August 27, 2009 ndash; LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) announced an agreement with Yancheng City of Jiangsu Province for the development of a number of PV projects (ground-mount, roof and BIPV) totaling up to 500MW over the next five years. And Canadian Solar (Nasdaq:CSIQ) said it has signed a LOI with the Administration Committee of Baotou National Rare Earth Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, for rights to design, install, operate and maintain a 500MW solar facilitynbsp; in Baotou. The three-phase project is expected to start in September 2009 and run through December 2011 (phase 1: 100MW; phase 2 and 3: 200MW). These announcements mark an important trend in the solar markets and one that we have been commentating on a lot lately ndash; the further move by midstream solar firms to vertically integrate downstream and even moving into operations of solar facilities. Cowenrsquo;s Raj Seth this morning commented on the ...

div style="text-align: justify;"Oppenheimer is out very positive on span style="font-weight: bold;"Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ)/span raising their tgt to $19 from $14 following checks at Intersolar. Firm notes they are growing more positive on CSIQ as they believe high cost inventory has been burned through, units and margins should rebound, and 3Q Street estimates could prove conservative. They remain cautious on the sector overall, but believe CSIQ shares still have room to run.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"Intersolar checks./span Opco met with companies across the solar supply chain and left feeling more comfortable with 3Q demand trends, but less comfortable with industry ASPs and 2H linearity (4Q should be down sequentially vs. Street expectations, which model-in linear growth). Still, they believe CSIQ's story is intact and feel comfortable with their 5/21 upgrade.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"Costs approaching $1.50/watt. /spanCSIQ has burned through its high cost inventory and can now produce modules near $1.50/watt ...

* According to a New York Times report, Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) plans to exercise its option to acquire rights to Cytokinetics' experimental heart drug

* Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was upgraded by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) to "overweight," as its analyst increased 2010 earnings estimate to $7.50 from $5.52, citing better-than-expected earnings from iPhone strength. The price target was raised to $180

* Natural Foods (NASDAQ:UNFI) was downgraded by Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) to "sell" from "neutral," on price considerations

* Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) plans the first commercial bond deal in almost a year on Tuesday, with a $1 billion commercial mortgage bond sale back by multi-family loans

* Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) reported a first quarter loss of 10 cents per share, topping estimates by 16 cents, as revenues plunged 71.1% year-over-year to $49.5 million

* Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) recalled 15,000 laptop batteries distributed in China

* Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP) announced agreement with Japan's Nippon Steel to cut contract prices for iron

...

* According to a New York Times report, Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) plans to exercise its option to acquire rights to Cytokinetics' experimental heart drug

* Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was upgraded by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) to "overweight," as its analyst increased 2010 earnings estimate to $7.50 from $5.52, citing better-than-expected earnings from iPhone strength. The price target was raised to $180

* Natural Foods (NASDAQ:UNFI) was downgraded by Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) to "sell" from "neutral," on price considerations

* Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) plans the first commercial bond deal in almost a year on Tuesday, with a $1 billion commercial mortgage bond sale back by multi-family loans

* Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) reported a first quarter loss of 10 cents per share, topping estimates by 16 cents, as revenues plunged 71.1% year-over-year to $49.5 million

* Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) recalled 15,000 laptop batteries distributed in China

* Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP) announced agreement with Japan's Nippon Steel to cut contract prices for iron

...

Solar Power “Big Bang” Underway Now

by David Fessler, Advisory Panelist

Get ready: The solar “big bang” is getting underway as we speak. By all accounts, solar power is quickly becoming the fastest growing energy source in the United States, and indeed, the world.

But here’s the most amazing part…

Even with a meteoric 48% annual growth - and that of a select group of solar companies - its just getting started. The market is expected to double over the next five years, and triple in just seven.

What’s behind solar’s shine? Is this torrid growth sustainable? What opportunities are there for investment in the solar space? Let’s take a look.

A Quick Solar Panel Primer

Solar panels can be divided into several types: thermal, photovoltaic, hybrid and building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). In a thermal collector, water or another fluid is heated by the sun’s rays, piped into a storage tank, and then

...

Trina Solar is recognized as a solar pioneer since it was founded in 1997. Their products provide reliable and environmentally-friendly electric power  and their fourth quater revenues  are about to beat expectations.

This from the editors at Investment U:

In the news this morning, Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) announced that fourth quarter revenues would beat expectations.

It’s an unexpected bit of data when many were starting to count the solar sector out – and not for good reason. After our last energy crisis, many alternative energy producers, like solar, were simply forgotten about when gas prices came back down.

With the average price per gallon at around $1.96, who could blame them if they expected the same thing to happen? But the interesting thing is that it hasn’t.

Trinity Solar follows news from Suntech Power (NYSE: STP), the world’s largest solar module producer, that it expects production

...

Sun Still Shines on Trina Solar (TSL)

In the news this morning, Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) announced that fourth quarter revenues would beat expectations.

It’s an unexpected bit of data when many were starting to count the solar sector out – and not for good reason. After our last energy crisis, many alternative energy producers, like solar, were simply forgotten about when gas prices came back down.

With the average price per gallon at around $1.96, who could blame them if they expected the same thing to happen? But the interesting thing is that it hasn’t.

Trinity Solar follows news from Suntech Power (NYSE: STP), the world’s largest solar module producer, that it expects production to increase – almost 60%. That’s quite the opposite of a drop-off. 

Granted, there are just as many solar losers, as winners. Canadian Solar (Nasdaq:

...

November 21, 2008 ndash; Canadian Solar (Nasdaq:CSIQ) reported Q3 results today, which came in mixed, beating on revenues, missing on earnings and guiding downward citing the current macroeconomic environment. The stock will invariably see weakness in todayrsquo;s session, the questions is whether the current stock price already factors in much of this news. At yesterdayrsquo;s closing price of $3.78 (down from $10.13 at the beginning of November, and from $20.55 at the beginning of October), the stock is trading at 0.18x trailing 12-months sales and 2.89x trailing 12-months income. Based on managementrsquo;s guidance in this morningrsquo;s press release, we are forecasting $700 million in revenues topline and net income of $28 million for the current year. At $3.78, the stock is trading 4.80x this yearrsquo;s earnings. Here are the key highlights from this morningrsquo;s earnings release: middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Reported Q3 revenues of $252.4 million, up 160% Y/Y and up 18.7% Q/Q ...

November 20, 2008 ndash; Analyst Notes ndash; Cowen amp; Companyrsquo;s Robert Stone issued comments this morning on Suntech (NYSE:STP) on the heels of its Q3 EPS miss by 21%. Stone said Suntechrsquo;s revenue is being hurt by steep ASP erosion due to the weaker euro, but added that the company has shifted to a capital preservation mode and liquidity should not be an issue. Other key takeaways: middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Believes STP remains a long-term leader in PV middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Given uncertain outlook we may see further weakness in the stock (book value is $6.12) middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Roughly half the comparable companies in the midstream solar space are trading at 1.1x book or below Midstream Solar Comparables (as of yesterdayrsquo;s close) middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; First Solar (Nasdaq:FSLR) trading at 6x book middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Ersol Solar (ES6.DE) trading at 4.2x book middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; SunPower (Nasdaq:SPWRA) trading at 2.1x book middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; REC (REC.OL) trading at 1.8x book middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; LDK (NYSE:LDK) trading at 1.6x book middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Energy Conversion ...

October 29, 2008 – With valuations on the S&P based on estimated profits now at 10.7 times, and valuations in the solar sector at even lower levels, we have to ask how pessimistic, and how cynical the markets are going to get when valuing these companies. What is a reasonable valuation for an industry that is growing 62% per year and for leading companies that are posting triple-digit earnings and revenue growth? For example, LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) is trading 6.13 times trailing 12 months earnings, and slightly more than 1 times trailing 12 months sales. It is posting more than $100 million in profit per month, it has $1 billion in cash (on prepayments of contracts) and is booked through 1018. It has no need to raise capital and has recently said it won’t do so for the next couple years while it is doubling production capacity. The company expects ...