]

  Earnings season is in full swing for the first quarter, and Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU  ) came out with a positive forecast for things to come. After announcing a narrower than expected loss for the most recent quarter, the company stated that both domestic and international markets show signs of strength to forge on through 2013.

• [By David Dittman]

  Attorneys general from 14 states, led by Texas, challenged the EPA�� rule along with Southern Company (NYSE: SO), Entergy Corp (NYSE: ETR), Edison International (NYSE: EIX), Peabody Energy Corp (NYSE: BTU), American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) and the United Mine Workers of America labor union.

• [By Jonathan Yates]

  Investors have certainly been "fearful" of the coal sector. The exchange traded fund for coal, Market Vectors Coal (NYSE: KOL), is off nearly 20 percent for the year. Stocks such as Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI) and Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE: ANR) are also down sharply for 2013. But Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) just surprised Wall Street in beating forecasts for the most recent quarter: as a result, its share price is up more than 7 percent for the week.

Best Solar Stocks For 2014: Canadian Solar Inc.(CSIQ)

Canadian Solar Inc. engages in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of solar power products in Canada and internationally. The company offers solar cell and solar module products that convert sunlight into electricity for various uses. Its products include a range of standard solar modules for use in a range of residential, commercial, and industrial solar power generation systems. The company also designs and produces specialty solar modules and products consisting of customized modules that its customers incorporate into their products, such as solar-powered bus stop lighting; and specialty products, such as portable solar home systems and solar-powered car battery chargers. In addition, it sells solar system kits, a package consisting of solar modules produced by it and third party supplied components, such as inverters, racking system, and other accessories, as well as implements solar power development projects. The company sells its products under the Canad ian Solar brand name. Canadian Solar Inc. offers its standard solar modules through a direct sales force and sales agents primarily to distributors, system integrators, and original equipment manufacturer customers, as well as to solar projects; and specialty solar modules and products to the automotive, telecommunications, and light-emitting diode lighting sectors. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Kitchener, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ  ) announced today that it has won a contract to supply Asia-based Soleq Solar with modules totaling 91 MW for solar power for projects in Thailand.

Best Solar Stocks For 2014: Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited(YGE)

Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, sale, and installation of photovoltaic (PV) products in the People?s Republic of China and internationally. The company offers PV cells, PV modules, and integrated PV systems, as well as polysilicon ingots, blocks, and wafers. It sells its PV modules to distributors, wholesalers, power plant developers and operators, and PV system integrators in Germany, the United States, Italy, China, Spain, the Netherlands, Greece, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, South Korea, and Japan under the Yingli and Yingli Solar brand names. The company also offers its integrated PV systems directly to end-users or to contractors for use in the electricity projects, as well as to mobile communications companies in the People's Republic of China. Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Baoding, the People? s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  Source: Company earnings releases.��

  Solar companies have reported losses for some time now, but LDK Solar has more debt than most companies, and won't be able to survive with such feeble numbers. At the end of 2012, debt stood at $2.8 billion, and we know now that the company ran out of cash just this week. There's no way LDK Solar can survive on just $135.9 million in quarterly revenue and that kind of debt level.� � A problem across solar High debt loads and feeble margins aren't a challenge faced by LDK Solar alone. Suntech Power gave in to these pressures last month, defaulting on its own debt. Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE  ) is now the most indebted Chinese solar company, with $2.5 billion in debt, and I wouldn't doubt if they're not far behind LDK and Suntech. The defaults of Suntech and LDK has to be concerning for all of Chinese solar, especially if banks don't keep the free flow of funds that have powered a rapid expansion in production.� � Balance sheets matter
  What's becoming clearer and clearer every quarter is that balance sheets matter, not just for investors, but also for solar installers. Solar modules come with warranties, sometimes stretching as long as 25 years, and if a customer questions whether a company will be around in only a year or two, they may choose another option. Since Chinese modules vary very little from a performance perspective, the customer may choose a better-capitalized company like JinkoSolar instead of Yingli or LDK, or even move to a U.S. company like First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR  ) or SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR  ) . As financial conditions get worse at these companies more and more customers leave and the problems get worse, creating a downward spiral. LDK and Suntech are the poster children for this and are a major reason investors need to stick with quality in solar. � I've been down on LDK Solar since I began predicting its failure in 2011. Investors interested in g
• [By Travis Hoium]

  The impact of solar tariffs
  About 80% of the polysilicon used in Chinese solar panels actually comes from the U.S., Europe, and South Korea; if costs go up 53%, they may have to look for alternatives. Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE  ) has already warned that the tariffs will increase costs for Chinese suppliers and that some of the biggest manufacturers would likely be hit by the move. The effect really depends on where you sit, but most major module manufacturers import some of their polysilicon, even if they make the rest in-house.�

• [By Travis Hoium]

  Another record in solar
  We've been hearing about solar efficiency records for years. Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE  ) 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 (NASDAQ: SPWR  ) , whose Maxeon cells can be 24% efficient, creating a 21.5% efficient production module.

• [By Dan Carroll]

  It's a sign that relief could be coming for tense investors in Chinese solar firms, one that sent shares of major solar companies surging earlier in the week. Yingli Green Energy Holdings's (NYSE: YGE  ) stock surged by more than 13% on Friday, part of an 18% gain for the week. With more than 50% of total Chinese solar exports going to Europe, Yingli and other solar rivals are reliant on the EU's willingness to deal with Beijing in order to avoid costly tariffs.

Best Solar Stocks For 2014: JinkoSolar Holding Company Limited(JKS)

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of solar power products in China and internationally. The company provides solar modules, silicon wafers and ingots, and solar cells, as well as processing services, including silicon wafer tolling services. It sells its products under the JinkoSolar brand name. The company?s customers include distributors, project developers, and system integrators. It trades its products under short-term contracts and by spot market sales. The company also produces accessory materials for solar power products, such as solar aluminum frame, solar junction box, aluminum materials windows, and other metal component parts. JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. was founded in 2006 and is based in Shangrao, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Provided that the Chinese government either encourages or permits consolidation, any of these three could be an acquirer. The likeliest target, of course, is SunTech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP), which is reorganizing and which the government has already seemed to give up on. Other possible targets include ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) and JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS).

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Friday
  The market is typically quiet on Friday, but don't tell that to JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS  ) . The vertically integrated solar-power products maker closes out the trading week with its latest quarterly results.

• [By Wall Street Strategies]

  Naturally the news is a big positive for the industry, with Chinese solar names like Yingli (YGE), Trina (TSL), Canadian Solar (CSIQ) -- which is actually Chinese despite its name -- JinkoSolar (JKS), JA Solar (JASO), and LDK Solar (LDK) each up more than 10% at midday. The Guggenheim Solar ETF (TAN), which tracks several global solar companies, was up 8%, breaking to a new 52-week high.

Best Solar Stocks For 2014: Ascent Solar Technologies Inc.(ASTI)

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a development stage company, focuses on commercializing flexible photovoltaic (PV) modules using its proprietary technology. The company intends to manufacture roll-format PV modules that use copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) on a plastic substrate. Its proprietary manufacturing process deposits multiple layers of materials, including a thin-film of CIGS semiconductor material on a plastic substrate and laser patterns the layers to create interconnected PV cells or PV modules through monolithic integration process. The company would serve the building applied photovoltaic (BAPV) and building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) market, as well as specialty markets, such as defense, portable power, transportation, electronic integrated photovoltaic, and space and near-space. It has a strategic relationship with Norsk Hydro Produksjon AS to access customers in the BIPV/BAPV markets worldwide. Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. was founded in 200 5 and is based in Thornton, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Solar stocks have not exactly given buy and hold investors a smooth ride, but small cap�GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: GTAT) could be an interesting materials play on the solar sector���meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with potential peers like Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ: ASTI) and STR Holdings, Inc (NYSE: STRI) plus solar ETF Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEARCA: TAN). I should mention that just last week, we added GT Advanced Technologies to our�SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) portfolio for both�fundamentals and technical reasons and we are already up almost 9%.