We recently published a list of the 10 Best Clean Energy Stocks to Buy According to Billionaires. In this article, we are going to take a look at where First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) stands against other top clean energy stocks according to billionaires.
The current overall bearish trend has also dealt a massive blow to the energy sector, which fell by more than 15.7% over the last five days, against a decline of less than 10% by the overall market. This is despite the fact that energy commodities were exempted from President Trump’s sweeping new tariffs – a clear tactic to keep energy inflation in check and in-line with his broader aim to keep energy prices low. The biggest reason for this is the prevailing anxiety about what these tariffs will do to economic growth and, hence, the power demand. The decline in energy stocks also indicates that the market is not expecting any reindustrialization of America to happen in the near term, which appears to be the President’s key aim behind his upending of the entire global trade system.
READ ALSO: 12 Best Nuclear Power Stocks To Buy Now
That said, the global renewable energy industry is growing at a record pace as the world moves ahead with its energy transition to mitigate the impacts of climate change. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, the global renewable power capacity reached 4,448 gigawatts (GW) in 2024, with an addition of 585 GW just last year. This represented a 92.5% share of the total capacity expansion during the year and marked a record 15.1% rate of annual growth.
The American clean energy sector has kept up with this explosive growth and brought online 48.2 GW of capacity from utility-scale solar, wind, and battery storage in 2024, according to research organization Cleanview. Renewables are set to continue this momentum, and the US Energy Information Administration expects the share of new power capacity to come online this year from renewables and batteries to jump to 93%.
One sector that has particularly garnered accelerated investor interest over the last year is nuclear energy. The International Energy Agency recently revealed that nuclear is set to generate a record level of electricity in 2025. Moreover, on the sidelines of the CERAWeek conference in Houston last month, several major corporations even signed a pledge to support the goal of at least tripling the world’s nuclear energy capacity by 2050.
Another sector that has performed exceptionally well is that of energy storage, which set a new record with 12.3 GW of installations across all segments in the US last year. According to the American Clean Power Association, the industry is on a path to surpass 100 GW of grid-scale storage deployed by 2030. However, the country’s rapidly expanding sector now faces a serious threat since over 90% of lithium-ion energy storage cells deployed in the US storage market last year originated from China, according to Rho Motion, a data research company.
Despite the Trump administration’s best efforts to hamper its growth, the clean energy sector continues to be backed up by an increasing number of hedge funds and billionaires. A great example is how Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has invested over $40 billion in wind, solar, and hydroelectric projects and operates one of the largest renewable energy portfolios in America.
A solar panel farm with an orange sky illuminating the vast landscape.
Our Methodology
To collect data for this article, we scanned Insider Monkey’s database of billionaires’ stock holdings and picked the top 10 companies operating in the renewable energy sector with the highest number of billionaire investors in the Insider Monkey database in Q4 of 2024. When two or more companies had the same number of billionaires backing them, we ranked them by the revenue of their last financial year. Following are the Best Clean Energy Stocks According to Billionaires.
At Insider Monkey we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR)
Number of Billionaire Holders: 15
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) is a leading American solar technology company and global provider of responsibly produced, eco-efficient solar modules. FSLR is unique among the ten largest solar manufacturers in the world for being the only US-based company and not manufacturing in China.
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) reported a revenue of $1.51 billion in Q4 2024, up 30.7% YoY and above market expectations by $33.54 million. However, the company’s EPS of $3.65 missed estimates by $1.08. Net sales for FY 2024 were $4.2 billion compared to $3.3 billion in the prior year, primarily driven by a higher volume of modules sold to third parties. Meanwhile, cash flows from operations were $1.2 billion in 2024 compared to $0.6 billion in 2023, and FSLR ended the year with a $1.2 billion net cash balance, up from $0.7 billion in the prior quarter.
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) is expecting to increase the company’s global nameplate manufacturing capacity to over 25 gigawatts by 2026 and is currently constructing a $1.1 billion manufacturing facility in Louisiana. The company has also come out as a clear winner from President Trump’s latest series of tariff announcements since its domestic production saves it from the wrath of a 54% tax on all Chinese imports.
Overall, FSLR ranks 4th on our list of the best clean energy stocks to buy according to billionaires. While we acknowledge the potential of renewable energy stocks , our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than FSLR but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
