A few solar upgrades to report this morning…
Suntech Power (STP) was raised to Neutral from Underperform by Macquarie. Shares are up about 3% on the upgrade. Click Here For Your FREE Suntech Analysis
Sunpower (SPWRA) was upgraded by Europe’s SocGen from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $29 to $31.moving this morning as we have an analyst upgrade over at Europe’s SocGen. The firm raised its investment rating on SunPower shares from Hold to Buy, also raising its price target from $29 to $31. Shares of SPWRA are also up about 3% today. Click Here For Your FREE Sunpower Analysis
Applied Materials (AMAT) has also been upgraded by FBR Capital from Underperform to Outperform.
Hat tip to StreetInsider.com for the following analyst note:
“We are upgrading our rating on AMAT shares and increasing our price target to $20 based on (1) our view that this cycle is a two-year cycle, and thus peak earnings power should not be realized until CY11; (2) AMAT’s success in gaining share in such traditional segments of the SSG (or core semi cap) market as dielectric etch; (3) increased capex by crystalline (Si) based solar customers in CY10 (where AMAT is expected to increase its penetration from 50% to 65%-plus); and (5) AMAT’s success in penetrating other segments of the renewable energy market (EES) such as LED, with revenue contribution starting in CY11. The bear story is (1) AMAT’s thin-film (TF) solar business will not gain any further traction (we agree; already dialed in to our estimates); (2) offering lower ASP in core semi cap (i.e., etch) to gain market share (we have already dialed in lower-than-typical gross margin for this segment); and (3) solar lowering the overall profitability (already dialed in to our estimates). We thus are updating our estimates to reflect peak earnings; our updated pro forma and GAAP CY09/CY10/CY11 EPS estimates are $0.18/$1.05/$1.32 and ($0.06)/$0.97/$1.24…We thus are increasing our CY09/CY10/CY11 revenue estimates to $5,445 million/$8,786 million/$10,151 million, with peak revenues forecast to materialize in CY11.”
:::: >>> Click Here For Your FREE AMAT Analysis
Update:
Yingli Green Energy (YGE) is also moving today on positive comments out of Piper Jaffray, saying that the $2.3 billion in tax credits announced by Obama last week should benefit (although modestly) YGE, Cree Inc (CREE), Sunpower (SPWRA) and First Solar (FSLR). The firm maintains its Overweight rating on YGE and price target of $19 which its darn close to hitting today.