Lehman Collapse Unsettles Solar Sector
The turmoil on Wall Street has until now had a muted impact on clean technology, but that’s starting to change. Some solar stocks are reeling from the shock waves of Lehman Brother’s bankruptcy.
Evergreen Solar (ESLR), JA Solar (JASO) and SunPower (SPWR) took hard hits early Tuesday, falling between 10 percent and 28 percent at the opening. Although each stock has since regained ground — JASO and SPWR were actually back in the green as of midday trading — the three stocks have given up between a tenth and a third of their value this week.
Each company had been in a stock-lending agreement with Lehman, leaving the bankrupt firm with shares that could complicate their future earnings. As Reuters explains,
“Under the deals, the three companies all lent shares to a Lehman subsidiary as part of stock issuances. If Lehman fails to return the shares as laid out under the agreements, they could be counted as part of their outstanding share counts, diluting the earnings per share of the companies.”
