What Happened?
Shares of solar panel manufacturer First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) jumped 5.7% in the afternoon session after several investment banks raised their price targets on the stock, reflecting strong confidence in the company's future performance.
BofA Securities increased its price target to $254, while BMO Capital raised its target to $261. This followed a significant hike from a Citigroup analyst a day prior, who lifted the target to $300. Analysts pointed to First Solar's expansion of its U.S. production capacity as a key reason for the positive outlook. BMO noted the company's U.S. facilities were sold out through 2028.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
First Solar’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 33 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 2 days ago when the stock gained 2.5% on the news that several investment firms raised their price targets on the solar panel manufacturer's stock, signaling confidence in its future performance. Robert W. Baird increased its target price to $264 from $240, maintaining an "outperform" rating. In a similar move, Susquehanna upped its price objective to $273 from $222, holding a "positive" rating on the shares. These actions suggested that the firms saw potential for the stock's price to rise further.
First Solar is up 29.6% since the beginning of the year, and at $241.70 per share, has set a new 52-week high. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of First Solar’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $2,938.
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