Trina Solar Limited (TSL) is having a little trouble this session getting a bid. Actually, it's having a lot of trouble. At the time of this writing, the company's American Depository Shares (ADSs) were down 7% to $22.21. Significant volume accompanied the sell-off.

Earlier today, the maker of solar photovoltaic items reported results for the third quarter. According to Reuters, sales went up over 100% to $508 million. Net income of $1.08 per ADS beat the consensus estimate by 21 pennies. The gross margin experienced an improvement on a year-over-year basis. Seems like a data set that should be bought, right?

Shares of MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) turned higher right out of the gate Thursday morning, surging roughly 4% with the sound of the opening bell. For the catalyst behind this bullish gap, we need look no further than peripatetic CNBC analyst Jim Cramer.

On Wednesday, the Mad Money host cited MEMC as his top pick within the solar sector. To back up his bullish opinion, Cramer cited three key factors: the recent $380 million sale of subsidiary SunEdison's Italian property, lowball earnings estimates from analysts, and heavy insider buying by company execs in recent months.

This morning, JA Solar Holdings (JASO) announced that it has signed multiple supply agreements with "several customers" to provide solar cells in 2011. The company will supply the solar cells from January 2011 through December 2011, but they are accompanied with prepayments or the delivery.

The company's CEO Dr. Peng Fang stated, "We are seeing very strong demand for our technologically advanced, high-quality products from our diverse global customer base ... Our customers view JA Solar as a reliable supplier partner and rely on JA to provide them with their 2011 product requirements."

Trina Solar (TSL) has had a rough couple of years. After a $10 IPO in 2006, it flew up to peak at $35 in 2007 only to bottom out under $4 at the end of 2008. It was partially the broader market that held back Trina, but also speculation over the viability of solar power as oil prices softened.

Trina Solar nearly became a bear market statistic. But the company has fought back from less than $3 a share to its current $25 price, and there are a lot of reasons to think that Trina Solar is making a comeback. In fact, it's one of my favorite small-cap stocks to buy this earnings season -- and here are five reasons why:

Bronte Capital recently expressed a bit of negative sentiment regarding First Solar (FSLR). Well, if there's anything I find more fun than assessing a company's strengths and weaknesses, it's analyzing the statements issued by stock analysts. Now, let's have some fun.

First, understand that Bronte Capital has issued its statement from an openly declared short position. In essence that means Bronte will tell you what it needs to in order to cover said position. Can you say biased opinion? Bronte Capital can.

A stock with room to rise, such is the current condition of First Solar Inc. (FSLR). On the one hand we have an analyst consensus of hold, due to the loss of subsidies in the company's primary market and remarkably low natural gas prices. On the other hand, we have overt optimism about the company from none other than Dow Jones, and brokerage price targets that go as high as $200. In cases such as this, I like to take a step back to look at the big picture.

FSLR is just beginning to rise from a 52-week low. The company's balance sheet is rock solid, its reputation is gleaming, and the market for its goods is strong. Estimates indicate that the global volume of solar installations slated for 2010 will be nearly double the 2009 level of 6.4 gigawatts.

On Thursday, solar firm JA Solar Holdings (JASO) upped its outlook for the year. The company shares rallied 9% Thursday as JASO topped the consensus estimate with its fourth-quarter earnings report by three cents. In addition, JASO raised its outlook for the fiscal year.

The company noted that it will produce solar panels with roughly 1.1GW of capacity during 2010 in an attempt to respond to growing global demand. For this reason, the company believes that an expected decline in average selling prices will be offset by increased sales. As a result of this news, Raymond James upped JASO to outperform from market perform with a target price of $6.50.

The first play with First Solar (FSLR) did not work out, to say the least: stopped out at $115 after an initial buy recommendation at $184.50 on June 2, 2009. Talk about haircuts.

Well, the calculation here is that FSLR is now slightly undervalued at $116, but the qualifiers abound for this play, so attention is advised.

PPI came in at +0.2% and the core PPI was unchanged. This sounded good, but China put the hex on the market by curbing its overextended businesses by asking lenders to stop making loans for the rest of the month. The dollar went higher on Greek woes again, and both the Greek impact on the US dollar strength and the China news took a bite out of commodity prices.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,583.73 -141.70 (-1.32%)
S&P 500 1,138.04 -12.19 (-1.06%)
Nasdaq 2,291.25 -29.15 (-1.26%)

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The U.S. Department of Energy is becoming a major venture capital player. The government agency is shooting to dish out -- through loans and grants -- more than $40 billion to companies in the clean technology space. The DOE is looking to fund a wide range of businesses in this space from solar panels to electric cars. In the first three quarters of this year, the department pushed out $13 billion under this model, far ahead of the $2.68 billion that venture capital funds pumped into the sector.

So far, more than 40 companies involved in the auto industry have pursued DOE cash. They have their collective eye on the $25 billion in federal low interest loans that have been allocated to the sector.

Talk about stocks that have fallen far and fast. LDK Solar (LDK) was looking to add a bit of momentum with its earnings report, as the stock is battling overhead resistance from its 20-week moving average. This trendline has pushed the stock lower for a majority of 2009 and 2008, during which LDK has dropped from its late-2008 high of $52.40 to its current perch near the $8 level.

The good news is that a news event like an earnings report could lend momentum to any squandering stock, so let's see what LDK reported. The solar panel producer earned 27 cents per share in the third quarter, far worse than last year's same-quarter earnings of 77 cents per share. Quarterly revenue was nearly halved, as LDK brought in $281.9 million compared to $542 million.

Energy Conversion Devices (NASDAQ: ENER) tumbled to a new 52-week low today as investors panned the company's earnings report. This morning, ENER confessed to a fourth-quarter loss of $15.8 million, or 37 cents per share, more than reversing its year-ago profit of 24 cents per share. Revenue for the period tumbled 38% to $51.4 million. Both figures fell short of analysts' consensus estimates, which called for a loss of 8 cents per share on $55 million in revenue.

"Demand for solar products in our target markets weakened further from the third quarter into the fourth quarter as commercial construction declined, building owners deferred reroofing projects and project financing constraints continued," explained Chief Executive Mark Morelli.

After the closing bell sounds this afternoon, LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) will report quarterly earnings. Expectations are pegged at a loss of 91 cents per share for the solar firm, so what can you expect in the wake of the report? Let's take a look at LDK's technical prospects and what an earnings miss or stronger-than-expected earnings could do for the company.

First things first, LDK manufactures and sells solar wafers to other solar manufacturers, both in China (the company's home) and across the globe. The company performed well in the past, when the new global conscience had companies and individuals looking for cleaner forms of energy. Unfortunately, this little thing called a recession occurred, pulling many customers away from LDK and hurting the company on the bottom line.

Today was supposed to be all about GDP. We got a mere 1% preliminary reported drop in Q2 GDP, much narrower than the -1.5% expected. Yet the market sold off on the news. The the indexes spent much of the day deciding whether to stay up or to go down.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,171.39 +16.93 (0.18%)
S&P 500 987.44 +0.69 (0.07%)
Nasdaq 1,978.50 -5.80 (-0.29%)

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Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) and solar technology company SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA) teamed up today with an agreement for Wells to finance up to $100 million in new solar energy systems. SunPower will create agreements with end power users and handle operational issues, and Wells will finance and retain ownership of the systems, according to a pair of press releases from the two companies.

The Business Insider says that a research note from FBR Capital says this amount will allow SunPower to add about 20-25 MW of capacity, and that pricing for the solar power will be at competitive rates of under $0.15/kwh. The overall effect on earnings is expected to be immaterial. The average estimate for EPS for the 2009 fiscal year is $1.07, but with a wide range of $0.03 to $1.48. EPS last year was $2.28.