First Solar Shares Plunged: What You Need to Know (FSLR)

First Solar Shares Plunged: What You Need to Know

Watch stocks you care about

The single, easiest way to keep track of all the stocks that matter...

Your own personalized stock watchlist!

It's a 100% FREE Motley Fool service...

Click Here Now

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of solar cost-leader First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR ) saw the sun set on a strong start to 2012 as it fell 10% on German feed-in tariff changes.

So what: The feed-in tariff system Germany implemented last year, with semiannual cuts based on installation levels, already appears to be out the window in favor of monthly cuts. German Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said the country would transition to the monthly cuts, but for now details beyond that are sparse.

Now what: The idea of a cap on solar installations has been floated after the explosion of installations to end 2011, but the government is apparently leaning toward monthly cuts. I don't necessarily think this is a bad idea, but the constant changing of the rules in Germany is starting to make investors sick. Right now monthly cuts have the market spooked, but I wouldn't panic. China may be a larger market than Germany this year, and no matter how you slice it, Germany still wants to install more than 3.5 GW of solar annually, a healthy clip for the country.

Check back tomorrow for a more in-depth analysis of the potential changes.

Interested in more info on First Solar? Add it to your watchlist by clicking here.

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

Enter your email address below to find out what made Jobs so enraged!

Fool contributor Travis Hoium owns shares of First Solar. You can follow Travis on Twitter at @FlushDrawFool, check out his personal stock holdings or follow his CAPS picks at TMFFlushDraw.

The Motley Fool owns shares of First Solar. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of First Solar. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment icon found on every comment.