5 Best Solar Stocks To Watch For 2014

Even though cost-cutting has been the primary reason for most EPS beats early on this earnings season, the broad-market S&P 500 continues to take out new all-time closing highs on a nearly everyday basis. For skeptics like me, that's an opportunity to see whether companies have earned their current valuations.

Keep in mind that some companies�deserve�their current valuations. Take Texas Instruments, for example, which reported better-than-expected second-quarter results earlier this week as it's beginning to reap the benefits of moving away from semiconductors used in wireless devices and instead focusing on those used for power management and in automobiles. With far less competition in these areas, Texas Instruments is expected to generate more robust margins.

Still, other companies might deserve a kick in the pants. Here's a look at three companies that could be worth selling.

Lights out, China
China may have its fair share of struggles -- which has caused its strong economy to back off its 30-year average growth rate of 10% -- but when push comes to shove, plenty of investors are still paying close attention to multinational companies making investments in China. However, if there were one sector with a gigantic "beware" stamp attached to it, it would be Chinese solar panel producers like Hanwha SolarOne (NASDAQ: HSOL  ) .

Top 5 Food Stocks To Invest In 2015: JinkoSolar Holding Company Limited(JKS)

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of solar power products in China and internationally. The company provides solar modules, silicon wafers and ingots, and solar cells, as well as processing services, including silicon wafer tolling services. It sells its products under the JinkoSolar brand name. The company?s customers include distributors, project developers, and system integrators. It trades its products under short-term contracts and by spot market sales. The company also produces accessory materials for solar power products, such as solar aluminum frame, solar junction box, aluminum materials windows, and other metal component parts. JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. was founded in 2006 and is based in Shangrao, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sid Riggs]

  Companies such as Canadian Solar Inc. (Nasdaq: CSIQ), SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq: SPWR), Trina Solar Limited (ADR) (NYSE: TSL), JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd (NYSE: JKS), and Yingli Green Energy Hold. Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) have seen their shares explode 1,181%, 755%, 637%, 628%, and 420%, respectively, over the same time frame.

• [By Wall Street Strategies]

  Naturally the news is a big positive for the industry, with Chinese solar names like Yingli (YGE), Trina (TSL), Canadian Solar (CSIQ) -- which is actually Chinese despite its name -- JinkoSolar (JKS), JA Solar (JASO), and LDK Solar (LDK) each up more than 10% at midday. The Guggenheim Solar ETF (TAN), which tracks several global solar companies, was up 8%, breaking to a new 52-week high.

5 Best Solar Stocks To Watch For 2014: EMCORE Corporation(EMKR)

EMCORE Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides compound semiconductor-based products for the broadband, fiber optics, satellite, and solar power markets. The company operates in two segments, Fiber Optics and Photovoltaics. The Fiber Optics segment offers broadband products, including cable television, fiber-to-the-premises, satellite communication, video transport, and defense and homeland security products; and digital products comprising telecom optical, enterprise, laser/photodetector component, parallel optical transceiver and cable, and fiber channel transceiver products. This segment?s products enable information that is encoded on light signals to be transmitted, routed, and received in communication systems and networks. The Photovoltaics segment provides gallium arsenide (GaAs) multi-junction solar cells, covered interconnected cells, and solar panels for satellite applications; and concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) power systems for commercial and utility scale solar applications, as well as GaAs solar cells and integrated CPV components for use in other solar power concentrator systems. The company markets its products through its direct sales force, external sales representatives and distributors, and application engineers worldwide. EMCORE Corporation was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  EMCORE Corporation (Nasdaq:EMKR), a leading provider of compound semiconductor-based components and subsystems for the fiber optic and solar power markets, reported that it is ramping production and shipping the Opticomm-EMCORE NEXTGEN OTP-1DVI2A1SU insert cards for the Optiva platform.

5 Best Solar Stocks To Watch For 2014: Renesola Ltd.(SOL)

ReneSola Ltd, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of solar wafers and solar power products. It offers virgin polysilicons, monocrystalline and multicrystalline solar wafers, and photovoltaic cells and modules. The company also provides cell and module processing services. Its products are used in a range of residential, commercial, industrial, and other solar power generation systems. The company sells its solar wafers primarily to solar cell and module manufacturers. It principally operates in Mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, India, Australia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, France, the Czech Republic, and the United States. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Jiashan, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  But Trina gave a troubling update to its quarterly guidance a couple weeks ago, saying that it shipped 390-400 megawatts of solar modules during the quarter, down from its original 420-430 megawatt estimate. With gross margins of just 1% to 3%, Trina isn't faring as badly as peer ReneSola (NYSE: SOL  ) , which posted negative gross margins in its quarterly report earlier this month. Yet Trina still isn't making enough money to come close to profitability in the near future.

5 Best Solar Stocks To Watch For 2014: Real Goods Solar Inc.(RSOL)

Real Goods Solar, Inc. operates as a residential and commercial solar energy integrator primarily in California and Colorado. The company provides engineering, procurement, and construction services. It offers various turnkey solar energy services, including design, procurement, permitting, build-out, grid connection, financing referrals, and warranty and customer satisfaction services. The company installs residential and small commercial systems that range between 3 kilowatts and 1 megawatt output. It also engages in the retail sale of renewable energy products. The company was founded in 1978 and is based in Louisville, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap solar stock Andalay Solar Inc (OTCMKTS: WEST) has largely cratered for investors�verses solar stock peers Real Goods Solar, Inc (NASDAQ: RSOL) and SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ: SCTY), but is the company finally turning itself around after a failed deal to be acquired?

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  Three weeks ago, I recommended Real Goods Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:RSOL) as a buy. Though the stock was still drifting in the shadow of a huge May pullback - from a high of $7.17 to a low of $2.13 by mid-June - RSOL was finding some support at key moving average lines, and even pushing up and off of them. Not many of you (and I'm using "you" interchangeably with "investors in general") seemed to care. So why am I looking at Real Goods Solar again now? Because, with competitors LDK Solar Co., Ltd (NYSE:LDK) and ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE:SOL) seeing their shares surge today, odds are good RSOL is going to get swept up in that move. Real Goods Solar shares are a better bet, however, in that - unlike SOL and LDK - they aren't overbought yet.

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  My enthusiasm regarding Real Goods Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:RSOL) and Westinghouse Solar Inc. (OTCMKTS:WEST) hasn't exactly been a veiled secret. Though I've favored one over the other at various times since the entire solar panel industry went back into high gear in the middle of the second quarter, I've been a fan of both RSOL as well as WEST for a while. The trick has been finding the right entry spot for both of these volatile stocks.

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  There's no denying that LDK Solar Co., Ltd (NYSE:LDK) has been a notable laggard this year compared to performances from First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) and Real Goods Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:RSOL). RSOL is up nearly 180% year-to-date, with a decent chunk of that gain unfurling in just the last couple of months. FSLR is up 25% for the year so far, though that more modest gain would have been much bigger had it not been for February's 24% plunge. Meanwhile, LDK shares are down 22% year-to-date, and have barely even blipped despite the fact that solar energy has become all the rage again in recent months.