Vivint Solar: Not All Solar Stinks

Vivint Solar Inc. (NYSE: VSLR) was raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer on August 9, but what stood out here was the firm’s $7 price target. That is going to represent over 100% upside from the $3.19 closing price from before this call was made. Vivint Solar shares rallied at high as $3.65, but then came the stupendous blunder of an earnings report from SunPower that made anything solar stink.

Vivint closed at $3.23 on Friday, almost a full circle back to where it started. The reality is that Vivint almost certainly would have fared far better had it not been for the SunPower implosion.

Harmonic: Or Tranquil

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $6 price target (versus a $3.37 prior close) at Drexel Hamilton. Harmonic shares closed out the week at $4.17.

The 52-week range is $2.51 to $6.31, and the consensus price target is $5.38. Harmonic shares are up only about 2.5% so far in 2016.

Oclaro: Claro Que Si!

Oclaro Inc. (NASDAQ: OCLR) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $9 price target (versus a $6.31 prior close) at Cowen. The stock closed out the week at $6.84, after a 10.3% gain on Friday.

The shares now have a higher 52-week range of $2.24 to $6.97. They are now up 96% so far in 2016.

Ocular: No Rift Here!

Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCUL) was started with an Outperform rating at JMP Securities on August 11. What stood out was a whopping $21 price target, versus a prior closing price of $5.84. The stock’s potential upside seems crazy on the surface, but the reality is that this has a 52-week range of $4.04 to $20.47.

It is also very thinly covered by analysts, and its market cap is just $168 million. The call did get some attention, as Ocular Therapeutix shares closed at $6.78 on Friday, after gaining 7.6% even the day after the upgrade.

Onconova: Bio Supernova

Onconova Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ONTX) was started with a Buy rating at the firm Maxim Group on August 11. The firm assigned a $6 price target, which implied close to 100% upside from the prior $3.27 closing price.

Onconova ended the week at $3.61, implying that there is still some 66% in upside if Maxim’s target gets hit. Keep in mind that this is a true micro-cap here, at close to $10 million, so we were reluctant to even include it. Also, its 52-week range of $3.13 to $23.30 should prove just how volatile it can be.