The 5 Best US Bank Stocks of 2018 (So Far)

After fantastic performances in 2016 and 2017, the financial sector has been a laggard so far in 2018. Despite a 5% rise in the S&P 500, the financial sector has fallen by about 1.4%. Perhaps the major banking industry catalysts such as tax reform and rising interest rates had already been mainly priced in, or maybe the sector is just taking a breather. Whatever the case, 2018 has been a somewhat disappointing year for bank investors as a whole.

Having said that, not all bank stocks have performed poorly. Here are five U.S. banks that have handily beaten the S&P so far this year, and a little bit about why each one has done so well.

Image source: Getty Images.

Company

Market Capitalization

Dividend Yield

YTD Stock Performance

SVB Financial (NASDAQ:SIVB)	$16.3 billion	None	31.3%
Popular Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)	$4.7 billion	2.2%	30%
TCF Financial (NYSE:TCF)	$4.3 billion	2.4%	23.9%
Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH)	$7.3 billion	1.4%	22.7%
First Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ:FFBC)	$3.1 billion	2.4%	21.4%

Data sources: Market caps and dividend yields from TD Ameritrade and performance from YCharts, as of July 20, 2018. Only U.S.-based banks with market capitalizations of $1 billion or higher were considered.

SVB Financial

SVB Financial is the holding company for Silicon Valley Bank, an institution that specializes in banking service for entrepreneurs and private equity.

To put it mildly, SVB has grown tremendously in recent years, although the majority of this year's strong performance can be attributed to a stellar first-quarter earnings report. Not only did the bank beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines, but it reported 35% annual revenue growth, a 20% jump in the bank's loan portfolio, and a staggering 46% increase in client investment funds. What's more, SVB is growing in profitability and efficiency as well. The bank's return on equity (ROE) of 18.1% and return on assets (ROA) of 1.51% are both among the best in the banking industry and represent tremendous improvement.

Popular

Popular is a Puerto Rican bank holding company with about $46 billion in assets that operates in Puerto Rico (Banco Popular de Puerto Rico) as well as in the continental U.S. (Banco Popular North America).

Popular's outperformance can mainly be attributed to the continuing recovery of Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria. Net interest income as well as non-interest income have both returned to pre-disaster levels, and credit quality isn't as bad as many had feared. For example, the bank's net charge-off rate dropped to 0.90% in the first quarter from 1.61% at the end of 2017. Even after its outperformance, Popular still trades for a significant discount to book value, so it's fair to say that the market is still pricing in a fair amount of risk.

TCF Financial

TCF Financial is a regional bank with 318 branches in Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Colorado, Wisconsin, Arizona, and South Dakota. The bank's impressive stock performance can be attributed to particularly strong improvement in several key metrics.

Specifically, the bank's first-quarter earnings report showed 9% revenue growth, significant margin expansion, and a massive improvement in efficiency. So, the bank's 56% earnings growth wasn't just because of tax reform.

Commerce Bancshares

Commerce Bank is based in Missouri and has a physical presence in Kansas, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Colorado as well. For the first quarter, the bank reported impressive 42% year-over-year earnings growth. This was fueled by a 24-basis-point margin expansion and strong growth in fee income, including a 16% jump in card-related revenue. Additionally, the bank's 58% efficiency ratio (down from over 62% a year ago) is among the best of its peer group.

First Financial Bancorp

The smallest bank on this list, First Financial Bank operates just over 150 branches in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. And unlike the other top-performing banks, First Financial's earnings were actually flat year over year, despite tax reform generally boosting bank profits.

However, the bank's earnings were significantly depressed thanks to costs related to its merger with MainSource Financial Group, which was completed during the second quarter. Ignoring the effects of the merger, First Financial's earnings were up by an impressive 54% year over year. Furthermore, the bank's adjusted 1.6% return on assets is among the best in the business, as was its 30-basis-point increase in net interest margin.

Hot Cheap Stocks To Invest In Right Now

tags:GD,UNH,WEN,SIRI,KSS,

When biotech investors talk about the future of DNA sequencing, they inevitably focus on industry leader Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN). But when biotech researchers talk about the future of DNA sequencing, the conversation almost always centers on privately held Oxford Nanopore Technologies, which is developing a new approach to reading genetic code called nanopore sequencing. The excitement isn't entirely misplaced, despite a $40 billion gap in market valuation between the two companies.

Illumina has been publicly dismissive of Oxford Nanopore and of nanopore sequencing due to the technique's lower accuracy, but accuracy is not the only metric that matters. And the tiny competitor recently announced a realistic path toward making nanopore sequencing the fastest and cheapest, as well as the most accurate, approach in the industry. That would have major implications for Illumina shareholders.

Image source: Getty Images.

Hot Cheap Stocks To Invest In Right Now: S&P GSCI(GD)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lou Whiteman]

  Scale matters in the government IT business, as larger companies are better able to manage the increasingly large and complex systems customers demand, and a broader cost basis helps in putting together low-cost, competitive bids. In recent years, a wave of mergers and acquisitions has left a clear top two in the market. Industry leader Leidos Holdings (NYSE:LDOS) in 2016 bought the IT business of Lockheed Martin, while General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) vaulted to No. 2 earlier this year via its acquisition of CSRA.

• [By Reuben Gregg Brewer]

  Shipbuilding and services specialist�Huntington Ingalls (NYSE:HII) was spun off from Northup Grumman in early 2011. General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) is roughly six times larger and offers a far more diversified list of products and services that includes submarines, aircraft, and armored vehicles, among other things. Both, however, provide key products and services to the U.S. military. That's normally a fairly consistent business driven by large and often very long contracts. With a supportive administration in the White House, it would seem like now is a good time to take a look at this pair of stocks. But which of these two military-industrial companies is a better buy? Using a Benjamin Graham�lens, the answer may not be what you want to hear.

• [By Chris Dier-Scalise]

  What gives? Well, all of the top six holdings in the fund—Boeing Co (NYSE: BA), United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX), Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT), General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD), Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), and Northrup Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC)—all either met or exceeded Q4 earnings estimates. Together, those six companies make up about 45 percent of the fund.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Traders sold shares of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) on strength during trading on Friday. $52.91 million flowed into the stock on the tick-up and $170.65 million flowed out of the stock on the tick-down, for a money net flow of $117.74 million out of the stock. Of all stocks tracked, General Dynamics had the 0th highest net out-flow for the day. General Dynamics traded up $0.76 for the day and closed at $202.52

• [By Max Byerly]

  General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) had its price objective reduced by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $232.00 to $12.39 in a research report issued on Friday, The Fly reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the aerospace company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target indicates a potential downside of 93.65% from the stock’s current price.

• [By ]

  Cramer and Moreno also looked at General Dynamics (GD) which peaked in early March, before starting a downtrend until Tuesday. Last week, General Dynamics fell to the lower end of its channel, but then it bounced right to the high end, and Wednesday it firmly broke out above the high end of this channel. The stochastic oscillator, which is a powerful momentum indicator is making a bullish crossover, and based on today's move, Moreno thinks General Dynamics can return to its old highs at $230.

Hot Cheap Stocks To Invest In Right Now: UnitedHealth Group Incorporated(UNH)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) traded up 1.89% at $232.95. The stock’s 52-week range is $156.09 to $235.00, a new 52-week high set this afternoon. Volume was nearly double the daily average of around 2.9 million shares. The company’s fourth-quarter earnings and forecast for 2018 were better than expected.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  The Dow stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Monday was UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) which traded up 1.39% at $254.16. The stock’s 52-week range is $176.42 to $254.99, a new high set this afternoon. Volume was about 4% below the daily average of around 3.2 million. The company had no specific news.

• [By Chris Lange]

  UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) is scheduled to share its quarterly report on Tuesday as well. The consensus estimates are $3.04 in EPS on $56.09 billion in revenue. Shares were last seen at $258.70. The stock has a 52-week range of $183.86 to $259.01, and the consensus price target is $279.86.

Hot Cheap Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc.(WEN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Wendys (NASDAQ: WEN) and Empire Resorts (NASDAQ:NYNY) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) major shareholder Edward P. Garden sold 764,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.53, for a total value of $12,628,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 240,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,973,233.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

• [By Lisa Levin]

   

  Companies Reporting After The Bell Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $1.22 per share on revenue of $5.72 billion. Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) is estimated to post quarterly earnings at $1.04 per share on revenue of $5.68 billion. The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $1.68 per share on revenue of $14.05 billion. Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) is expected to post quarterly earnings at $0.62 per share on revenue of $441.73 million. Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ: JAZZ) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $2.77 per share on revenue of $434.87 million. Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: SLF) is estimated to post quarterly earnings at $0.89 per share on revenue of $6.38 billion. LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (NYSE: LTM) is expected to post quarterly earnings at $0.16 per share on revenue of $2.70 billion. Liberty Global plc (NASDAQ: LBTYA) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $0.02 per share on revenue of $4.05 billion. TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) is expected to post quarterly earnings at $0.16 per share on revenue of $362.11 million. The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ: WEN) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $0.1 per share on revenue of $379.98 million. A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMRK) is expected to post quarterly earnings at $0.06 per share on revenue of $1.69 billion. Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ: MNST) is estimated to post quarterly earnings at $0.4 per share on revenue of $849.38 million. Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG) is expected to post quarterly earnings at $0.4 per share on revenue of $670.10 million. ScanSource, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCSC) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $0.7 per share on revenue of $875.91 million. KAR Auction Services, Inc. (NYSE: KAR) is expected to post quarterly earnings at $0.76 per share on revenue of $923.13

Hot Cheap Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Sirius XM Radio Inc.(SIRI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Two of the hottest media distributor stocks in recent years are joining forces for a comedy radio channel. Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI)�announced on Wednesday that it will be teaming up with Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) for an exclusive satellite radio channel that will feature content from the streaming video service's growing catalog of stand-up comedy.�

• [By ]

  Remember, Apple (AAPL) had run because its service-revenue stream made the tech giant part of an elite group of companies. It joined Costco (COST) , Netflix (NFLX) , and SiriusXM (SIRI) , Spotify (SPOT) and Amazon (AMZN) (home of Amazon Prime) as companies that charge you recurring fees that you don't seem to notice or care about. So, Apple's stock no longer represents the tug to the group, and each company has to develop a separate power base away from Cupertino.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in shares of Sirius XM Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SIRI) by 36.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 130,110 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 34,955 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Sirius XM were worth $812,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Optimists may want to look at Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) for inspiration at this point. Helios and Matheson may be trading for pocket change now, but Sirius XM stock bottomed out at $0.05 in early 2009, and there other similarities beyond the penny stock pricing.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Swiss National Bank cut its position in Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI) by 13.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,157,758 shares of the company’s stock after selling 818,600 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.11% of Sirius XM worth $32,184,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Hot Cheap Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Kohl's Corporation(KSS)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Adam Levine-Weinberg]

  Nearly a year ago, J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP) installed toy shops in all of its stores. The timing was fortuitous, and it will give J.C. Penney a great opportunity to earn incremental sales. Last week, Kohl's (NYSE:KSS) revealed that it too plans to capitalize on the demise of Toys R Us by diving into the toy market in time for the 2018 holiday shopping season.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Maybe Kohl's (NYSE:KSS) wasn't crazy after all. Or maybe it was crazy like a fox. In any event, the department store's decision to partner with Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and sell the e-commerce giant's products as well as accept its returns seems to be paying off.

• [By ]

  1. Kohl's (NYSE: KSS)
  This $10 billion-plus market cap department store chain's stock is higher by over 17% in 2018. The company operates over 1100 department stores, an online commerce platform, 12 Fila Outlets, and three "Off/Aisle" clearance stores.

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  After years of subpar sales results and declining profitability, Kohl's (NYSE:KSS) executives have started to think outside the box as they work to get the company growing consistently once again. Boosting store traffic has been management's main focus.

Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on AES (AES)

AES Corp (NYSE:AES) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 1,804 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,056% compared to the typical daily volume of 156 call options.

Shares of AES opened at $13.03 on Thursday, according to Marketbeat. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.20, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.70, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.18. AES has a twelve month low of $9.86 and a twelve month high of $13.56.

Get AES alerts:

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. AES had a positive return on equity of 18.70% and a negative net margin of 3.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.17 EPS. equities research analysts expect that AES will post 1.21 EPS for the current year.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AES. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in shares of AES by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 83,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $901,000 after buying an additional 7,465 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of AES by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,839,604 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,737,000 after buying an additional 431,291 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of AES by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,503,377 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,282,000 after buying an additional 149,883 shares during the period. AXA raised its position in shares of AES by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. AXA now owns 183,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,984,000 after buying an additional 7,600 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi Pioneer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AES in the 4th quarter worth $19,477,000. 94.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AES shares. Zacks Investment Research raised AES from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $13.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 3rd. ValuEngine raised AES from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $14.00 price target on AES and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 27th. UBS Group increased their price target on AES from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 20th. Finally, Bank of America lowered AES from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 16th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.00.

AES Company Profile

The AES Corporation operates as a diversified power generation and utility company. It owns and/or operates power plants to generate and sell power to customers, such as utilities, industrial users, and other intermediaries. The company also owns and/or operates utilities to generate or purchase, distribute, transmit, and sell electricity to end-user customers in the residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental sectors; and generates and sells electricity on the wholesale market.

Will Verizon Sell Oath to Tim Armstrong?

A recent report at The Information indicates that Oath CEO Tim Armstrong is considering buying the company out of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ). Armstrong’s interest includes both the Yahoo portion of what is now the Oath and the part that was once known as AOL.

Verizon paid $4.4 billion for AOL in 2015 and $4.48 billion for Yahoo in 2017. The two companies were merged under Armstrong, the former AOL CEO, and were, for some unfathomable reason, renamed Oath.

At the time that Verizon announced the Yahoo acquisition, the telecom giant’s CEO, Lowell McAdam, said:

Just over a year ago we acquired AOL to enhance our strategy of providing a cross-screen connection for consumers, creators and advertisers. The acquisition of Yahoo will put Verizon in a highly competitive position as a top global mobile media company.

It is probably now safe to say that the $8.9 billion that Verizon shelled out on these two acquisitions did nothing of the kind.

So why would Armstrong want to buy out Oath? Probably because he thinks he can get a bargain price. McAdam is retiring as Verizon CEO at the end of this year and the incoming CEO, Hans Vestberg, is expected to focus Verizon’s future on 5G networks rather than on its media content.

Verizon said in January that it had no plans to do a huge media deal like AT&T’s $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner and the company’s chief financial officer reiterated that sentiment in May. With Disney and Comcast slugging it out over some Fox assets, there may not be much left at a reasonable price in any event.

Nothing Verizon has done in the year since it closed its acquisition for Yahoo has boosted Oath’s profile or value. The ill-named firm got more press coverage when it closed down AOL’s AIM messaging program than for any other single thing it’s done, and the incoming CEO’s background (he is currently Verizon’s chief technical officer) does not indicate renewed focus (and spending) on media. To Armstrong, all this signals that a bargain may be available. He could well be right, but if Oath is worth less now than it was a year ago, whose fault is that?

ALSO READ: Merrill Lynch Issues Top 8 US Stock Ideas for Q3 2018

Pan American Silver (PAAS) Earning Somewhat Positive Media Coverage, Accern Reports

Headlines about Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) have trended somewhat positive recently, Accern Sentiment reports. The research firm identifies negative and positive media coverage by analyzing more than 20 million blog and news sources. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Pan American Silver earned a news sentiment score of 0.11 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave media headlines about the basic materials company an impact score of 46.7119428227578 out of 100, meaning that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the immediate future.

These are some of the news stories that may have impacted Accern’s analysis:

Get Pan American Silver alerts: Analyzing McEwen Mining (MUX) & Pan American Silver (PAAS) (americanbankingnews.com) Brokerages Anticipate Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS) Will Post Quarterly Sales of $216.36 Million (americanbankingnews.com) Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages (americanbankingnews.com) Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS) Expected to Post Earnings of $0.16 Per Share (americanbankingnews.com)

Several analysts have weighed in on PAAS shares. BidaskClub cut shares of Pan American Silver from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 6th. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Pan American Silver from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 23rd. Canaccord Genuity restated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.50 target price on shares of Pan American Silver in a research report on Wednesday, April 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank dropped their target price on shares of Pan American Silver from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Pan American Silver has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.10.

PAAS traded up $0.49 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $18.24. 707,109 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 896,743. Pan American Silver has a one year low of $13.99 and a one year high of $19.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.76, a PEG ratio of 6.25 and a beta of 0.30.

Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 9th. The basic materials company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.04. Pan American Silver had a net margin of 18.19% and a return on equity of 6.35%. The firm had revenue of $206.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.73 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.06 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. research analysts expect that Pan American Silver will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.035 per share. This represents a $0.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 21st. Pan American Silver’s payout ratio is 27.45%.

About Pan American Silver

Pan American Silver Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in exploration, extraction, processing, refining, and reclamation of silver mines. The company owns and operates silver mines located in Peru, Mexico, Argentina, and Bolivia. It also produces and sells gold, zinc, lead, and copper. The company holds interests in the La Colorada, Dolores, Alamo Dorado, Huaron, Morococha, Manantial Espejo, and San Vicente mines.

Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch Right Now

tags:ORN,CCM,STV,VGT, What happened�

Solar stocks took a beating Monday after China cut its national incentives to install solar projects. Shares of solar panel manufacturers Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) fell as much as 14.5%, JinkoSolar Holding Co. (NYSE:JKS) dropped as much as 17%, and Daqo New Energy Corp (NYSE:DQ) fell as much as 31.3% while inverter manufacturer Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) fell up to 13.5%. By early afternoon, most major stocks in the solar industry were down double digits.

So what

There were two pieces of China's solar ruling, one having to do with distributed generation (DG) and the other with utility-scale solar.

Image source: Getty Images.

On the DG side, China put a cap of 10 gigawatts (GW) for new solar projects in 2018, down from 19 GW installed in 2017. According to Asia Europe Clean Energy Advisory Co (AECEA), there may already be more than 10 GW of DG projects installed in China, so that could make it tough to build any projects in the second half of the year.

Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch Right Now: Orion Marine Group Inc(ORN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Jacobs Engineering Group (NYSE: JEC) and Orion Group (NYSE:ORN) are both construction companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Orion Group (ORN)

  For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch Right Now: Concord Medical Services Holdings Limited(CCM)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Comstock Resources, Inc. (NYSE: CRK) shares shot up 52 percent to $7.235 after the company disclosed a deal with Arkoma Drilling L.P. and Williston Drilling, L.P. to buy oil & gas properties in North Dakota. Comstock announced withdrawal of tender offers for outstanding secured notes. MarineMax, Inc. (NYSE: HZO) shares gained 24.2 percent to $21.80 as the company posted upbeat Q2 results and raised its FY18 outlook. Mattersight Corporation (NASDAQ: MATR) shares rose 22 percent to $2.625 after the company agreed to be purchased by NICE Ltd. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) jumped 21.3 percent to $411.871 as the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Wednesday. Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AXSM) rose 17 percent to $3.10 after the company disclosed a positive outcome of the interim analysis of STRIDE-1 Phase 3 trial of AXS-05 in treatment resistant depression. Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: UCTT) rose 15.9 percent to $18.34 following upbeat Q1 earnings. PCM, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCMI) gained 15.6 percent to $12.20 following Q1 results. O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: ORLY) surged 14.4 percent to $260.3901 following upbeat Q1 profit. Concord Medical Services Holdings Limited (NYSE: CCM) gained 13.8 percent to $3.70. Penn National Gaming, Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN) rose 13.5 percent to $29.815 after reporting strong Q1 results. BioTelemetry, Inc. (NASDAQ: BEAT) rose 13.5 percent to $38.30 as the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its first quarter. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) shares rose 13.1 percent to $10.985 as the company reported upbeat results for its first quarter. SJW Group (NYSE: SJW) shares gained 11.8 percent to $63.59 following Q1 results. California Water Service Group made an offer for SJW. Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ: CHDN) climbed 9.8 percent to $278.40 following Q1 results. CYS Investments, Inc. (NYSE: CYS)
• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Genprex, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNPX) shares gained 86.76 percent to close at $11.00 on Thursday. Comstock Resources, Inc. (NYSE: CRK) shares climbed 47.06 percent to close at $7.00 after the company disclosed a deal with Arkoma Drilling L.P. and Williston Drilling, L.P. to buy oil & gas properties in North Dakota. Comstock announced withdrawal of tender offers for outstanding secured notes. Ceridian HCM Holding Inc. (NASDAQ: CDAY) gained 41.86 percent to close at $31.21. MarineMax, Inc. (NYSE: HZO) shares rose 26.5 percent to close at $22.20 as the company posted upbeat Q2 results and raised its FY18 outlook. Concord Medical Services Holdings Limited (NYSE: CCM) jumped 24.92 percent to close at $4.06. Mattersight Corporation (NASDAQ: MATR) shares climbed 23.26 percent to close at $2.65 after the company agreed to be purchased by NICE Ltd. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) rose 24.44 percent to close at $422.50 as the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Wednesday. Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: UCTT) gained 17.75 percent to close at $18.64 following upbeat Q1 earnings. PCM, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCMI) rose 16.59 percent to close at $12.30 following Q1 results. Zymeworks Inc. (NASDAQ: ZYME) rose 16.06 percent to close at $15.25. Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) shares climbed 14.5 percent to close at $121.42 as the company posted reported Q1 beat And raised FY18 outlook. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) shares gained 13.7 percent to close at $11.04 as the company reported upbeat results for its first quarter. Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AXSM) rose 13.21 percent to close at $3.00 after the company disclosed a positive outcome of the interim analysis of STRIDE-1 Phase 3 trial of AXS-05 in treatment resistant depression. O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: ORLY) jumped 13.06 percent to close at $257.40 following upbeat Q1 profit. BioTelemetry,
• [By Max Byerly]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Concord Medical Services (CCM)

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• [By Max Byerly]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Concord Medical Services (CCM)

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• [By Logan Wallace]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Concord Medical Services (CCM)

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Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch Right Now: China Digital TV Holding Co., Ltd.(STV)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Sativacoin (CURRENCY:STV) traded 2.1% higher against the US dollar during the 1-day period ending at 22:00 PM E.T. on May 9th. Over the last week, Sativacoin has traded up 0.1% against the US dollar. One Sativacoin coin can now be purchased for $0.0318 or 0.00000341 BTC on popular exchanges including Cryptopia and YoBit. Sativacoin has a market capitalization of $225,415.00 and $19.00 worth of Sativacoin was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours.

Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch Right Now: Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Dubuque Bank & Trust Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Vanguard Information Technology ETF (NYSEARCA:VGT) by 4.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,740 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock after selling 1,045 shares during the quarter. Dubuque Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Vanguard Information Technology ETF were worth $3,718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Timothy Green, Nicholas Rossolillo, and Todd Campbell]

  Luckily, three of our Motley Fool investors are here to help cut through the noise. If you're looking to beat the market, the Vanguard Information Technology ETF (NYSEMKT:VGT) and Vanguard Healthcare ETF (NYSEMKT:VHT) give you the potential to do just that. If instead you just want to match the market's performance, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (NYSEMKT:VTI) is your best bet. Here's what you need to know about these three options.

• [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos, George Budwell, and Dan Caplinger]

  With those attractive characteristics in mind, we asked Motley Fool investors to highlight a few of the most attractive index funds. Read on to find out why Vanguard Information Technology (NYSEMKT:VGT), Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (NYSEMKT:VTI), and Vanguard Health Care Fund (NASDAQMUTFUND:VGHCX)�all made the list.