Auriga is out this morning maintaining its Hold rating on Suntech Power (STP), but lowered the price target to $9. Hat tip to Street Insider for the analyst comment.
“We find little reason to invest in shares of Suntech. While the company touts itself as the largest solar module manufacturer, we find a lack of earnings power despite the increased scale of operations. Gross margins are in the mid-teens and operating margins are in single-digits, … Read the rest
Suntech Power (STP) reported a Q2 non GAAP EPS of $0.03 (taking out provisions and restructuring charges related to thin film and Shunda, which is below the analyst estimate of $0.10 (correction – that is inline with analyst estimate of .03). Revenue for the quarter was $625.1 million, which compares to the estimate of $595.39 million. While the EPS number was 50% lower than the year ago quarter, revenues nearly doubled over … Read the rest
Suntech Power (STP) is out this morning reporting preliminary results and the company is warning of a big quarterly loss due to the end of its thin film operations and a bad investment Shunda Holdings. The company is expected to report revenues in the range of $620 – $630 million which is above the analyst estimate of $585 million, but traders are likely to focus on that big quarterly loss, at least in the short … Read the rest
Jesse Pichel, who was formerly at Piper Jaffray, is now at Jefferies and initiating coverage on many green stocks. Hat tip to Street Insider for the ratings.
Buy Rating:
JA Solar (JASO) – $8 price target
Yingli Green Energy (YGE) – $15 price target
Trina Solar (TSL) – $35 price target
Itron (ITRI) – $74 price target
EnerSys (ENS) – $28 price target
American Superconductor (AMSC) – $35 price target
EnerNOC (ENOC) – $38 price … Read the rest
Citi has initiated coverage on a few more solar names, adding Trina Solar (TSL), Yingli Green Energy (YGE) and Suntech Power to its coverage. Hat tip to Street Insider for the analyst commentary.
TSL gets initiated with a Buy rating and price target of $30 which is about 50% higher from current levels. It’s down about 2% today and will face some resistance at the 200 day moving average. “We see solid execution, no need … Read the rest
It’s a busy afternoon for Hoku Scientific (HOKU). The company announced a revised agreement with Suntech Power (STP) which excludes Suntech from having to prepay $30 million for future shipments of polysilicon, but potentially allows Hoku to keep the $2 million already paid which will be credited to future shipments. The terms have also been shorted to one year and Hoku isn’t obligated to ship polysilicon until next June.
Pacific Epoch posted today that Huantai Silicon Science and Technology suspended its cooperation with Suntech Power (STP) in their Glory Silicon joint venture according to the 21st Century Business Herald which cited Huantai President Wang Lubao. Wang said the company plans to form a joint venture with MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) to manufacture solar cells.
The article wasn’t real clear as to whether the Glory Silicon project was ditched completely, but that appears to be … Read the rest
Needham & Company has come out with updates on their ratings of several solar stocks. Hat tip to Street Insider for the analyst comments:
Initiated coverage on First Solar (FSLR) with an Underperform and $92 price target.
“As the world’s largest producer of solar panels with the best cost structure, First Solar is benefiting from strong near-term demand and a growing pipeline of utility scale solar projects. However, we are concerned that margins will deteriorate … Read the rest
According to Reuters, demand for solar panels has risen so sharply that industry leader First Solar is unable to keep up. Although First Solar’s business slowed down in the 3rd quarter, it is expected to pick up in the fourth, despite German solar subsidy cuts that are expected to hit July 1.
Reuters quotes First Solar’s Stephan Hansen saying “In 2010 we will not be able to produce enough modules to meet demand.”
Suntech … Read the rest
Suntech Power (STP) reported earnings this morning that were just shy of analyst estimates on the EPS side due to a substantial currency exchange hit on a weakening Euro, but revenues beat analyst estimates and approached the record quarter in Q2 2008. The company posted an EPS of .11/share vs the analyst estimate of .14/share on revenues of $588 million vs the analyst estimate of $560 million. That’s a big jump over the year … Read the rest