Real Goods Solar is Just as Well-Positioned as LDK Solar & ReneSola (SOL, RSOL, LDK)

Three weeks ago, I recommended Real Goods Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:RSOL) as a buy. Though the stock was still drifting in the shadow of a huge May pullback - from a high of $7.17 to a low of $2.13 by mid-June - RSOL was finding some support at key moving average lines, and even pushing up and off of them. Not many of you (and I'm using "you" interchangeably with "investors in general") seemed to care. So why am I looking at Real Goods Solar again now? Because, with competitors LDK Solar Co., Ltd (NYSE:LDK) and ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE:SOL) seeing their shares surge today, odds are good RSOL is going to get swept up in that move. Real Goods Solar shares are a better bet, however, in that - unlike SOL and LDK - they aren't overbought yet.

The prod for the big moves from Chinese solar panel makers LDK Solar Co. and ReneSola Ltd was the announcement that China's government is aiming to install 10 gigawatts of new solar power generating capacity by 2015.

Great, but in-the-know solar investors will immediately recognize that LDK and SOL are Chinese players equipped to serve the now-growing Chinese market. Real Goods Solar, on the other hand, is an American panel manufacturer serving the United States market. What's one got to do with the other? As they say, there's more to the story.

Just to paint the bigger picture first, nations and regions have become very protectionist when it comes to their solar industries. The renewed willingness from China to support its solar panel makers is partly an effort to stimulate its own economy, but also partly a snub of last year's new tariffs the U.S. placed in imports of Chinese solar panels, and this year's yet-to-be-enacted (but certain) 67% tariff on Chinese panels imported by European nations.

Even that's a simplified explanation, though. Suffice it to say that over the past several years, stressed supply agreements and tolerances have essentially made the solar panel industry a "you serve your country and we'll serve ours" kind of playing field.

And that's when the upside for Real Goods Solar, Inc. becomes clearer. Not that there was much of a chance of foreign-made solar panels making their way into the United States in the first place, but no that Chinese-made panels are going to be used in China and European-made panels are going to be used in Europe, United States panel makers are poised to enjoy minimal competition in supplying the surprisingly-fast-growing U.S. solar power market. RSOL is well-positioned to do just that.

Just for perspective, the United States' solar market grew by 76% in 2012; $11.5 billion was spent on solar installations. Yet, only 1.2 million homes in the United States are powered by solar. That means a lot of opportunity for Real Goods Solar, now without a lot of competition to fend off. RSOL installed 25 megawatts of the 3313 megawatts put into place in the U.S. last year. The fact that the chart's still finding support at those key moving average lines is just a little gravy right now.

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