Aura Systems, Inc. announced yesterday that Dr. Michael McElfresh joined the Company’s technical and management team. With a Ph.D in Solid State Physics from the University of California-San Diego, Dr. McElfresh has over 20 years of experience in academia and with high tech companies. Prior to joining Aura, he served as a Staff Consultant at the Argonne National Laboratory, Director of Product line Management at OptiSolar, and held numerous positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Additionally, he was a tenured professor of Physics at Purdue University.

Dr. Art Schwartz, Aura’s CTO said, “We are very pleased to have Dr. McElfresh join our team. His vast experience in technical project management in addition to his technical expertise makes him a very valuable addition to our team. The recent additions of Dr. Wang who received his Ph.D. in high power electronics and controls from Penn State, and Dr. McElfresh, significantly broaden and

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First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR): Stock of the Day

by David Fessler, Advisory Panelist

My Top Solar Pick…

In my regular Investment U Friday installment, I’ll give you my top 5 solar picks, and why I think they could be your best investments for 2009.

But for now, let’s talk about the top gun in solar: First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR). What gives it top billing? It’s the industry cost leader by a wide margin… the only manufacturer able to produce panels at under $1.00 per watt.

It’s one of the reasons First Solar shares were one of the darlings of Wall Street, soaring 942% between January 2007 and May 2008.

But the stock got hammered down 50% in the last six months as lock-jawed credit markets sent investors running for the exits.

Many of First Solar’s competitors took even bigger hits, with some down over 60% in the

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February 18, 2009 ndash; Analyst Comments ndash; Cowenrsquo;s Rob Stone weighed in on Suntechrsquo;s (NYSE:STP) Q4 and FY08 results this morning, reiterating an OUTPERFORM rating on the stock, while Pacific Crestrsquo;s March Bachman thinks OptiSolar could be an attractive take-out target. Suntech reported a Q4 loss of $65.9 million, or $0.42 per share, compared with earnings of $50.6 million, or $0.29 per share for the same period last year. Revenue for the quarter increased 4.2% to $414.4 million. For FY08, net income declined to $111 million, or $0.66 per share, compared to $171.3 million, or $1.02 per share for FY07. Revenue for the year increased 43% to $1.92 billion. Management guided Q1 revenue to a range of $340 to $380 million, with gross margins between 12% to 15% and its FY09 shipments targeted at exceeding 800MW. It expects PV cell production capacity to remain at about 1GW for the year. Stone ...