The company’s announcement:

U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning not on any particular news, but likely more influenced by tomorrow’s start of the Fed’s June meeting and Wednesday’s announcement of interest rates. Shares traded higher until the Financial Times reported in mid-afternoon that the Fed would begin to taper its asset purchases. Treasury yields rose and prices fell. In Europe, the eurozone trade surplus came in lower than expected. In Asia, the Nikkei closed up nearly 3%, ending a string of losses, while Chinese investors are worried about the country’s massive credit bubble. In the U.S. the Empire State manufacturing index looked good, but looks can be deceiving. The homebuilders’ confidence index rose to a seven-year high in June.

The U.S. dollar index is trading up 0.20% today, now at 80.8280. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.8% at 631.24. WTI crude oil closed down fractionally today, at $97.77 a barrel. Brent crude trades down 0.5% at $105.38 a barrel. Natural gas is up 3.8% today at about $3.87 per million BTUs. Gold settled down 0.3% today at $1,383.10.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly 110 points to 15,179.85 (0.73%), the NASDAQ rose more than 28 points (0.83%) to 3,452.13, and the S&P 500 rose 0.76% or more than 12 points to 1,639.04.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including:

• Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) cut to ‘market perform’ at Raymond James;
• Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) raised to ‘strong buy’ at Raymond James;
• Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) started as ‘overweight’ at Global Equities;
• Eni SpA (NYSE: E) cut to ‘underperform’ at BNP Paribas; and
• ChannelAdvisor Corp. (NYSE: ECOM) exited its post-IPO quiet period today with recommendations of ‘buy’ from Goldman Sachs, Needham, and Stifel Nicolaus, and a rating of ‘outperform’ at Raymond James.

There have been no notable earnings since Friday night’s closing bell.

Before markets open tomorrow morning, we are scheduled to get earnings reports from Korn/Ferry International (NYSE: KFY) and FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE: FDS).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR) is down 5.5% at $5.67. The coal miner’s stock dropped as more data piles up showing declining demand from China.

Kandi Technologies Group Inc. (NASDAQ: KNDI) is up 29% at $8.09. The electric car maker said today that the city of Hangzhou would deploy 5,000 to 10,000 of the firm’s cars in the city’s ride sharing program.

Amicus Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: FOLD) is down 21.6% at $2.50 after posting a new 52-week low of $2.30 earlier. The biopharmaceutical firm said today that an experimental drug for Fabry disease will be delayed by as much as a year.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) begins its two-day meeting. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – Consumer price index
• 8:30 a.m. – Housing starts
• 11:30 a.m. – 4-week bill auction

ChannelAdvisor Corp. (NYSE: ECOM) was started as Buy at Goldman Sachs, started as Buy at Needham, started as Buy at Stifel Nicolaus and started as Outperform at Raymond James.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.

CYS Investments Inc. (NYSE: CYS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Wunderlich.

Century Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ: CENX) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Extra Space Storage Inc. (NYSE: EXR) was upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) was raised to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna.

Koninklijke Philips N.V. (NYSE: PHG), or Philips, was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

ProLogis Inc. (NYSE: PLD) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.

TIBCO Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TIBX) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was started as Overweight at boutique firm Global Equities.

U.S. Silica Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SLCA) was started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

UBS has issued its Dividend Ruler Stocks that combine good yield and growth prospects.

Read Also: Top Analyst Downgrades and Cautious Research Calls

What the company neglected to mention was the share price. That is an amateur hour failure that will allow short sellers to beat up on the stock for at least another day before the stock is issued.

First Solar said that the company intends to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including acquisitions of under-development photovoltaic solar power system projects, investments in photovoltaic solar power system projects that will be jointly developed with strategic partners, and capital expenditures or strategic investments to develop certain business units and expand in new geographies.

What was not specified was any long-term government loan repayments, but we suspect that First Solar has made this filing to allow for the possible repayment of at least part of a U.S. Department of Energy loan, just as we saw with Tesla.

J.P. Morgan Securities, Morgan Stanley, BofA/Merrill Lynch and Citigroup are the joint book-running managers. The book-running managers are listed as Credit Suisse, HSBC, Credit Agricole CIB and Goldman Sachs. First Solar has granted these underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 1,275,000 additional shares of common stock.

Shares of First Solar closed down more than 7% at $52.29 last night, against a 52-week trading range of $12.50 to $59.00. The stock is down another 4.5% shortly after this morning’s open, at $49.96.

First Solar’s “use of proceeds” said that the company intends to capital for general corporate purposes. This was specified as being for acquisitions of under development photovoltaic solar power system projects, investments in photovoltaic solar power system projects that will be jointly developed with strategic partners and capital expenditures or strategic investments to develop certain business units and expand in new geographies.

What was not specified was any long-term government loan repayments, but we suspect that First Solar has made this filing to allow for the possible repayment of at least part of a Department of Energy loan just like you saw with Tesla. After all, the stock had rallied exponentially and the secondary offering was at least temporarily well received after the loan repayments.

J.P. Morgan Securities, Morgan Stanley, BofA/Merrill Lynch and Citigroup are the joint book-running managers. The book-running managers are listed as Credit Suisse, HSBC, Credit Agricole CIB and Goldman Sachs. First Solar has granted these underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 1,275,000 shares of common stock.

Shares of First Solar closed down over 7% at $52.29 on Tuesday against a 52-week trading range of $12.50 to $59.00. While shares were up almost 70% so far in 2013 even after the 7% price drop, the initial after-hours reaction had shares down another 4%.

First Solar had a closing bell market cap of about $4.6 billion. Its March 30 cash balance and short-term investments was more than $1 billion, but First Solar carried $501 million in long-term debt and $560 million in “other” liabilities.

Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) was downgraded to Sell from an already cautious Neutral rating at Goldman Sachs.

CVR Energy Inc. (NYSE: CVI) was downgraded to Sell from an already cautious Neutral rating at Goldman Sachs.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.

Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Lazard.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Telecom Italia SpA (NYSE: TI) was cut to Underweight from Neutral at J.P. Morgan.

Here are the least attractive and overvalued stocks of Warren Buffett.

Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was given a word of caution over pricey batteries in Barron’s over the weekend; shares are down about 4% in early indications. Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) was also given some cautious valuation comments in Barron’s over the weekend as shares look fully valued.

Here are the top upgrades and stocks to buy this morning.

24/7 Wall St. wanted to give a quick valuation analysis on the run here. We evaluated market caps, earnings or sales multiples, share performance and other metrics on each one.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is the de facto leader of solar power in the United States. A recent upgrade from Goldman Sachs to Buy from Neutral really caught the value-conscious investors off guard because what had been a runaway rally in 2013 is now up around $56, after what had previously been $52 on the stock. The good news is that now with its higher guidance, First Solar shares trade at only about 13 times expected 2013 earnings. The bad news is that 2013 is expected to be the sales peak, as revenue is predicted to drop next year. Analysts also still have a price target that is almost $40, because the stock ran above and beyond the pre-news price targets. First Solar as of a $56 price has seen its stock rally more than 81% so far in 2013. One reason for chasing First Solar is that, as a leader, its market cap is still just under $5 billion. Another thing that may keep the sensible crowd from winning is that First Solar’s stock price was north of $250 back in the solar bubble of 2008.

Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) is Elon Musk’s bear-eater of an electric car company. With a new sale-lease program, an expansion of charging stations and Tesla repaying the Department of Energy almost a decade early on its loan, this stock is chugging along. Even after Friday’s drop to $102.50, this stock is up a crazy 200% so far in 2013. Despite this going way above what we consider a fair value price of $74.20, according to Wall Street, the reality is that momentum has trumped common valuation metrics. Tesla’s market cap is now almost $12 billion and it trades at about six times sales and more than a 100 times projected 2014 earnings. Investors are playing what they hope is a 2015 value story when they are chasing this growth.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) had been the story before solar and electric cars took over. The stock may be about $20 off of its fresh highs, but things were good enough that it is was added to the NASDAQ 100 Index. Even after pulling back, Netflix stock is up about 145% so far in 2013. Valuations are still sky high here, at about 162 times expected 2013 earnings. The market value is close to $13 billion. Netflix has a focus on international growth as the next driver, and many investors still recall that Netflix saw its stock approach $300 in the prior peak of 2011. Netflix stock analysts have caught up more than before with a $203 consensus price target, although that is still about 10% less than the current share price.

The gains in these stocks have been more than impressive. In some cases they have gone above and beyond what logic or common sense might have dictated. It is easy to say that Tesla is no-man’s land, but momentum investors in First Solar and Netflix can easily say that the fundamental valuations do not matter because these are nowhere close to their prior peaks.

It is a bull market. Sometimes common sense and logic just cannot even come close to keeping up with momentum and euphoria.

You might think that a declining short interest and a year-low short interest would not be grounds for saying that short covering is behind a rally. The problem is that Tesla first announced its decision to sell common stock and convertible notes on May 15. While that matches the settlement date for Tesla’s short interest, that is after the actual trade dates that would have counted toward making up that short interest.

The May 15 settlement date had  the short interest in Tesla at 23.04 million shares. This is the lowest nominal short interest seen in Tesla shares in over a year. This is also the fourth straight drop in the short interest after that short interest peaked at over 32.3 million shares in mid-March.

It is very likely that the current short interest is currently higher than what the May 15 settlement date implies. Investors who buy shares of common stock and who buy convertible debt often short their shares on what is considered “short against the box” so that they can have a fixed sale prices that is hopefully higher than when they commit to buy the offering.

Some of the move higher in the price of Tesla stock is actually due to fundamentals. Reports that Tesla is looking at an entry-level car which might rival the Nissan Leaf are likely helping out. Hope of more charging stations may also be driving the fundamentals here, particularly if Musk’s latest financing offers for the electric cars really boost sales. News that CEO Elon Musk was spending $100 million to buy shares in the secondary offering  also helped to minimize some of the fears about dilution.

As we warned when we said the Tesla rally is ending, it is a raging bull market and this bull market is ignoring valuations at a time that alternative energy is doing well for shareholders all over again. We would love to again point out that Tesla’s $12 billion market valuation values it at more than 6-times expected sales, but there is no point. When the bulls get to run freely, it doesn’t matter if the bulls are in a china shop or on the streets of Pamplona.

Tesla shares are up over $7 and are not just over $100 for the price of Tesla stock. The stock is over $104 and this is proving to be one of those stock markets where momentum can overtake gravity, common sense, and valuation. Even if a Tesla short is allowed at a firm, too many investors remember what happened when they short sold internet stocks in 1999. They were right, but if their timing was wrong by even a day or two they might have gone bankrupt.

Electric car company Better Place said on Sunday it had filed a motion in an Israeli court to wind up the company, bringing an end to a venture whose battery charging network had aimed to boost electric car sales.

Better Place partnered with Renault in 2008 to create an electric car system combining charging terminals with battery swap stations to increase the range of electric cars and put an end to drivers’ worries about running out of power.

It raised more than $850 million from top-tier investors and just two years ago said it was valued at $2.25 billion.

But sales never took off, with only just over a thousand cars on the road in Israel and Denmark, the first two countries where it began operating.

Oil dropped below $94 a barrel, and gasoline prices have been falling as well. The ongoing decline in gas prices in the United States may be helped by low travel levels over the Memorial Day weekend. If the trend continues into the July 4 weekend, it is safe to assume that prices will stay down until Labor Day. Along with the drop in travel, gas supplies have been abundant, and there have been no major refinery closings or huge storms that might undermine production. The AAA Fuel Gauge shows price levels for a gallon of regular are about the same as a year ago. Yesterday the price was $3.626, against $3.641 the same day last year. However, the recent trend is downward. A week ago, the price per gallon was $3.654. If low gas prices tend to help disposable consumer income, then consumer spending in the second and third quarters could be moderately strong.

Car Company Calls It Quits

For every Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) success, there is at least one failure in the electric car industry. One company just went under, less than a week after Tesla paid off  U.S. government loans. Reuters reports on the end of Better Place:

Electric car company Better Place said on Sunday it had filed a motion in an Israeli court to wind up the company, bringing an end to a venture whose battery charging network had aimed to boost electric car sales.

Better Place partnered with Renault in 2008 to create an electric car system combining charging terminals with battery swap stations to increase the range of electric cars and put an end to drivers’ worries about running out of power.

It raised more than $850 million from top-tier investors and just two years ago said it was valued at $2.25 billion.

But sales never took off, with only just over a thousand cars on the road in Israel and Denmark, the first two countries where it began operating.

Cruise Ship Fire

Another black eye for the cruise industry, which over the past year has been dogged by a ship that ran aground and killed passengers, a number of cases of food poisoning and a ship that lost engine power and drifted without ready aid. Reuters said of the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) cruise ship fire:

Fire aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship forced it to dock at Freeport, Bahamas, on Monday, with all passengers and crew safe but the rest of the trip canceled, the cruise company reported.

Grandeur of the Seas, operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, was on a seven-night trip that left Baltimore on Friday. The 916-foot-long (280-metre) ship was en route to CocoCay, Bahamas, when a fire occurred in its mooring area early on Monday, the company said in a statement.

The fire was extinguished in about two hours and the 17-year-old vessel was redirected to Freeport, the company said. As a result of the damage, the rest of the trip was canceled and passengers were refunded their fares and offered a free cruise in the future.