What happened

Renewable energy stocks had a crazy week as second-quarter earnings reports gave investors an idea of where there are bright spots and where there are weaknesses. Broadly, higher interest rates are starting to impact demand for residential solar projects, but the electric vehicle market is still strong, and demand for charging is up.

According to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, shares of SolarEdge (SEDG 2.81%) fell as much as 21.7% this week and are trading near their lows for the week at 1:30 p.m. ET. EVgo (EVGO 5.85%) jumped as much as 35.3% and is now up 29.9% for the week. And Sunrun (RUN 5.97%) rose 5.8% before falling late in the week and is now down 1.7%.

So what

All three companies reported earnings, and it was really a mixed bag. On the solar side, investors were initially happy with Sunrun's revenue of $590 million and a surprise net income of $55 million, or $0.25 per share. But a closer look shows that financing costs have increased from a 5% to 6% range a year ago to around 7.25%, which means Sunrun keeps less value from each installation for itself. Net contracted earning assets are now negative if we assume an 8% discount rate, and given the trend for rates, that seems like an appropriate rate.

SolarEdge reported decent revenue of $991.1 million and net income of $119.5 million. But guidance for $880 million to $920 million of revenue in the third quarter, with non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) operating income falling from $191 million to $115 million to $135 million, wasn't welcome news.

EVgo's revenue jumped 457% to $50.6 million, but the company still lost $21.5 million in the quarter. The market shrugged off that loss because the company is growing so quickly, and private-label charging deals are starting to take off.

Now what

The general theme is higher interest rates are taking their toll on the renewable energy market. You can see that with demand for residential solar across the industry. The market's reaction to Sunrun was interesting because the results were weak and the value on the balance sheet is falling, but investors don't seem concerned.

Keep in mind that the value of all three stocks has fallen over 40% over the past year, and I would argue that they're all still highly valued for different reasons. Sunrun is seeing higher rates eat its value, SolarEdge still has a price-to-earnings multiple over 35 despite falling revenue, and EVgo is losing money. I'm not buying any of the three right now and will look for some better values in renewable energy.