Stocks in U.S. solar energy companies have undergone a huge shakeup today, following president Donald Trump’s decision to employ a 30% tariff on international solar panel imports.
Prices peaked this morning before quickly correcting themselves. Here are the details for three major US movers:
|
Peak (9:45am EST) |
Current (12:45pm EST) |
24hr change (%) |
Market cap (USD) |
|
|
First Solar (FSLR) |
$73.80 |
$68.08 |
-1.35% |
$7.19B |
|
Real Goods Solar (RGSE) |
$1.64 |
$1.47 |
+27.83% |
$13.7M |
|
Sunpower Corp. (SPWR) |
$9.18 |
$8.18 |
-6.14% |
$1.16B |
Clearly, some companies are benefiting more than others, with some actually down today as a whole. Weirdly, Real Goods Solar (NASDAQ:RGSE) is by far the biggest gainer out of the solar stocks, despite being an installer rather than a manufacturer.
Theoretically, the idea behind President Trump’s tariff is to increase competitiveness of the U.S. solar industry by making it more expensive for solar energy providers and manufacturers to import solar tech from elsewhere; namely China. This should increase demand for American-made solar panel technology within the country.
Of course, it’s a different matter whether or not this is what will actually happen, and many are skeptical of Trump’s actual motives. Indeed, the Trump administration has been maintaining efforts to reverse renewable energy production in the country as part of Trump’s campaign promise to boost the shrinking US coal industry.
Already, many are claiming that today’s tariffs will all but kill the US solar industry, which imports 80% of its panels from elsewhere, according to a Fortune report. US companies tend to focus on installation, frames, wiring and solar farm development, rather than manufacturing. For them, a 30% increase in panel costs will be financially devastating.
Forcing US companies into purchasing home-made panels will be good news for US manufacturers, which is why stocks this morning temporarily surged. But with the industry as a whole being dealt a blow, it will be interesting to see what will happen to prices in the next few days. We’ll update with more. Invest with care.
The US solar industry employs more people than the coal industry does, and has already undergone a significant boom in the US over the past few years. According to the Solar Foundation’s 2016 Jobs Consensus, 1 out of every 50 new US jobs was in solar, with solar jobs increasing 17 times faster than the overall US economy. In fact, they have increased 20% every year from 2012-2016.
Featured Image: Twitter
