Investors may want to pay close attention to solar energy stocks as energy producers, particularly in Europe, scramble to reduce dependency Russian oil and gas. With the war between Russia and Ukraine raging, renewable energy stocks, like Sunrun (RUN), First Solar (FSLR), and Enphase Energy (ENPH) are moving higher, quickly.

That’s because, as Joe Keefe, CEO of Pax World Funds, told Morningstar.com: “When there’s less certainty about other sources of energy, that will help renewables because they’re a cheap source of electricity.… They’ve become very competitive from a price standpoint and are good long-term investments. Germany and other European countries are incentivized even more to do something with renewables if access to Russian gas is jeopardized.”

Even European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson recently tweeted: “We have to reduce dependency on Russian gas, diversify our suppliers and invest in renewables.”

As Lena Moffitt, chief of staff at Evergreen Action told The Guardian: “Clean energy is affordable and reliable; we can’t afford to wait any longer to free ourselves from the volatility of the fossil fuel market and the dictators and violence it enables.”

In short, we’re looking at a wake-up call for renewable energy, which is why you should keep an eye on solar stocks, like Sunrun. Not only is the stock just starting to rebound, but analysts are encouraged by the company. Morgan Stanley analyst Stephen Byrd, for example, is encouraged by the company’s 2022 growth outlook and margin trajectory.

Alternatively, take a look at Enphase Energy. Over the last few weeks, the ENPH stock soared from a low of about $120 to $167.51. It’s also pushing higher on the latest war, and reported blowout earnings. In its most recent quarter, Enphase reported adjusted EPS of $0.73, as compared with estimates of $0.58. Revenue of $412.7 million beat expectations for $397 million.

Even solar ETFs have been on fire. The Invesco Solar ETF (TAN), for example, jumped from about $57.50 to $71.09 in recent weeks.

Again, we’re looking at a wake-up call for renewable stocks, especially with Russia’s move.

“Already, the price of oil has surged to triple digit pricing, which could be the perfect recipe to lay a foundation for a new wave of interest in green energy technology solutions. And it comes at a time when stocks in this space are trading at huge discounts to where they were last year,” MarketWatch reports.

With renewables, crisis is creating big opportunity.

— Ian Cooper

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Source: Investors Alley