The U.S. exchanges are flooded in a sea of red following President Donald Trump’s latest series of tariff announcements, but some companies are seeing their stocks soar, including American-made solar panel company First Solar (FSLR).
FSLR shot up to more than $140 per share after the NASDAQ opened Thursday morning while nearly everything else nosedived. The stock’s value eventually settled back around $137 per share, claiming around 5% gains on the day.
First Solar, headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, transforms a sheet of glass into ready-to-ship thin film solar panels in approximately four hours. The company’s cadmium telluride products do not use polysilicon, a raw material produced in limited quantities domestically. This allows First Solar to avoid increased tariffs on solar products manufactured in China, making its products a hot commodity for developers seeking Inflation Reduction Act tax credits and saving the company from the wrath of a 54% tax on all Chinese imports. The company operates three facilities in Ohio, opened a $1.1 billion plant in Alabama last September, and is constructing a 3.5 gigawatt (GW) capacity factory in Louisana expected to come online next year.
FSLR is held by at least 65 hedge funds. The company reported strong financial results for Q4 2024, with net sales of $1.5 billion, marking a $600 million increase from the previous quarter. The company also provided an optimistic outlook for 2025, forecasting net sales between $5.3 billion and $5.8 billion, roughly one-third higher than the previous year and surpassing Wall Street estimates.
The stock exchanges were far from as kind to other renewable energy companies that primarily rely on imported solar equipment. Enphase (ENPH) and Nextracker (NXT) dipped around 7% today, while Sunrun (RUN) and SolarEdge (SEDG) flirted with shedding 10% or more of value.
National Grid plc (NGG) was among the rare renewable energy-associated stocks above water Thursday, climbing more than 5% by Thursday afternoon and approaching the $70 per share mark.
Constellation Energy (CEG) was down more than 8%, dropping 18 points to $196 and change per share. It dipped below $195 multiple times on Thursday. GE Vernova’s (GEV) stock briefly fell below the $300 mark; it was down more than $8 Thursday afternoon, shedding 28+ points.
