Wednesday, April 14, 2010

"Auriga Picks Up Solar Coverage on Eight Stocks; Assigns Buys to TSL, YGE and SOLF"

UPDATE: "UPDATE 1-Suntech,Trina Solar sign $11.7 Billion loan deals" (STP; TSL)
Original post:
Mark Bachman has been one of the better solar analysts.*
I didn't know that he had left Pacific Crest.
Or that he started spelling his name with a "C".
From Tech Trader Daily:
Auriga USA analyst Marc Bachman initiated coverage on eight solar stocks late this afternoon. His favorite names in the group are Trina Solar (TSL) and Yingli Green Energy Holding (YGE). He sets a price target of $34 for Trina and $18 for Yingli. Among the picks, Bachman, who was previously a solar analyst with Pacific Crest, assigns one Sell rating to SunPower (SPRWA), with a $15 target....MORE
For example here are some of his calls on SunPower, from our March 19 post "SunPower Maintained at Outperform at Cowen - Cut EPS Forecasts (SPWRA)":

UPDATE: "Analyst Roundup: SunPower (SPWRA; SPWRB)"
Previously: "UPDATE: SunPower 4Q Falls 70%; Firm Ends Accounting Probe" (SPWRA; SPWRB)"'
Cowen's Mr. Stone has not been on his game recently. Here's SPWRA compared to the NASDAQ and Claymore’s Global Solar Energy Index (TAN), over the last six months (from BigCharts):




Back on January 15 we posted "Cowen’s Stone Weighs in on Solar Sector - Thinks Stocks Are Oversold on Concerns About German FIT (FSLR; SPWRA; TAN; TSL)". The solar's have dramatically underperformed. He maintained an "Outperform" on FSLR as that stock dropped from $142.66 in mid-December to $98.71 on Feb. 25, 2010.

Here's a Feb. 18 post at SmallCapPulse "Cowen’s Stone Comments on German FiT Reduction - Reiterates Outperform on FLSR, TSL, SPWRA, STRI".
That was preceeded by "Cowen’s Stone Comments on U.S. Utility Scale Solar Segment - OUTPERFORM on FSLR, SPWRA, TSL" on February 8.

Bad calls.

On the other hand Pacific Crest's Mark Bachman:

Oct. 20, 2009
Pacific Crest’s Bachman Says SunPower (Nasdaq:SPWRA) Valuation Appears To Have Peaked

Nov. 17, 2009
Bachman Recommends to Steer Clear of SunPower (Nasdaq:SPWRA) - Accounting Issues


Dec. 1, 2009
Pacific Crest's Bachman on SunPower - Buy Equal Parts SPWRA and Antacid (SPWRA)

It doesn't get much better.
So it is with some trepidation that I go back to Cowen's Mr. Stone (via SmallCapPulse)...