With solar power—and by extension, solar stocks—starting to take off in the U.S. and beyond, it’s little surprise to see that manufacturers are starting to look to expand. Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) is one of the latest such expansion efforts, and it’s looking to get its start in Texas. Canadian Solar investors are plenty happy about the plan, sending Canadian Solar stock up nearly 6% in today’s trading.
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The plan calls for Canadian Solar to build a plant that will produce around five gigawatts of solar power capacity a year, which is roughly 20,000 high-powered modules of power in a day. By way of comparison, the city of Los Angeles consumes around 22,000-gigawatt hours of power per year. Production should start by the end of this year, and around 1,500 new jobs will be brought to Mesquite, Texas, where the new plant will be constructed.
Canadian Solar has a worldwide presence, with manufacturing operations in not only Canada but also Brazil, China, Thailand, and Vietnam. Interestingly, Canadian Solar isn’t the only operation looking at an expansion into American markets: LONGi, a Chinese firm, plans to bring a five-gigawatt panel operation to Ohio. With LONGi in place, both it and Canadian Solar will operate the largest solar panel factories using crystalline silicon in the United States.
Analysts are a bit less optimistic, however. Despite Canadian Solar branching out into the U.S. markets, analysts still consider it a Hold thanks to two Buy ratings, one Sell, and four Holds. Further, Canadian Solar stock boasts 36.11% upside potential for investors thanks to its average price target of $53.86.
