Solar exchange traded funds finally found a moment’s respite Thursday after a top holding reported better-than-expected earnings.
Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEArca: TAN) gained 1.7% and Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (NYSEArca: KWT) increased 2.8% during Thursday’s trading. Nevertheless, TAN has lost 38.6% year-to-date and KWT dropped 40.3% year-to-date. [Solar ETFs Fade to New Lows]
First Solar (NasdaqGS: FSLR) announced that its profit surged 81% in the second quarter, with earnings at $1.65 a share, or 71 cents higher than the average of 27 analysts’ predictions taken by Bloomberg, reports Leah Powell for Wall St. Cheat Sheet. FSLR makes up 7.8% of TAN’s holdings and 11.0% of KWT’s portfolio.
The solar panel maker expects greater demand for its products and now plans to produce 1,800 megawatts to 1,900 megawatts of panels this year, a stark shift from its earlier plans to cut production by one third to as low as 1,400 megawatts, according to a Bloomberg report.
“We have more investors seeking to buy our projects than we have projects to sell them,” First Solar Chief Executive Jim Hughes said in the report.
Some analysts, though, are skeptical about First Solar’s projections, pointing to the over-supplied market and China’s low cost alternatives.