First Solar's Star Dimmer Than Ever

During its latest third-quarter conference call, First Solar said it believed that liquidity in its key market of Germany was adequate to handle its 2009 plans there. But the company also said solar project lending outside of Germany has stopped for the time being. Its non-German customers in Europe have adequate financing, First Solar said, which should prevent delays, but certainly the macro-economic environment in Europe can't be counted on any time soon to deliver better-than-expected growth.

Those factors aside, the company's stock dovetails with the performance of the Ultra Oil & Gas Pro Shares(DIG Quote) exchange-traded fund, which is essentially a proxy on the price of oil.

Energy Stocks Out of Gas

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The DIG ETF has underperformed First Solar in the past six weeks as the price of oil has been cut in half during that time frame.

But the relationship between oil and solar isn't one of cause and effect. The low price of oil certainly mitigates the short-term impetus to ramp up solar production, but in the longer term, solar is here to stay, and its increasing attractiveness around the world is a given.

What is affecting both energy sources is the slowdown in global demand. In that sense, solar and oil are no different from houses or personal computers.

When the world again boosts its thirst for oil, solar stocks should follow suit.