Solar Energy: What You Need to Know

From Cramer: My Top Solar Play for 2009 (Video, Aug. 6):

Cramer: "There's two solar industries. There's a solar industry of the individual and I don't want to invest in that at all... First Solar is an industrial company... They are not one-to-one... They use large available pieces of real estate... and they put their film solar panels on top of those and then sell the electricity... They're going to win a series of very big contracts... There's no future for that one-to-one market. It's going to be industrial. And only First Solar right now is playing it. When I say only, there are others coming on, which is other reason why First Solar's multiple could shrink eventually."

To watch the video, click the player below:

Plus, don't miss Cramer: First Solar Is the Bomb (Apr. 16) on TheStreet.com TV.

From Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap for July 31:

"Wind and solar stocks are transcending the weakness in oil," said [Jim] Cramer, indicating that the strength in these sectors is genuine, and will continue even if oil hits his ultimate target of below $120 a barrel.

In the solar industry, Cramer reiterated his buy on First Solar, a company he called the best of breed in the solar industry. The company recently posted earnings of 85 cents a share, blowing away estimates of 58 cents a share, a 47% upside surprise.

He said First Solar is not a maker of residential rooftop solar panels, but a provider of large-scale industrial solar facilities.

Read the full article. Plus, don't miss Cramer's 'Mad Money Recap': Green Stocks Hit Pay Dirt (Apr. 21) and Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: First Solar's Bright Future (Apr. 3).

From New Solar ETF Helps Spread Sector's Risk:

The fund [Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy Index ETF (TAN Quote)] really is global: China is the largest country represented in the fund, at 29.91%, followed by Germany at 29.01% and the U.S. at 26.33%. Still, ex-U.S., TAN invests in only five countries.

The methodology for index construction is to select from companies that "specialize in providing solar energy products and services," subject them to common liquidity screens and then weight them by market capitalization (actually a modified market-cap weighting so that no one company has too great a weighting).

The fund has a weighted average market cap of $5.8 billion, a P/E of 44, 25 holdings and a cap on the expense ratio of 0.65%.

Read the full article. Plus, don't miss this video on TheStreet.com TV: ETF Spotlights Chinese Solar Stocks (May 8: Almost a third of the companies in the new 'TAN' solar exchange-traded fund are based in China. Christian Magoon, president of Claymore Securities, explains why China and Solar technologies are a moneymaking combination.).

Fund Manager Warms to Solar Energy ETF (Video, May 1)

Jan Van Eck, principal at Van Eck Global, explains why the new Market Vectors Solar Energy exchange-traded fund (KWT Quote) is the purest way to play the still-hot solar energy sector.

To watch the full video, click the player below:

Plus, don't miss this video on the TheStreet.com TV: Solar Stocks Will Shine Again (Mar. 11: Alternative energy stocks have turned cold even as oil prices have risen. Bozena Jankowska, portfolio manager for the Allianz RCM Global EcoTrends Fund, explains why solar and wind shares will soon be making a comeback.)