An exchange traded fund tracking the solar sector jumped Wednesday after First Solar (NasdaqGS: FSLR) was added on to Goldman Sachs’ vaunted “Conviction Buy List.”
Among the better performing non-leveraged ETFs of Wednesday, the Invesco Solar ETF (NYSEARCA: TAN) advanced 1.4%.
Leading the solar sector, First Solar shares surged 8.0% on Wednesday. FSLR is TAN’s largest component holding, accounting for 10.2% of the fund’s portfolio.
First Solar strengthened after Goldman Sachs analyst Brian Lee added the company to the firm’s Conviction Buy List and raised his price target on the stock to $75 from $64, citing the company’s improving fundamentals and future earnings outlook, notably in emerging Asia, TheStreet reports.
FSLR shares were hovering around $60.7 late Wednesday.
In a note to clients, Lee highlighted First Solar’s “backdrop of improving fundamentals in the global solar landscape” in addition to “continued strength in the U.S. utility scale development pipeline,” as tailwinds that the company “is well positioned to harvest.”
Additionally, Lee underscored First Solar’s plans to expand capacity in Malaysia, which “could add as much as 23% upside to our 2021E EPS, all else being equal.”
Solar stocks are looking brighter this year after the sector plunged last year on an expected decline in demand last year after major policy changes by both the U.S. and Chinese governments, which represented two of the world’s largest solar panel markets.
As the world moves toward more efficient and low-carbon energy sources, solar energy could continue to improve and see costs fall. The rate of solar energy is already expanding faster than fossil fuels.
According to a recent report by Brookfield Renewable Partners, one of the biggest renewable-energy producers in the world, it will require $11 trillion to replace all the current fossil-fuel and nuclear facilities around the world with renewable energy and will be a multidecade trend, creating an amazing long-term opportunity for investors to build tremendous wealth, the Motley Fool reports.
For more information on the renewables space, visit our renewable energy category.
