Citi is out this morning maintaining its Hold rating on First Solar (FSLR) and raised the price target from $125 to $140.
“FSLR remains mired in a multi-year flattening of EPS from 2009-2011 with significant growth not likely until 2012. On the downside, if $6 is worst-case, this supports our view that stock price of $100 or slightly lower is where we’d expect to get more bullish. On the upside, if Street starts to look at 2012 (hard to imagine given ongoing demand uncertainties around 2011), we could see ~$150-160 which is some discounting on a 17x multiple applied to our $10 EPS in C2012.”
Shares of FSLR are trading higher again this morning, up about 2% and running right into resistance of the 200 day moving average. A successful clear of that level would be significantly bullish.