What a Dark Year for Solar Stocks

Many are glad to have shut the door on 2008. Few are likely to be happier than solar-power companies.Of the six solar stocks valued at more than $500 million (a club that grew much smaller during 2008), none outperformed the S&P 500 index, which fell 38 percent last year. The stock that came closest to matching it was First Solar, which lost 48 percent in 2008. First Solar’s low-cost thin-film technology kept profits growing, and kept the stock from falling further.Behind First Solar came SunPower, which slid 72 percent. Yingli Green Energy, Suntech Power, JA Solar and Evergreen Solar all lost more than 80 percent this year, which is more than the Nasdaq fell from the frenzied peak of March 2000 to the rock bottom of October 2002 (a decline of 78 percent).

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