- First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) -2.7% post-market on news the U.S. will not open an investigation into Asian solar companies that critics warned would drive up costs for clean power and escalate tensions with China, Bloomberg reports.
- The Commerce Department determined that Asian companies did not sell solar cells "at less than normal value," according to the report, rebuffing a group of U.S. solar firms that had wanted the agency to probe whether Chinese manufacturers circumvented existing tariffs by making equipment in Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.
- An investigation could have led to duties on supplies from the South Asian countries that together accounted for at least 80% of PV products imported into the U.S. during this year's H1.
- Top Chinese solar panel companies are higher after-hours, including JKS +2.6%, CSIQ +1.7%.
- ETF: TAN
- Citing "risks to consensus expectations rising, notably in utility and large-scale commercial solar," Guggenheim Partners recently cut ratings for First Solar and other solar stocks.