Wednesday, November 19, 2008

First Solar Downgrades Friedman, Billings; FBR Down 35%

In a stunning role reversal, First Solar called Friedman Billings Ramsay a two-bit broker-dealer.

FBR responded by promptly trading to $0.25 down $0.14 or 35% and saying "We've already received the listings standards notice from the Big Board, nyah nyah, nyah nyah nyah."

Today's action was prompted by FBR, which earlier in the day had lowered estimates on FSLR and slashed it's price target. FSLR was recently trading at $103.35, down 6 1/2%.

The original story is from Tech Trader Daily, the rest is made up.
From TTD:

First Solar: FBR Trims Ests, Slashes Target; Stock Drops

Friedman Billings Ramsey solar analyst Mehdi Hosseini this morning cut his 2009 EPS estimate for First Solar, asserting that the company’s new U.S. strategy of entering the distributed, rooftop segment - as opposed to the utility market - is “already facing headwinds.”

Hosseini cut his 2009 EPS estimate to $6.90, from $7.08; for 2010 he goes to $6.61, from $7.68. (Yes, he now sees a down year in 2010.) He adds that the company’s own 2009 target of revenue of $2 billion to $2.1 billion appears “at risk.”

“We believe that the distributed segment is where the levelized cost using FSLR’s modules does not offer better economics when compared to crystalline modules,” he writes in a research note. Hosseini writes that U.S.-based integrators and developers “are not very interested in FSLR’s modules”>>>MORE