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
Last week, Lazard Capital and Collins Stewart upgraded and maintained their Buy ratings on Yingli Green Energy (YGE). Today, it’s Piper Jaffray’s turn. The firm reiterates its Buy rating on Yingli and is raising the price target from $13 to $17.
Comments from Piper according to StreetInsider.com:
“We believe Germany is the most import market for growth in 2009. YGE has 50-70% of its production contracted with leading German distributors and installers, greater than … Read the rest
Yesterday Piper was out with a downgrade of GT Solar (SOLR) from Buy to Neutral after the company reported awful earnings results, saying they are moving to the sidelines until the solar industry recovers.
Piper analyst says, “Although SOLR remains well positioned for an eventual unit recovery, is achieving promising R&D developments for next-gen equipment, and has a strong balance sheet, we believe shares of SOLR will be capped at current levels until a … Read the rest
Piper Jaffray is also initiating coverage on American Superconductor (AMSC) today which has looked very bullish in recent weeks but getting a bit extended. It’s up again today. Piper is out with a Neutral rating and price target of $22.
Analyst notes:
– company well positioned to benefit from govt mandates to grow wind energy in China
– customer concentration risk is significant with 67% of revenue from Sinovel in China
– China economic stimulus … Read the rest
According to StreetInsider.com, Piper Jaffray is initiating coverage on Suntech Power (STP) today with a Neutral rating and a price target of $13. It calls the company’s current overcapacity, distressed balance sheet and lower utilization a reason to stay on the sidelines until a meaningful pull back in the stock. They believe unabsorbed overhead and lower margin will persist through 2010. On the bright side, they believe the company is a cost leader vs … Read the rest
According to StreetInsider.com, Piper Jaffray is out with a Sell rating on LDK after the company reported poor earnings yesterday and slashed the price target from $9 to $3. Here are Piper’s notes on LDK:
– steadily deteriorating balance sheet
– plan to construct a polysilicon plan too much of a risk and possible liquidity drain
– hundreds of millions of customer prepayments that had been promised to fund the new plant are now … Read the rest
Analysts are out with a few notes this morning – an initiation of coverage on American Superconductor (AMSC) with a BUY and a downgrade of Evergreen Solar (ESLR) to NEUTRAL.
According to StreetInsider.com, Piper Jaffray downgraded ESLR to Neutral for the following reasons:
– rapidly losing polysilicon cost advantage
– low visibility in financial impact of outsourcing production to Asia
– minimal balance sheet flexibility for pursuing expansion in Asia
Broadpoint AmTech Initiates Coverage … Read the rest
Just a couple days ago Raser Technologies (RZ) announced they had secured 37K acres in Oregon for geothermal plants and the stock shot up on the news with volume. After a pull back yesterday, the stock may run up into its conference presentations over the next two weeks.
Here is the schedule:
— Southwest Securities Investor Conference on February 12 at the Hotel Crescent Court, Dallas. This conference is scheduling one-on-one meetings, and those interested … Read the rest
According to StreetInsider.com, Piper Jaffray is out cutting estimates on the solar sector due to poor visibility. Piper analyst Jesse Pichel lowered industry estimates for the 1st half of 09 and downgraded their rating of Canadian Solar (CSIQ) to Sell and ReneSola (SOL) to Neutral due to low order visibility for Q1 in Germany and zero visibility in other markets but expects some recovery in late spring, early summer but only if credit markets … Read the rest
According to StreetInsider.com, Piper Jaffray has lowered the price target of Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) from $56 to $38 but maintains its neutral rating.
The firm notes that “ENER management guided to flat to slightly down ASPs for FY09 which seems difficult to achieve in our opinion given the dramatic decline in polysilicon module prices. The company maintained revenue guidance for FY09 and tightened solar GM guidance to 34%…We believe that ENER may run … Read the rest