First Solar (FSLR) shares are, well, as hot the sun today after the company late yesterday posted better-than-expected Q1 results, triggering a flurry of bullish comments from the Street, including a number of upgrades.
For the quarter, the company posted revenue of $568 million and profits of $2 a share, ahead of the Street at $540.6 million and $1.63.
- Bank of America/Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Milunovich raised his rating on the stock to Buy from Neutral, with a new target of $165, up from $135; he boosted his 2010 forecast to $7.25 a share from $6.35, and for 2011 goes to $8.35 from $7.20. “Although we have been bullish long term, we though the stock would be stuck in a trading range until confidence in the utility finance model increased later in the year,” he writes. “It now appears that based on the strength of indirect module sales, that wait will be unnecessary.” Milunovich says the big surprise in Q1 was that module prices were up sequentially.”This is quite a change from last quarter when investors were wondering why management wasn’t cutting guidance given a worse feed-in-tariff result and weaker Euro.”
- Baird analyst J. Michael Horwitz upped his rating to Outperform from Neutral, with a new target of $160, from $120. “FSLR’s movement downstream and the evolution of its business model have been fully absorbed by the market,” he writes in a research note. “We no longer believe this presents a risk to the stock price, and instead, we believe FSLR’s position as an industry leader in the downstream business deserves a premium.”
- Soleil Securities analyst Paul Lemming lifted his rating to Hold from Sell, with a new target of $117, up from $90. “The strong demand environment has resulted in higher ASPs than we had previously been expecting,” he writes.
FSLR is up $21.50, or 16.8%, to $149.63.
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