Turnkey solar energy provider Real Goods Solar (RSOL) saw shares soar as high as 80 percent Wednesday before climbing back down a bit to close at $2.49 per share. This eclipses yesterday’s impressive performance, where shares jumped over 57 percent to $1.75 per share before ending the day at $1.51, for an increase of 36 percent. Volume also spiked well above average on both days.
The company’s stunning performance today coincides with the announcement that an undisclosed leading home production company has tapped Real Goods Solar to provide turnkey (meaning adaptable to already existing structures) solar energy systems for homes in certain of their housing developments in California, and eventually elsewhere. This follows last week’s announcement of a deal with Sunrun, one of the United States’ leading home solar companies, to provide rooftop panels for homes in four states (California, Colorado, Massachusetts, and New York).
While such a massive leap, especially two days in a row, would be hard to explain strictly in terms of two deals on which the ink is probably still drying, the solar industry in general has been doing reasonably well as of late, and was heavily touted in President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday evening. RSOL’s share price in particular has benefited from the general trend a great deal since last November, when the stock was trading at one point for as low as $0.42 a share.
Real Goods Solar also has the advantage of being one of the first solar panel manufacturers in the United States. The company’s press release indicates that since 1978, they have installed more than 14,500 solar power systems in the United States, serving commercial, residential, and utility customers.
