UPDATED: First Solar Looks to CIGS Technology (FSLR)

UPDATE: As soon as I say the stock is looking tired here comes an upgrade.
From Tech Trader Daily:

...Meanwhile, earlier this morning Battle Road Research upgraded shares of First Solar (FSLR) to Buy from Hold and set a $150 price target.

In its note, Battle Road says negative catalysts are in the past and “expectations are too low for 2010.” (First Solar stock is down 9% over the last 12 months, compared with a 49% gain for the Nasdaq.) The stock has been under pressure over concerns about subsidy cuts in Germany, First Solar’s primary market.

More highlights from Battle Road’s note...MORE

Original post:
Duh. It was January 2009 that we posted "First Solar Snags Rival Solyndra’s Top Scientist (FSLR)", Solyndra being the best funded of the CIGS companies.
In late pre-market the stock is trading up six cents at $124.15 and looks tired after the $27.. run up since the last interim low.
From B-Net:

The grass seems to be greener across the thin-film solar fence, at least for First Solar. The company, which is easily the most successful in the solar industry, has a research unit in Silicon Valley working on a competing technology called CIGS, according to Reuters.

CIGS, or copper indium gallium diselenide, is a particular material used for thin-film solar panels. The thin-film industry is an odd one; there are literally dozens of companies working on thin-film, but First Solar, which uses cadmium telluride (CdTe) is the only one to ever meet with any significant success. CIGS companies like Miasole and Nanosolar promised years ago to beat First Solar to pulp, but they’re still eating its dust today.

So why would First Solar want to try its own hand at CIGS, a technology that has frustrated dozens of top researchers? A company official quoted in the Reuters story seems to suggest that First Solar is simply gathering competitive intelligence, but it could likely do that without funding a separate research lab.

An alternate possibility is that First Solar has found the limitations of CdTe — and decided that its competitor’s technology may, in fact, be better. In fact, it’s not really the CIGS companies that First Solar is fighting against. The common foe to anyone in thin-film is the traditional silicon panel made by companies like SunPower and Suntech. Over the past couple years, these have become a serious threat to First Solar’s business....MORE

Previously:

Was Solyndra the Reason Goldman Sachs Threw First Solar Under the Bus? (FSLR; GS; SPWRA)

Goldman Sachs and the Solar Land Rush (FSLR; GS)