Analysts at Raymond James raised their ratings on several solar stocks, saying that the risk of owning these stocks is now in balance with the potential reward. The four stocks included in the upgrade from Underperform to Market Perform are Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL), Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP), SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) and First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR).
These stocks have had a decent bounce since the beginning of the year, with SunPower getting the biggest jolt, up more than 138% at its peak in mid-February. Since then, shares have pulled back to a still-respectable year-to-date gain of 121%.
First Solar peaked in at the same time, up about 17% and has since moved steadily down to a year-to-date loss of more than 13%.
Trina Solar peaked in early January, up about 34%, and has trailed downward ever since to lose of about 3%.
And Suntech also peaked in early January, up about 22% and now down about 22%. Suntech has some unique problems, which we covered earlier today.
All except Trina Solar are already trading above their consensus price targets, even with the steep declines since the first of the year. None is a buy-and-hold candidate.
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