JANCO Partners upgraded American Superconductor (AMSC) from Market Perform to Accumulate ahead of its earnings report on Thursday.

Hat tip to StreetInsider.com for the following analyst comment:

“In view of the recent pullback in the stock price and continued momentum of the Chinese wind market benefiting AMSC, we are upgrading the stock to Accumulate. We believe that the company has a reasonable chance of outperforming Street expectations given that Sinovel accelerated their ramp schedule of 1.5MW turbine. This combined with increasing short interest (over 23% of the outstanding shares) could serve as possible catalysts for near-term price appreciation.”

“We believe that AMSC is well positioned to benefit from the ongoing rapid growth of the Chinese wind power market. The new order from Sinovel will add $100 million to the company’s backlog and bolster the company’s declining backlog as Sinovel accelerated their delivery schedule. This will help alleviate some concerns over the velocity at which the company burns through the announced backlog. In the most recent quarter the company reported a backlog of $497 million down from $634 in the previous year. However, we are concerned with the degree of customer concentration, primarily Sinovel, developing in the company’s backlog.”