Arizona-based solar company ranks as worst stock performer under Obama

PHOENIX — An Arizona-based solar company had the worst stock performance under former President Barack Obama, according to Phoenix Business Journal.

First Solar, a Tempe-based energy company, dropped 75 percent under the Obama Administration, an analysis from several financial media companies found.

According to Google Finance, stocks for First Solar opened at $145.01 per share on Jan. 20, 2009 — the day Obama took office — and opened at $34.64 per share on Jan. 20, 2017 — the day Obama left office.

Despite the drop in stock prices, the company has still been profitable, the Journal reported. First Solar had a revenue of $3.6 billion in 2015 and brought in a profit of $546 million.

This was up from its 2014 revenue of $3.4 billion and $396 million profit, according to Yahoo Finance.

However, the company had the second worst-performing stock in 2016, Motley Fool reported. The company saw a 51 percent drop from 2015, placing it only above the pharma company Endo International.

In November 2016, First Solar announced that it would cut 1,600 jobs worldwide and halt production at its only North American plant in Ohio, where it employed about 1,400 people.

While the Tempe company saw a large setback, plenty of big-name stocks, including Netflix and Priceline, grew more than 2,000 percent under Obama.

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