An alternative-energy leader comes under pressure as government subsidies shrink. IT WAS ONCE ONE OF THE brightest lights in alternative energy. But the future has dimmed for First Solar (symbol FSLR), the nation's largest producer of photovoltaic equipment. The once-hot stock, which traded for as much as $317 a share in May 2008, fetched just $35 on January 6. Its descent accelerated in 2011 after the Tempe, Ariz., company ousted its CEO and started cutting earnings forecasts late in the year. It now sees a profit of $3.75 to $4.25 per share this year-roughly half of what it was expected to have made in 2011. The stock (which we recommended in our June 2009 issue at $142) now trades at just 9 times the midpoint of the forecasted-earnings range.
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