In this effort, we have focused on the former peaks from the 2007 to 2008 glory days, if applicable. The run higher seems like a bubble, but you will see that the bubble of today is nothing compared to the bubble of 2007 and 2008, when energy and alternative energy were flying high.

24/7 Wall St. evaluated the likes of First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR), MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR), GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) and SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) in the stock coverage. We also wanted to highlight exchange traded fund (ETF) performance and historical data on the Guggenheim Solar (NYSEMKT: TAN) and PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (NYSEMKT: PBW).

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is the de facto solar leader, and its shares have done what seemed nearly impossible just a few months ago. This stock went from less than $30 from late in 2006 after its initial public offering (IPO) to more than $300 in mid-2008 at the peak of the energy craze. Then came the “heads I win, tails you lose” trading, in which First Solar lost literally half of its value from July 2008 to December 2008. By June 0f 2012, First Solar shares were at a low even under $12, and the stock closed out 2012 at $30.86. Now we have shares up around $56, implying year-to-date gains of 81% and gains from last June’s lows of nearly 400%.

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) remains a miracle recovery, but we question why on earth Total S.A. (NYSE: TOT) has not acquired the rest of the company when the stock was less than $5. It is the largest holder by far, and it could have taken this outfit over on the cheap. This stock trades around $21.60, after a drop of more than 4% on Tuesday, but shares hit a high of $23.76. SunPower shares peaked at more than $100 in 2007 and again in 2008.

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) has been the less-followed winner for its solar materials making, but its rise has been massive as well. After hitting a low of $1.44 in the past year, the stock closed out 2012 at $3.21. With shares around $6.70 now, this is a gain of close to 400% from the lows, and a gain of more than 100% so far in 2013. Keep in mind that MEMC peaked at $96 in late 2007, and this was a $17 stock by the end of 2008.

GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) shares are back up to $4.60, but we would caution that this one came public as one of the last solar players out there in late 2008. It makes equipment for solar panel makers and providers, and it does not fit the same historic pattern as it missed much of the 2007 and 2008 silliness. This stock is up 75% from its low of $2.61 from March 4, 2013. GT is also up just over 50% from its closing price of $3.03 in 2012.

If you want to see just how fast a good thing can come to a crashing end … SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) is supposed to be the new kid on the block, and its shares hit a new all-time high of $52.77 just on Monday. After a double-digit drop, this one is back to $45. Do not feel too bad for those shareholders because, even after this last sudden drop, we have this 2012 IPO up a whopping 275% or so year-to-date from the $11.93 close for 2012.

The Guggenheim Solar (NYSEMKT: TAN) ETF is solar-focused and is still up 1.9% at $26.04 so far on Tuesday, but that is down from a high of $27.87 earlier in the day and up from a 52-week low of $12.60. Even after pulling back from the highs, this ETF is up a whopping 64% year-to-date from the closing price of $15.64 at the end of 2012. Trading volume has been elevated, and even exponentially higher of late. A reverse split has clouded the comparisons back to 2008 when this ETF was created.

There is also the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (NYSEMKT: PBW) ETF, which has a more diversified angle of alternative energy, cleaner energy and conservation, rather than just being solar. This one just hit a new high of $5.87 for the year and shares are up less than 1% at $5.67 as of last look. Even after the pullback, this is up almost 38% year-to-date from the $4.08 close at the end of 2012. Keep in mind that this ETF was above $28 at the peak back to late 2007 and in 2008, but by the end of 2008 it back to less than $10 per share.

If this sounds as though we have the pom-poms out cheering on the solar rally, we actually want investors to consider the risks more than just chasing the gainers. Our first point to make is that when you see articles of this magnitude cheering a great recovery, then perhaps the easy money has already been made. If you want proof of how volatile and wild price moves are expected, an at the money straddle or spread using the June-2013 $55 strike prices in puts and calls would cost you about $8.25 if you tally up both prices. That implies that the stock would have to rise to above $63 or fall to under $47 before the bets pay off.

The solar sector moves have been impressive. Make that more than impressive. The problem is that we are in a different valuation world now compared to the bubbles of the past. The partial austerity-driven, tax-credit-expiration world we live in now and the tariffs (trade wars) have changed the landscape to the point that it seems almost incomprehensible that the old bubble days of 2007 and 2008 could return. Some of these companies will continue to go on to do great things in the years ahead. Other solar players may fade into the history books, even after we have seen many bankruptcies in this sector.

Some longer term questions remain. Will solar companies get to form master limited partnerships? Will they become utilities? Is a market cap of almost $5 billion for First Solar crazy, or is it cheap compared to 2007 and 2008? Is Solar City’s $3.5 billion market cap valuing it as the utility of the future? Is much of the volume being driven by short covering? Or is the volume being driven by ETFs influencing the sector?

SunPower issued earnings of $0.22 per share versus a $0.10 estimate and sales were down almost 1% to $575 million. That drop may sound bad, but the expectations were only about $510 million. What is also interesting here at a time that solar companies are having a hard time is that GAAP gross margin was 9.3% versus 9.2% a year ago, and non-GAAP gross margin was 22.7% versus 12.7% a year ago.

The company claims that its results are from its superior solar panel technology combined with strong performance from rooftop and ground mount solar operations. SunPower also said that it has started initial construction of the 579-megawatt Antelope Valley Solar Projects for MidAmerican Solar and reached 90% completion on the California Valley Solar Ranch project owned by NRG Energy.

What will be a driving force here for the solar sector is that SunPower also claims that demand in the residential lease business remains solid and has again exceeded its expectations. SunPower shares gained a whopping 17% to $15.29 today. The stock hit a new 52-week high and its new 52-week range is $3.71 to $15.46.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) rose late in the day, but it closed up only 1.35% at $46.40. if you will recall, First Solar blew away its earnings guidance as well.

SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) should have done well based upon the commentary, but a Goldman Sachs downgrade from this morning kept pressure there for it to close down 3.25% at $27.09. Equipment maker GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) was also lower on the day after cutting its at-risk order backlog from expectations. Shares did close down almost 5% at $3.67 today, but its shares were down around $3.54 before the SunPower news came out.

A late day pop was seen in the Guggenheim Solar (NYSEMKT: TAN) ETF and it closed up 2.2% at $20.39 on the day. Even the more diverse PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (NYSEMKT: PBW) ETF saw a late day surge and it closed up 2.5% at $4.80.

As First Solar surged so much in one day, we cannot help but assume that many investors and traders are going to be looking for which ETFs and other pools of investments that they may have missed. Some will look for short sales and some will look for buying opportunities. That being said, First Solar shares lifted just about anything and everything tied to solar and alternative energy in the realm of ETFs and related shares.

First Solar shares closed up 45% at $39.35 and the stock hit a new 52-week high of $41.00 on Tuesday. The trading volume of 39.7 million shares had to be aided by short sellers covering their bad bets and grabbing their throats. That 39 million shares is a near-term record in trading volume. With that much trading volume in one day, you can imagine that the solar bulls and the solar bears are going to be out fighting for blood for the rest of this week.

We have identified the top alternative energy and solar ETFs for investors. So that you would not get tricked into reading a name alone, we also included a brief description to show which are solar-only and which ones include foreign issues.

Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy ETF (NYSEMKT: GEX) run by Van Eck aims to track the overall performance of a global universe of listed companies engaged in the alternative energy industry. It has only $50 million in assets and First Solar has only 3.34% of the assets and is ranked as the number 12 position. It is still the largest solar stock in the ETF and the ETF has many solar players behind it. This has very thin volume and is up 3.3% on the day, and we would point out that many stocks are NOT US-listed shares.

Guggenheim Solar (NYSEMKT: TAN) is a pure-play ETF for solar run by Guggenheim and it has many non-US listed stocks. First Solar is the largest weighting here with 14.5% of the fund’s $57 million in assets under management. With a weighting this high, which likely going to be understated if prices remain static, the ETF was up 15% at $18.15 right before the closing bell.

The iShares S&P Global Clean Energy Index (NASDAQ: ICLN) under BlackRock has only about $27 million in assets and is thinly traded. First Solar ranks as number-9 in the portfolio with a 4.88% weight in the fund. This iShares ETF has many foreign issues as well and was up 5.7% at $7.74 late in the day on thin volume.

Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (NYSEMKT: KWT) is also run by Van Eck but just tracks solar stocks and has thin trading volume with only about $11 million in assets. First Solar leads this ETF with a 9.6% weighting. That alone helped it trade up 12.5% to $40.54 on the day.

There is also the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (NYSEMKT: PBW) which was up 4.5% at $4.44 late in the day, but this is under Invesco PowerShares. The ETF is composed of companies that focus on greener and generally renewable sources of energy and technologies facilitating cleaner energy. First Solar is ranked all the way down at #17 in weightings at only 2.63% but the ETF aims to keep exposure of these global players at 3% or so max. At least it traded 800,000 shares or so shortly before the close.

First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index (NASDAQ: QCLN) has thin trading volume with only about $25 million in assets under the fund but shares were up 4% at $11.26 right before the closing bell. First Solar ranks only as #7 in weighting with 4.13% of the total fund, but it is the largest solar stock in the fund.

The company’s 2013 earnings per share (EPS) guidance calls for $4.00 to $4.50, also well above the consensus estimate of $3.46.

First Solar also set a target for sales of $3.5 to $4 billion in its 2014 fiscal year and $4.2 to $4.8 billion in fiscal year 2015. The EPS target for 2014 is $2.50 to $4.00 and the 2015 target is $4.00 to $6.00.

Shares of First Solar are up about 27% at $34.33 in a 52-week range of $11.43 to $36.98, and the news is lighting a fire under other U.S. solar makers.

We are seeing serious catch-up moves among peers. SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWR) is up almost 10% at $10.68 on the day. MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) is up 6% at $4.55 so far on Tuesday.Guggenheim Solar (NYSMKT: TAN) is up 7% at $16.90. Even SolarCity Corporation (NASDAQ: SCTY), which is on the install side rather than the panels side, is up 3.6% at $19.59. GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) is lagging with gains of only 1.2% at $3.38 on the day.

The big issue is not just the drop in shares of First Solar. The larger issue is the fallout from the report. Many solar stocks have rebounded massively, to the tune of 50% or much more, since President Obama was reelected, and the sector hope is that free money or cheap money will keep making it into the alternative energy sector.

Here is the solar sector fallout we are seeing elsewhere this morning:

SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) had been one of the top recent IPOs and is up over 40% year to date. Yet it is down 2.5% at $16.97 so far today.

GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) is down 2.9% at $3.00.

Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) already fell on its own poor report yesterday, and shares are down another 4% at $4.07 so far.

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) shares had more than doubled since January 2, but its shares are down 6% at $10.95.

LDK Solar Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) was up about 24%, and shares are indicated down at $1.74 or so, after a $1.78 close.

Yingli Green Energy Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) was up more than 20%, but shares are down about 1.5% at $2.65.

Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) had not kept pace, and it is indicated down around $1.40, after a $1.44 close.

Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) is down more than 3% at $3.95 so far this morning.

Even the Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEMKT: TAN) is indicated lower, at under $18.00, after closing at $18.46 yesterday.

The real loser is of course the cause of the losses in the solar sector in the first place: First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR). Its shares are down 14.7% at $26.76.

24/7 Wall St. has decided to take a look into 2013 to see which cleantech and alternative energy players may be winners and losers ahead. Our review is not focused just on solar stocks. We have included some of the more well-known low-emission companies that are probably “less dirty” more than they are purely green or cleantech. Some of these stocks have had a rough 2012, while others actually have tried to find a bottom. The long and short is that some of these are likely to flourish in 2013 while others flounder.

It is important to consider what a recovery rally would look like if cleantech and green companies actually manage to start getting some good news again. Our message is simple: picking winners based solely on expectations of the past my prove to be lethal for your portfolio. 2013 brings risks of the fiscal cliff, new tariffs and duties being imposed on solar goods out of China, tax credit risks and maybe even risks of affordability means-testing down the road. Can SolarCity still manage to come public in an initial public offering?

In order to make this list for 2013, each company had to be well-known now or have a history. Companies have to have sales also, to avoid looking at only the most speculative possible shenanigans. Again, this is not just a list of stocks to buy. Some almost certainly are not buys at all. Another criteria is that investor interest has to be based on their alternative energy operations and efforts, or at least the cleaner and more efficient energy technologies. Each stock has to have an active following by Wall St. analysts as well. In order to avoid any grouping or dominance, we covered these in alphabetic order.

Vivint is listed as the largest home automation services company in North America and is also listed as the second largest residential security services provider.

As a part of the transaction, Blackstone will acquire Vivint Solar, Inc. and 2GIG Technologies, Inc. from its respective shareholders. Vivint Solar is a provider of solar solutions that leverages the power purchase agreement model to offer affordable solar power to residential customers. 2GIG Technologies is a developer of security and automation equipment for the residential and small commercial markets.

The move is hard to peg on any set outcome, but it is hard to not notice that First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is up over 4% at $24.17. The Guggenheim Solar (NYSEMKT: TAN) is up 1.1% at $18.32 on the day.

JON C. OGG

We already highlighted how First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) managed to post considerably better-than-expected earnings. Shares were up big for a two-month-plus high in the afterhours trading session on Wednesday night. Now the gain has grown even more, and you know the report has to be sending the short sellers into the shadows. First Solar’s gain is up 25% at $18.50 so far today, and that will mark the highest share price in this battered solar leader going back to May 4.

The halo-effect is alive and well, if you just look at some of the moves in some of the key solar players today:

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) is up 5.3% at $3.98, against a 52-week range of $3.71 to $18.28.

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) is up 4.0% at $2.07, against a 52-week range of $1.44 to $7.26.

LDK Solar Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) is up 7.5% at $1.375, against a 52-week range of $1.26 to $6.98.

The key solar ETF of Guggenheim Solar (NYSEMKT: TAN) is up 3.1% at $15.64, against a 52-week range of $2.42 to $34.12.

Unfortunately, the halo-effect is not lifting Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) due to its internal woes, which may be unrecoverable. Its shares are down about 6% more to $0.949 today.

JON C. OGG

Still, the Chinese announcement has given share prices in a number of Chinese solar makers a boost today. Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) is up about 4.2% at $1.99 in a 52-week range of $1.50-$8.04. Suntech is China’s largest maker of solar cells and modules.

Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) is up about 1.7% at $6.75 in a 52-week range of $5.01-$21.55.

Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) is up 2.3% at $2.86 in a 52-week range of $2.50-$9.14.

Jinkosolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS) is up 4.4% at $3.57 in a 52-week range of $3.06-$26.98.

LDK Solar Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) is up 7.5% at $2.00 in a 52-week range of $ 1.54-$7.35.

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is up 4.2% at $1.13 in a 52-week range of $0.89-$5.70.

Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) is up 4.7% at $3.79 in a 52-week range of $2.07-$11.65.

US solar panel makers First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) and SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) are also getting a boost. First Solar is up 4.1% at $15.91 in a 52-week range of $11.43-$134.21, and SunPower is up 3.5% at $5.33 in a 52-week range of $4.51-$23.36.

The Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEMKT: TAN) is up about 1.8% at $19.09 in a 52-week range of $2.42-$34.12.

Paul Ausick

Los Angeles County has now approved the company to begin module installation at the AV Solar Ranch One facility.  The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works and First Solar reached an agreement to install solar modules at the photovoltaic power plant which is currently under construction in the Antelope Valley area. First Solar will continue construction activities of the 230-megawatt power plant and it projects that it will generate enough electricity to power 75,000 homes.

Installation of the modules was delayed as First Solar and the Public Works department worked on the module code certifications. First Solar now expects to ramp up staffing for the project over the next several weeks.

Shares of First Solar are up 3.1% at $14.99 shortly before the open.  Keep in mind hat First Solar was worth only $1.26 billion as of Thursday’s close and the recent and all-time low was $11.43.

First Solar often leads the Guggenheim Solar (AMEX: TAN) ETF.

JON C. OGG