With Solar Stocks In Focus, What's Wall Street Thinking?

The main small-cap solar stocks -- SunPower Corporation SPWR, Canadian Solar Inc. CSIQ, Trina Solar Limited TSL, Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited YGE, JinkoSolar Holding Company Limited JKS -- have been surging substantially over the past week, after a bad year, where all of them fell by, at least, 10 percent.

As it is natural, individual investors may have questions, and Wall Street analysts might be able to help respond some of them.

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SunPower

Analysts seem quite bullish on SunPower. Since the end of the third quarter, the stock received positive ratings –and upgrades- from four major Wall Street research firms, usually accompanied by price targets well above the current stock price. Here are the ratings --from the most recent, issued on December 16, to the oldest, from October 3:

- Morgan Stanley: Overweight                    

- JP Morgan: Overweight, $40 price target           

- Canaccord Genuity: Buy    

- Raymond James: Outperform, $35 price target 

The stock currently trades around $26.43.

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Canadian Solar

Canadian Solar also felt analysts’ confidence in the fourth quarter. JP Morgan reiterated its Overweight rating twice over the quarter, although the price target was cut from $43.50 in July, to $41 in October, and again, to $36 in November. Still, this implies an upside potential of more than 50 percent from the current price, barely shy of $24 per share.

Also bullish is Standpoint Research, which initiated coverage on the stock about a month ago, with a Buy rating and a $36 price target, as well.

Trina Solar

Wall Street does not seem particularly interested in Trina Solar. The company received no ratings over the fourth quarter, and only one (a Neutral from Goldman Sachs), over the third one. However, analysts at Goldman Sachs set a price target of $12.30, considerably above the current price of $8.67 per share.

Yingli Green Energy

Similar to Trina Solar’s, is the case of Yingli Green Energy, which saw no analyst activity in the entire second half of 2014 (even in spite of the recent news that the company will power Europe's largest solar plant). The stock was last rated by Deutsche Bank in early-June. The firm gave it a Buy rating, accompanied by a $6 price target, when the stock traded around $2.90. It now trades at $2.22.

JinkoSolar

JinkoSolar isn’t very popular either. It was last rated by Barclays in April, with an Overweight and a $51 price target, when the stock price stood around $29. The stock now trades at $19.82.