Oil Hits 4-Year Low; Solar Stocks Tumble

Canadian Solar Inc.'s CSIQ strong third-quarter earnings couldn't stem a sell-off in solar stocks Wednesday as oil prices hit multi-year lows.

Despite a small drop in October production reported by OPEC, Brent crude hit a four-year low Wednesday of $80.93 per barrel.

Canadian Solar, based in West Guelph, Ontario, posted a sequential profit growth of 46 percent and raised its 2014 outlook, citing opportunities in China.

The company recently agreed to establish a fund with Sichuan Development Investment Management Ltd. to finance solar power in China and the company expects to develop additional funding partnerships in China.

Canadian Solar is shifting its business to the construction of solar-powered utility plants from supplying solar panels.

Canadian Solar spiked higher at Wednesday's opening but quickly fell back, trading recently at $29.56, down 6 percent. During the past three months, Canadian is up 18 percent.

An exchange-traded fund focused on solar energy, Guggenheim Solar ETF TAN fell 1.6 percent early Wednesday. Guggenheim is heavily weighted on GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd, which is off nearly 12 percent this week.

Trina Solar Limited TSL, also based in China, fell 3.4 percent Wednesday.

SunPower Corporation SPWR dropped 1 percent, while First Solar, Inc. FSLR traded recently down 2.5 percent.

Sunedison Inc SUNE was off recently by 0.5 percent.