Solars Rise as Merrill Downgrades First Solar (FSLR), SunPower (SPWRA)
More News related to CSIQ
- Notable Analyst Rating Changes 1/2: AF Upgraded; SUN, CSIQ, SOL, MDTH Downgraded
- Morning Movers 1/02: Starwood Hotels (HOT) Up On Confidentiality Agreement W/Sam Zell; Canadian Solar (CSIQ) Lower On Downgrade
- Piper Jaffray Cuts Estimates On Solar Sector, Citing Poor Order Visibility (SOL, CSIQ, ESLR, LDK, SOLR)
- Piper Jaffray Downgrades Canadian Solar (CSIQ) to Sell
- Halter USX China Index Announces 2008 Results and Adds New Constituents
More News related to CY
- Cypress to Announce Fourth-Quarter and Year-End 2008 Results on January 22
- Cybersurf Corp. Notice of Default Update
- Jefferies Mostly Bearish on Semiconductor Sector: Downgrades 11 Stocks, Upgrades 2 (INTC, AMD, TXN, BRCM, QCOM, more)
- New Cypress CapSense(TM) Solutions Expected to Expand Market Leadership in Touchscreen Space, According to Industry Report
- Cypress West Bridge(R) Controller Helps RIM Blackberry Bold Achieve Fastest Sideloading Times Among 3G Mobile Handsets
More News related to FSLR
- Sunrise Solar to Provide Solar to Brazilian Hospitals
- Top 15 For 2008 (No. 12): Roller Coaster Ride In Oil
- Top 15 For 2008 (No. 13): Obama Elected President
- LDK Solar (LDK) Up On Takeover Rumor
- Evolution Solar Comments on Solar Stock Rally
More News related to Downgrades
- ARGUS Downgrades Smith International (SII) to Hold
- Cantor Fitzgerald Downgrades Audiocodes (AUDC) to Hold After Negative 4Q Preannouncement
- MDB Capital Downgrades Ener1 (HEV) to Sell, Suspends Earnings Model and Valuation on Stock No Longer Justified
- DA Davidson Downgrades Ambassadors Group (EPAX) to Neutral
- SunTrust Downgrades Ruby Tuesday, Inc. (RT) to Neutral
Merrill Lynch has made a convicted bearish call on the solar space today, downgrading two popular solar stocks, First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) and SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWRA).
The firm lowered its rating on First Solar from Buy to Neutral, and cut its price target in half from $200 to $100. For SunPower, Merrill moved its rating from Neutral to Underperform while cutting its price target from $30 to $16.
Despite the downgrade from one of the top analyst firms, shares of First Solar and SunPower are hanging onto solid gains heading into the afternoon trading session. First Solar is currently up about 2.6% to $89.51 and SunPower is up 6.2% to $20.18.
Based on today's price levels, Merrill sees upside of nearly 12% for shares of First Solar and downside of about 20% for shares of SunPower.
Elsewhere in the sector: Suntech (NYSE: STP) up 12%, LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) up 7%, JA Solar (Nasdaq: JASO) up 8%, Solarfun (Nasdaq: SOLF) up 12%, Cypress (NYSE: CY) up 5%, Yingli (NYSE: YGE) up 7%, Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) up 7%, Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) down 9%.
SunPower Corporation engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of solar electric power technologies.
First Solar, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells solar electric power modules using a proprietary thin film semiconductor technology.
Related Categories
DowngradesInsiders' Blog
Stocks Mentioned
+0.61Related Entities
Comments View All Comments
Ignore Everybody!!! Invest Now!
Alternate energy need momenutm now!! Managements are watching stock prices and decide to postpone expansions because investors are still on fence between return to sky high fossil fuel prices or unprofitable alternate energy developments to suppress future fossil fuel prices.. Our government could do so much to help alternate energy unless we invest much more in alternate energy, then our government will see things more clearly .. Our government is not in the busiiness of telling us what to do... We decide what we want, and our government can be asked to help later.. dont worry about future help,just go invest to prevent fossil fuel prices from going up again!! You have no choice! Face it or perish!
I Dont Care What Merrill Thinks!!
Merrill Lynch is nothing but a bunch of screeching chimps!!
Utilites Are not Smart !
Utilites are so short term thinkers! Utilites seek the lowest prices for the next year . Utitlities knew that costs can go up a lot after this year or next, but they dont feel accountable by ratepayers.. Utilites simply pass costs along to ratepayers.. this is why it is so important to invest in solar energy as a major source that we can tap into during periods of bizarree fossil fuel or nuclear costs that is certain to come in the future.. Americans are still buying crossovers that gets only 18 mpg a tad better than 13 mpg SUVs, while they should have bought 30 mpg plus cars right now... Americans are still dragging feet toward fuel effcient cars because they still craves comfort and power.. sure many americans can afford $4, $6 or even $10 gasoline, but many of you simply cannot. So it is very important that we go ahead and invest in alternate energy now to prevent this horrible thing from happening again by suppressing the oglipolies of fossil fuel industries over our cars and home heating... We must set up a massive buffer against the Exxons, Chevrons , and Shells of the world from taking advantage of supply and demand... We will profit more from alternate energy through suppressed fossil fuel prices than from alternate energy profits.. Dont worry about profits now, you should worry far more about burning a bigger hole in your wallet pocket from Big OIl price gougings in the future... Alternate energy is your only insurance against fossil fuel prices that is guaranteed to go up through the roof!!!
Amazon.com CEO Is Still Young!
Bezos, a cumma laude student out of an university in the East is a genius himself.. He is doing all the right things and I simply know that he has years ahead of him to grow Amazon.com into the largest company in the world.
Sign up for StreetInsider Free!
Receive full access to all new and archived articles, unlimited portfolio tracking, e-mail alerts, custom newswires and RSS feeds - and more!
We Are Building 300 Coal PowerPlants
Gumby on Nov 24, 2008 11:29 AMIn the next 5 years, the world is busy planning for 300 new coal powerplants... If we want to replace those 300 coal powerplants with alternate energy, then we have to invest ten or even hundredfold into alternate energy stocks ... now!! Can you do it? This is how far behind we are still in alternate energy stocks!! Green stocks can go up far more than Dot.coms of yesteryear!! It is serious! Coal producers stand to cash in those new powerplants.... Analysts are trying to slow alternate energy with negative recommendations so to help coal producers... Just go invest in alternate energy and stop worrying about profits.. There can be losses but it will be smaller than the price increases you will pay in your heating bills and transporation in 5 years.. Yes, I am selling " energy price insurance" to you!! You see, if people decide to conserve energy and stay home, then we will pay more in slower economical growth... We can no longer depend on fossil fuel anymore!!! Coal may be plentiful , but it will follow oil prices up and down... It doesnt matter unless you are resovled to avoid increased usage of fossil fuel. It is the only way to suppress fossil fuel prices... It is UP TO YOU!!