Solar Sector Rising Amid 2-Month High in Oil, Bullish Oppenheimer Note (SOLF, LDK, YGE, JASO, more)

Solar stocks are trading sharply higher today amid several bullish news items:

• crude oil is continuing higher once again today. Despite a build in crude and gasoline inventories over the last week, energy traders are still buying oil contracts today, pushing the price up by more than 1% to $82.74. The trade goes: as oil prices rise, there is an increasing need for alternative forms of energy, ie. solar, wind, etc. Crude hasn't traded near the $83 level since the end of October.
  
• Oppenheimer issued a note on the sector, saying that it expects results in the short-term to be better-than-expected. The firm raised earnings estimates on Solarfun (Nasdaq: SOLF), LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK), Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE), JA Solar (Nasdaq: JASO), ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) and Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ). Oppenheimer predicts slowing demand within the industry during the last quarter of '09 and first quarter of '10, but believes demand will be strong after that. The firm believes upside in the market will be driven by strength in Germany as fears of yet another subsidy cut in the country will cause a tightening of demand.

Although Oppenheimer raised estimates on numerous solar stocks, it only raised its price target on one stock, Solarfun. The firm now sees Solarfun rising to $13 over the next year, up from $10 previously. Oppenheimer called Solarfun "the most attractive" stock among the Chinese solar companies.

Around the sector:

• Solarfun - up 9.7% to $9.66
  
• LDK Solar - up 3% to $7.94
  
• Yingli - down 2.3% to $18.07
  
• JA Solar - up 7.4% to $6.80
  
• ReneSola - up 9% to $5.71
  
• Canadian Solar - down 0.4% to $32.59
  
• First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) - up 1.8% to $139.87
  
• SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWRA) - up 3.7% to $25.76

A heavily-watched ETF, the Claymore/MAC Global Solar Index (NYSE: TAN) is up 0.5% today.

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