Two days after French oil giant Total’s $1.3 billion tender offer to buy a 60 percent stake in SunPower (SPWRA) went through, the stock slipped to its lowest levels in more than six weeks.

More than 52 percent of shareholders offered up their stock for Total, according to news reports following the deal. The company is slated to buy 30.2 million of SunPower’s Class A shares and 25.2 million Class B shares for $23.25 each, according to a statement from the oil company.

The company also said in a statement that it may buy the rest needed to make up the complete 60 percent stake it was seeking.

The stock is back to levels not seen since the tender offer was announced in late April. But that was expected.

“SPWR is down 19 percent since the expiration of the Total tender offer,” Adam Krop, a senior analyst with Ardour Capital Investments wrote in an e-mail. “Since the offer was made in late April, TOT’s bid on the shares supported the stock price in the $20 - $21 range while the solar index (SOLRX) experienced a 23 percent decline.”

Solar stocks in general have been slipping in recent weeks because of bad news and uncertainty coming from Europe about reorganization of subsidy programs there and because of increased costs after the devastating Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan.

After Total’s offer to buy SunPower shares at an inflated price expired on June 14, the support for the $20 to $21 per share price was no longer in place, Krop said. “And the stock fell accordingly.”

The drop does not mean SunPower is any worse off than other solar panel manufacturers right now, but the drop was expected.

“From a fundamental perspective, SPWR has been impacted by industry and company specific headwinds,” Krop wrote. “The Company lowered 2011 earnings guidance on June 8 and is facing near-term restructuring expenses as a result of exiting the ground mount project business in Italy. In addition, the industry is seeing substantial pricing pressure for solar components which is expected to drive down margins, especially for companies, like SPWR, that have higher manufacturing cost structures.”

Image courtesy of the Air Force Academy.