Analyst’s Long-term Solar Picks: Evergreen Solar, JA Solar, SunPower, Suntech and Trina Solar
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
Raymond James & Associates believes the companies “best-positioned to ride the solar wave of the future” are Evergreen Solar, JA Solar Holdings, SunPower Corp., Suntech Power Holdings and Trina Solar.
In a report last week, these five companies were singled out by the brokerage firm based on their effective cost management, robust R&D, strong downstream presence, or other factors. Each also is likely to emerge as a market leader and may serve as a consolidator as the industry develops, Raymond James believes.
According to the brokerage firm, “the emergence of solar power as a significant component of the global power market is a sustainable trend that is likely to accelerate over the next decade, driven by improving solar economics and ultimately far greater solar adoption rates than today.” The result will be “tremendous opportunities for investors,” Raymond James concluded in its energy “Stat of the Week” last week.
Overall, Raymond James said it wouldn’t be surprised if by 2020 installed PV capacity within OECD was up 10-fold from current levels, totaling 87 gigawatts (GW). Noting that if even Germany can make solar power work despite its below-average sunlight, then once PV is cost-competitive with grid-supplied power (which the firm thinks will happen within a few years) then all of Europe should be wide open to PV development.
Even better opportunities should exist outside Europe, the brokerage firm said, noting that “solar economics are inherently more attractive in the U.S., Italy, Australia and so on. This also underscores that there is tremendous long-term potential for PV adoption in high-sunlight emerging markets of the Southern Hemisphere, such as South Africa and Argentina.”
