What Made First Solar Hit a New 52-Week High Today? (FSLR)

April 4, 2008 12:41 PM EDT

Shares of First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) have spiked to a new 52-week high today. First Solar shares have gained as much as $32, or about 12.8%, marking a fresh 52-week high at $283.90.

First Solar is surging today on no news directly released from the company, showing that momentum investors are all over the sector, likely responding to recent industry-wide news. Today's move is significant as, after falling more than 30% in January, shares of First Solar have now retraced those losses, moving into the green on a year-to-date basis.

As First Solar is often considered the "best of breed" solar play, the market is paying a very high premium to receive its $2 of earnings: the stock trades at a P/E multiple of about 137x. With such a high P/E, many market pundits have been waiting for First Solar to see a correction in its stock price, yet today's move certainly seems like a slap in the face to these bears.

Speaking of market pundits, CNBC's Jim Cramer highlighted shares of First Solar on his popular Mad Money show last night. Cramer called First Solar "the single best way to play green energy". The segment caused First Solar to modestly jump after-hours, and although Cramer has been known to slightly move a market, today's move is certainly stronger to be attributed to the President of Cramerica.

Half way through the trading day, shares of First Solar have already almost doubled their average daily volume of 4.89 million shares. In fact, the entire solar sector is seeing heavy volume today. This momentum could be related to crude oil moving higher by more than a percent, or possibly contract news at another top solar company, LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK). At the same time, the solar sector has been an extremely hot area and today's action could just be new investors coming into the market.

Here are some other solar stocks that are seeing mysterious upside action today:

• JA Solar (Nasdaq: JASO) up 17%
  
• LDK Solar up 10%
  
• SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWR) up 9%
  
• Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq: ESLR) up 8%
  
• Suntech Power (NYSE: STP) up 7%
  
• Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) up 6%
  
• Yingli Solar (NYSE: YGE) up 4%
  
• Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) up 3%

[BCS]
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