From Tech Trader Daily:
Goldman Sachs alternative energy analyst Mark Wienkes this morning advises buying First Solar (FSLR) and selling SunPower (SPWRA), as the former offers a strong balance sheet and a pipeline of projects, while SunPower may fail to make the necessary cost cuts to keep pace with declining average selling prices of modules and panels in the solar business.
It’s all part of a “healthy purge” moving through the entire solar industry, in his view, which he is referring to as an “accelerating bifurcation“:
While incumbent European panel makers discuss plant closures, write downs and losses, newer Chinese and US manufacturers continue to expand and grab share with low price offers and improving product quality. This divergence is likely to accelerate as capital will flow from higher-cost to lower-cost manufacturers, in our view.The industry as a whole is still a year away, Wienkes figures, from being within a “12-month investable horizon” for a time when subsidies no longer are needed to support solar projects....MORE
