Canadian Solar and Solar Fun (CSIQ & SOLF)
Canadian Solar is soaring to new relative highs, with last week news about a new contract with Deutsche Solar.
With today's move, CSIQ becomes one of my top choices for the solar industry, next to STP and SPWR.
Another recently IPO'ed company, soaring into new highs, is Solar Fun (SOLF), reaching my short term target of $15. I believe this stock could continue to move further this week:
Watch out for tomorrow, because both these stocks can continue today's movement.
Labels: CSIQ, SOLF, SPWR, STP
Austin power company to boost solar capabilities
Although Austin Energy is falling behind its goal to expand the supply of solar energy in Austin, the city-owned utility company is pursuing new plans that would create a massive facility in West Texas and significantly increase the city's alternative energy capacity.
Austin Energy announced in 2003 a plan to have 20 percent of its electricity come from renewable sources by the year 2020. Solar energy was a significant part of this plan, with the goal of creating the capacity for a 100-megawatt threshold in 2020 and the intermediate goal of 15 megawatts in 2007.
read the rest
hereLabels: Solar Projects
Solar Stock IPO performance
2006 marked the beginning of a significant grow in solar IPO's, with important financial resources coming into the solar industry which will allow it to continue its recent robust growth.
With today's market close we can check the most recent IPO's performance, with now public companies, like Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) and Solarfun (Nasdaq: SOLF), completing more than 1 month since their first trading day.
The star of the day was Canadian Solar Inc. (Nasdaq: CSIQ) with a +9% move, but still negative since its first day of trading, still down around 39%.
Solar Fun (SOLF) has turned positive in the last three sessions and looks better now than in its first day of trading:
Trina Solar (TSL) is close to neutralize its negative performance since the first day of public trading. Seems a well financed company and spending carefully their money.
Maybe the investors will think that too, and the stock might perform better in the next months:
First Solar (FSLR) is in a steady uptrend and should continue to going higher, even if with less volatility than other stocks in the sector:
The recent news involving HOKU company, and other optimistic opinions about the short term future of solar energy, might bring a renewed rally to these new solar stocks.
Labels: CSIQ, FSLR, HOKU, IPOs, SOLF, TSL
Alternative energy attracts big money
Ajc.com published a lenghty article about big investments being made on alternative energy sources.
The list goes thru all types of clean energy, but still Ethanol remains the short-term renewable of choice.
"The private sector is off and running," said Tom Amis, a partner in the energy infrastructure group of Alston & Bird, the Atlanta law firm. "Some of the great fortunes of this century will be made over the next 15-25 years in renewable energy."
read the full article at
ajc.comLabels: Alternative Energy
Is the Sun finally rising on Solar Power?
There is a must read interview at renewableenergyaccess.com with Rob Styler president of marketing division of Citizenre.
Citizenre come out with a new way to sell solar energy, with no upfront costs to the client, and probably founding a new way to make solar energy cost efficient to the company and client.
This new model seems very interesting, even if it requires a big sum of money from the company, but should represent one more push for the explosion of solar energy in the upcoming years.
In 1931, Thomas Edison had a conversation with Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. He said, "I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that." We have waited 76 years, but an innovative company may have finally found a solution.
The sun supplies enough energy to earth in one hour to supply all of our energy needs for an entire year. But currently solar power produces less than 1/2 of 1% of our residential energy needs.
Read the full interview at
renewable energy accessCitizenre
homepageLabels: Solar Energy prices, Solar Energy Products
Hoku Signs Major Deal
Hoku Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOKU) is beating new records in one day gains, today gaining 118%!
The energy technology developer signed a contract
worth more than seven times the company's market value.
Hoku Scientific said a division dedicated to making polysilicon for solar panels signed a seven-year deal worth as much as $370 million with Sanyo Electric Company Ltd. Hoku, which reported revenue of $5.5 million in 2005, plans to spend $260 million building a plant able to produce 2,000 metric tons of polysilicon per year.
The market reevaluated this stock quickly, and opened with a 86% up move. We should see the continuation of these gains in the following weeks, even if its only momentum driven.
Other Solar Stocks, Evergreen Solar and Suntech Power Holdings, were down for the session.
Labels: ESLR, HOKU, STP
DayStar Technologies (DSTI) - Soaring again
The most recent news about Daystar Tech are 2 days old, and yet the stock is soaring again today, with high volume, going up 28% now.
Probably more rumors regarding new funding, the stock is trading at its last high, $3.30 reached in 11/01 and could find some resistance from sellers at this current price:
In the news about DSTI, we can find the following:
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Daystar Technologies Inc. were up 12% at $9.30 on Thursday. Earlier, Daystar said it has achieved advanced performance milestones on TerraFoil cells created using each of its three production line processes. The achievements validate its GEN III production platform feasibility and TerraFoil product capability, the Halfmoon, N.Y.-based company said. As an alternative to wafer Silicon cells, TerraFoil cells have the potential to lower photovoltaic module costs below current levels, which could expand the market and accelerate the use of solar power systems worldwide, the company added.
More updates soon, if any news come in regarding DSTI's situation.
Labels: DSTI
Suntech Power(STP) & Energy Conversion Devices (ENER)
Suntech Power is making new highs again, proving once again that is not only one of the top performers in the solar energy sector, but probably the best performer for the following months... Even if Oil prices are making new lows!
This chart proves it:
And here are some opinions on Energy Conversion Devices (Nasdaq: ENER):
Forecast on Energy Conversion Devices: Jim Cramer vs. Jeffrey W. BencikAnalyst Jeffrey W. Bencik at Jefferies & Co said that ENER was one his top 2 picks in the solar industry for '07, opining that despite continued volatility, this should be a rewarding year for ENER investors. He believes that attention will "shift from company specific performance to a top-down focus on the evolution of solar incentive schemes."
Jim Cramer, on Thursday's Mad Money, said he could not, "in good conscience, recommend that stock with oil at $51, going to $49. So, [he is] going to say no, no, no. Sell, sell, sell."
Read the full blog post
hereLabels: ENER, STP
Solar Investing - Some Blog articles
There's a good article at SeekingAlpha by Tim Hussar, about Solar Energy Investing.
You can find it
hereAn example of a company like this would be SolarEnertech [SOEN.OB]. Their stock trades around 78 cents at a very low volume. The price could have a huge jump if they land some contracts, but that is a huge if and it is a very risky investment. The two profitable companies (and that appear to be the safest plays in solar energy) are Suntech Power (STP) and Sunpower Corp (SPWR)
Another article mentioning almost the same solar energy stocks, in
Finding Cents in the Market blog
hereLabels: Solar Stocks Blog Articles
DayStar Technologies - A New Hope
DayStar Tech (Nasdaq: DSTI) has been the ugly sister off the solar stocks group, getting lower day after day, with troubles in getting new investors to help it.
Today is the shinny new hot stock to speculate on...
There are new speculations that DayStar may have good news coming and could have found more much needed funding.
DayStar needs the funds to build a new manufacturing facility and keep its business plan on schedule, and the lack of results provoked a massive sell-off in the last months.
Even with todays massive volume and movement, they have not yet recovered from December Losses:
SPWR and HOKU are having another great day today, with SunPower Corp reaching new relative highs, and provably a safer option than DayStar at the moment.
Labels: DSTI, HOKU, SPWR
Solar Stocks Moving Today
There are a couple of interesting solar energy stocks moving up today.
Finally getting above the 40 Dollar mark,
SunPower Corp (NASDAQ: SPWR) is up 5.3%, with some recent comments that confirm its analyst price target of $48, but I'm yet to confirm this news.
Other positive solar related stocks:
(WFR) MEMC Electronic Materials +3.25%(HOKU) Hoku Scientific Inc. +1.16%(CSIQ) Canadian Solar Inc. +1.02%
Getting lower:
(DSTI) DaystarTech -5.5% : No surprises here, the stock keeps getting hammered, and since my last comments, the stock is down -29%!
(SOEN) Solar Enertech Corp -2.5%(ESLR) Evergreen Solar -1.9%Labels: SPWR
Solar powered gadgets at CES 2007
This year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has presented us some interesting, even if a little bit odd, gadgets that use solar cells to power their mobile equipment.
Eclipse Solar Gear briefcaseIt's a briefcase with a built in solar charger. Just leave it under the sun for some time and it recharges your laptop, iPod, PDA, etc...
They actually have all sorts of packages with solar cells built in. Imagine what new thin film CIGS solar cells can bring to these equipments.
It's website says:
Eclipse Solar Gear is a leading source of innovative solar charging carrying cases for all your mobile personal electronics. The mobile cases are a patented line of backpacks, messenger bags, soft coolers, and other quality cases designed to charge the batteries of common handheld electronics including: cell phones, PDA’s, iPods, and GPS units in a convenient and effortless manner.
You can find this company website
hereOther solar energy based products showing at CES:
Adata’s SR1 flash drive SolardiskThe innovation of the solar-powered Solar Disk is an attempt to provide end users the "ease-of-use" and "fun-to-use" experience.
By pushing one button, the remaining available capacity will be automatically displayed on the 4-digit LCD panel. New industry record has been set by Solar Disk in that it is the world's first smart Flash Drive capable of showing the remaining capacity without batteries embedded. With the advanced solar power supply technology, the main power of the LCD is supplied by solar.
SlimStar 820 Solargizer Leading Laser desktop combo for green protection
Genius releases its new innovative 2.4GHz wireless laser desktop combo, the SlimStar 820 Solargizer. Awarded with 2007 CES innovation honor, the desktop combo has included with a wireless solar keyboard and a power saving laser mouse, it is deeply showing our contribution in protecting the environment.
The solar keyboard was designed to transform the light source into keyboard operational power and apart from the solar energy supplied, there are also two more back up sources; the USB cable charger and battery; this will prevent any power shortage in absence of any light. With onboard 17 hotkeys; it provides instant control of media sources, one-touch keys for office tool to fulfill all the requirements you need to work efficiently.
Labels: Solar Energy Products
Solar Investing - Good and bad examples
SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq: SPWR) is the good example of a performing solar stock, today gaining +4.97% and staying ahead of the whole solar group in terms of performance and one that has already turned black on profitability.
SunPower Crop plans to buy $5 billion worth of solar wafers from MEMC Electronic Materials over the next 10 years, turning this company into a leader in the growing solar cell market, and many other ventures in solar energy.
The stock continues its uptrend in any of the time frames:
The Bad ExampleDayStar Technologies (Nasdaq: DSTI) continues its major sell off, and since my last comment to stay off this stock, it has plunged another -14%.
Even if people start to think that it looks undervalued, its still a very bad idea to get into this falling train. The above example, and other stocks like SunTech Power (NYSE: STP) should be the right examples to stay in solar energy, and not Daystar Tech.
The companies isnt improving its negative income growth of
-312.90%And latest numbers show a net profit margin of around -3,900.00% !
We can only guess what other problems this company might be in, this sell off could reveal more serious issues in the next weeks.
Labels: DSTI, SPWR, STP
Interest in solar energy rising in the East
SEABROOK, N.J. -- A refrigerator repairman with a modest home backing onto a spinach farm, Bob May doesn't appear to be the kind of fellow who can afford to go solar.
Renewable-energy advocates love solar energy, but acknowledge it hasn't caught on more because it's expensive. It takes between $50,000 and $80,000 to buy the equipment to power a single-family home.
But last winter, May and his father installed 60 solar panels, largely paid for by the state, in the yard of his southern New Jersey residence.
read the full article at Dellaware online
hereLabels: Solar Energy prices
Wal-Mart going Solar
Looks like Wal-Mart is joining Google and Microsoft, by installing solar panels all over their facilities in the U.S.
The company could put solar panels on as many as 340 stores in the next few years.
With total capacity nearing 100 megawatts throughout all of its stores.
Wal-Mart campaign is huge and could jump start the alternative energy industry into another gear in America.
Financial Nirvana Blog commented on this
hereOriginal article in this
blogWhat will be the lucky company that will provide this amount of soler cells?
Wal-Mart intends to notify the winner of the contract on February 28!
Labels: Google, Microsoft, Solar Projects, WMT
Solar Stocks falling along with oil prices
Today, Suntech Power Holdings (STP), had one of the biggest one day correction moves, along with the whole solar stock sector going down, mainly because of the falling price of oil.
Daystar Tech (DSTI) continues further into the red, with no good news in sight, this should be the solar energy stock everyone should avoid.
As the price of oil goes down, solar energy becomes less competitive, and therefore the solar energy group does tend to move according to the performance of fossil fuels.
The losses for today:
STP -3.8%
SPWR -1.2%
CSIQ -3.4%
DSTI -16.56%
On the other hand, some stocks actually did perform as good as the semis sector:
ENER +5,14%
HOKU +4,33%
Meanwhile, R&D Magazine featured CIGS solar technology as one hot technology for 2007, you can read the article
here... the limited supply and high cost of polysilicon, which is used by 90% of PV solar cell manufacturers.
The good news is there have been major technical break-throughs made in thin-film PVs eliminating the need for polysilicon altogether. ...
Labels: CIGS, CSIQ, DSTI, ENER, HOKU, SPWR, STP
Canadian Solar Inc with a great 2007 start
China's Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ - Nasdaq) signed an agreement to distribute its solar modules in Spain and forecast about $40 million to $50 million from the deal in 2007.
The company said it started delivering crystalline photovoltaic panels under the agreement with Amur Energy division of HITEA-AMUR engineering and construction group.
For the first session of trading in 2007, CSIQ is now up 4%, with the 4th consecutive day going up, probably reversing the negative trend that we saw last month:
More updates later!
Labels: CSIQ
Alternative Energy - 2006 in Review
There is a great article in the
SeekingAlpha Blog summing up 2006 and what happened that year for alternative energies.
Alternative Energy - 2006 in Review9. Sizzling solar. With $60+ oil, retail investors were clamoring for alternative energy plays, and after biofuels they went straight to photovoltaics: solar energy is where people seem to instinctively look when they think of alternative energy. Capitalizing on these robust (some would say, "frothy") market conditions, we saw a number of sizable IPOs such as First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) and Renewable Energy Corp (OL: REC) and a corresponding resurgence of venture capital investment in PV
read the full article
hereLabels: Alternative Energy
