Not a good day for MEMC Electronics (WFR) today. It didn’t start out well with Collins Stewart downgrading the stock from Buy to Hold on falling polysilicon prices which resulted in reducing Q4 08 and 1H 09 projections to reflect the falling prices. The stock closed down today nearly 13% to a new multi year low.
For good measure the company is out after the bell downgrading itself, cutting Q4 sales guidance from $540 – … Read the rest
Gene Marcial of BusinessWeek is touting Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) as a top thin film solar pure play and believes its shares will surge higher again once solar stocks come back into favor. ENER’s proprietary technologies allow solar cells to be embedded into roofing materials.
“We view its thin-film solar technology as superior to, and differentiated from, the more established and commodity-like polysilicon-based solar technology,” says Angelo Zino, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s Equity … Read the rest
In an article over at Kiplingers, Laura Cohn discusses some renewable energy plays that could begin running again due to Obama’s clean energy policies, which include deriving 10% of electricity from renewable energy sources within just the next few years.
– Vestas Wind Systems (VWSYF.PK)
The Danish company trades on the pink sheets and is the world’s leading supplier of wind turbines with a market share of 23%
– First Solar (FSLR)… Read the rest
Investors have filed a class-action lawsuit against MEMC Electronic Materials, claiming that the company did not disclose production issues at its facilities in Italy and Texas. These issues caused the results for the quarter ending June 30th, 2008 to be unexpectedly below target.
Here’s a little bit more detail on the lawsuit from the press release linked to above:
… Read the restThen on July 23, 2008 MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. first disclosed that in early June 2008
LDK Solar (LDK) just announced a new 3 year contract with BP Solar Intl. Under terms of the deal LDK will deliver about 435MW of multicrystalline silicon solar wafers from 2009 to 2011.
“We are very pleased to extend our relationship with BP Solar,” stated Mr.Xiaofeng Peng, Chairman and CEO of LDK Solar. “This additional wafer supply contract expands our North American presence and further enhances LDK’s position as a market leader.”… Read the rest
Here’s a rundown of today’s analyst notes on several solar names according to StreetInsider.com
Downgrades
– Raymond James downgrades Suntech Power (STP) from Strong Buy to Outperform and has price target of $15
– FBR downgrades GT Solar (SOLR) from Outperform to Market Perform
– Credit Suisse downgrades JA Solar (JASO) from Outperform to Neutral
– Wedbush Morgan downgrades SunPower (SPWRA) from Strong Buy to Buy and slashed the price target from $100 to $32. … Read the rest
According to StreetInsider.com, Citi is maintaining its HOLD rating but lowering the price target from $20 to $11.
The firm notes –
“If there was a surprise here it was the magnitude of poor order guide and the capitulation that this could take a full year to sort out. More broadly, the fact that orders are simply not flowing through to revenue/EPS means that AMAT’s backlog continues to balloon (>10mnths in Q109) and backlog … Read the rest
LDK Solar (LDK) is commenting on its financial position this morning, saying they are in good shape for next year. Usually when a company comes out with a statement to defend its financial position in the face of growing concern you have to be skeptical, so we’ll revisit this statement in 6 months and see just how strong they are in 09.
The company noted that it has secured contracts totaling 1.8GW for 2009 which … Read the rest
Hoku Materials announced that it has signed a supply contract with Polymet Alloys for silicon metal to be converted into polysilicon for the solar market. The 3-year contract states that Polymet will supply Hoku with specified amounts of silicon each year starting in 2009. This guarantees that Hoku will have enough silicon for the start-up of its plant. If necessary, both parties can agree to expand the contract after the first year.
Dustin Shindo, Hoku’s … Read the rest
GT Solar International, Inc announced the appointment of an 8th member of their board of directors today: Noel G. Watson, the Chairman of Jacobs Engineering Group. Mr. Watson has been with Jacobs Engineering group for four decades. He started as a process engineer, and has worked his way up from there.
J. Bradford Forth, GT Solar’s Chairman, commented on what the appointment will bring to his company:
… Read the rest“Noel brings a vast amount of knowledge