The Wonders of SolarCity Corp (SCTY)

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) is alongside SolarCity, and I don’t see solar slowing down anytime soon. As the largest solar panel manufacturer and worldwide leader in thin film module manufacturing, First Solar benefits from customers such as SolarCity. First Solar recently announced that they were expecting profits as much as 28% higher than expected for 2013. This is because demand, driven up by companies like SolarCity, has increased dramatically. Also 1/3 of the PV manufacturers that have been polluting the market were either acquired, closed, or went bankrupt when prices slumped. Decreasing suppliers and better manufacturing technology for First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) mean higher revenue and higher profits. Their share price of $45 is nowhere near their 2008 share price in the $200’s, so could we be looking at a comeback? Panel costs have gone down and SolarCity alone plans on installing 270 MW this year, up from 250 expected. The entire United States is expecting 5.3 gigawatts to be installed compared to 3.3 from last year. That’s almost 70% growth.

The future of electricity

If the growth that SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) and First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) are experiencing continues, their 2.7 billion and 3.9 billion market caps will be pocket change in a few decades. But will the government realize the potential we have for complete energy independence using only renewable energy sources and continue subsidies? If things continue to pan out for these forward thinking companies, investors could be sitting on a nice profit.

The article The Wonders of SolarCity originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Joel Wasserman.

Joel Wasserman owns shares of SolarCity. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Joel is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.