ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Last week, I suggested that the nuclear power crisis in Japan could usher in a watershed moment for solar energy and its constituent stocks. For all of two days, most solar stocks soared. For example, First Solar (FSLR) gained 14%. However, March 15th marked a sort of peak in the market’s concern over Japan’s nuclear … Read more
The Federal Reserve meets and decides monetary policy on Tuesday right in the middle of the most tumultuous time for global financial markets perhaps since the March, 2009 lows. As the Bank of Japan (BoJ) is furiously printing money to buttress its financial system and promote calm, I fully expect the Fed to issue a … Read more
Higher oil prices are not helping solar stocks. Instead, earnings disappointments and hand-wringing in Italy over solar subsidies and policy have put downward pressure on almost the entire sector. While it seems the second half of 2011 could be rough for solar stocks, the current sell-off seems to be creating some buying opportunities. First Solar … Read more
A few days ago I posted a piece on GT Solar International’s latest quarterly earnings results and erroneously quoted material from a Seeking Alpha transcript for last year’s fiscal 3rd quarter conference call as if it were current. I apologize for the confusion that caused. I have removed that article, and I am posting this … Read more
Dear Readers, My deepest apologies for a recent piece I wrote on GT Solar, International (SOLR). I quoted from a Seeking Alpha transcript from a year ago and did not read the correct date. I hope to report an accurate piece at some point as I remain deeply interested in and bullish on the company. … Read more
Despite my general caution on the stock market at current levels (it just flipped to overbought status on Monday), I continue to look out for bullish moves on individual stocks. This time, I found a fresh breakout candidate in the solar sector. On Monday, SunPower Corporation (SPWRA or SPWRB) finally broke free of a nine-month … Read more
On Wednesday, Wunderlich Securities issued a trading call on solar stocks citing a correlation with oil prices. First Solar (FSLR) was the prime beneficiary of this research. Eric Rosenbaum from TheStreet.com beat me to the punch critiquing this call in “Should Solar Stocks Trade on Rising Oil?“, but I will add my two solar panels … Read more
On Monday, Goldman Sachs added First Solar (FSLR) to its conviction buy list with a $165 price target. The market’s response was swift with FSLR ending the day up 6% and a closing price of $156.40. I wish I had received the memo because I sold off the last of my FSLR positions on Friday. … Read more
During the last earnings conference call for Evergreen Solar (ESLR), management claimed that the company had the resources to meet its liquidity needs and had enough cash to sustain current and planned burn rates. A little over two months later, ESLR has announced that it is retrenching and shutting down its manufacturing facility in Devens, … Read more
LDK Solar has started off the new year for solar with a bang. The company significantly raised guidance for both the fourth quarter of FY10 and the entire FY2011 with particularly strong expectations for the module business. Here is a listing of the new sales guidance compared to the old guidance: Revenue 4Q10: $870-910M from … Read more