Not all is rosy in solar land this morning. Piper Jaffray is downgrading Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) from Neutral to Underweight and is slashing the price target from $21 to $9.
Hat tip to StreetInsider.com for the following analyst comment:
“ENER’s end market is ~100% commercial, which by and large remains the weakest segment of the solar market and has not experienced the pronounced seasonality being witnessed in residential and to a lesser extent utility … Read the rest
About three weeks ago, I passed along a post to you from NotableCalls.com which highlighted the Oppenheimer call for a strong 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer was giving the green light on CSIQ saying to expect a big 3rd quarter. But first things first! How about that 2nd quarter!
The company smashed EPS estimates by swinging to a profit in the quarter of .49/share vs the analyst estimate of a .09/loss. Remind me again why these analysts … Read the rest
Real Goods (RSOL) is surging over 10% in after hours trading after the company announced earnings as well as a large order from Northrop Grumman to install three solar systems on two Navy bases beginning at the end of the year.
The company reported another losing quarter but saw a 44% bump in revenues (mostly due to acquisitions) over the year ago quarter and beat expectations. EPS came in at negative .03/share which compares to … Read the rest
Suntech just announced that they have signed a supply contract with Recurrent Energy. Under the contract, Suntech will supply Recurrent with more than 25,000 modules. Recurrent will use these to construct a 5 MW solar installation on top of San Franscisco’s Sunset Reservoir. Suntech will deliver all of the modules in the 4th quarter of this year. This is California’s largest solar project thus far, and will more than triple San Francisco’s current solar energy … Read the rest
Yesterday in the Washington Post, General Electric (GE) CEO Jeff Immelt and famed venture capitalist John Doerr wrote an op ed piece highlighting the failure of the US to take the lead in green energy and the emergence of China as the leader.
Some interesting facts:
– China cars are 35% more fuel efficient
– they spend 10x what the US does as a % of GDP on green energy
– China on track to … Read the rest
GT Solar (SOLR) reported earnings results after the bell today that were quite good, but missed analyst estimates. The company reported an EPS of .05/share which was 67% higher than the year ago quarter, but shy of the analyst estimate of .06/share. Revenues of $72 million missed the analyst estimate of $86 million, but was also an improvement over the year ago quarter by 26%.
“We saw a number of positive developments in the … Read the rest
MEMC Electronic Materials was ordered to pay over $8.8 million in a legal dispute with BP Solar, according to the St. Louis Business Journal. The judgement against MEMC came on Friday after a jury ruled that MEMC had violated a supply agreement with BP back in 2006 and 2007. According to BP Solar, it had an agreement with MEMC to supply it with polysilicon powder for three years. MEMC claims the agreement never existed, … Read the rest
Evergreen Solar just announced that it has finalized its contracts with Jiawei Solarchina Co., Ltd with the following provisions in place:
Evergreen will lease a production facility that Jiawei is building on its campus and use the facility to manufacture its String Ribbon wafers.
Jiawei will take those wafers and turn them into panels on a contract manufacturing basis. As part of the contract manufacturing agreement, Evergreen will pay Jianwei for its cell and panel … Read the rest
BP Solar will begin work next month on what FedEx (FDX) is calling the largest rooftop solar project in the country, spanning 3.3 acres and 12,400 solar panels. The 2.4MW system, which is expected to be completed by November, will provide about a third of the power for the FedEx hub in Woodbridge, NJ. Under the agreement, BP will install and operate the system and sell the resulting energy to FedEX. This isn’t FedEX’s first … Read the rest
I’ll start calling them common sense Cowen because they’re the only ones (along with Wedbush) able to realize that this First Solar (FSLR) sell off is overdone and the Germany concern is an overreaction. Cowen is out defending First Solar this morning saying to buy on weakness
Hat tip to StreetInsider.com for the following analyst comments:
The firm says that the plans to offer rebates as an attempt to keep projects in Germany on track … Read the rest