Vivint Solar Quiet Period Expires, Analysts Initiate Coverage With Mixed Views

Vivint Solar VSLR priced its 20.6 million share initial public offering at $16 on October 1. Shares initially opened for trading at $17.01 but have since tumbled, hitting lows of $9.66 on October 15. Shares opened slightly higher on Monday following the expiration of the “Quiet Period” in which underwriters involved in the initial public offering are barred from issuing earnings forecasts or research reports for the company. Deutsche Bank initiated Vivint Solar with a Buy rating and $20 price target. The analyst, Vishal Shah, notes that the company is “one of the top residential solar installers in the country and is poised to benefit from accelerating growth of retail customers switching to solar as an increasing number of states reach grid parity across the U.S.” Citigroup initiated Vivint Solar with a Neutral rating and $20 price target. The analyst, Shahriar Pourreza notes that “the key risk to the Vivint Solar story remains competition from utilities and step down to the ITC to ten percent by 2016 year end” and that “there is an increased perception of risk associated with [Vivint Solar's] business model due to potential competition from fixed charges, financing bottlenecks, and low barriers to entry.” Credit Suisse initiated Vivint Solar with an Outperform rating and $21 price target. The analyst, Patrick Jobin notes that “Vivint Solar is positioned to outgrow peers in the residential solar industry with a unique sales model and low cost structure.” Elsewhere on the Street, analysts at Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Buy rating while analysts at Bank of America also initiated coverage with a Buy rating but with a $24 price target.