Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on CSIQ. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Canadian Solar in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $14.15 target price on the stock. Citigroup lowered Canadian Solar from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $11.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Canadian Solar from $13.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Mizuho initiated coverage on Canadian Solar in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Canadian Solar from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $14.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.31.

Canadian Solar Stock Performance

Shares of CSIQ opened at $10.31 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $682.11 million, a PE ratio of -85.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $11.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Canadian Solar has a 12-month low of $10.09 and a 12-month high of $24.32.

Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The solar energy provider reported ($0.31) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Canadian Solar had a net margin of 0.01% and a return on equity of 0.02%. Canadian Solar’s revenue was down 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Canadian Solar will post -0.23 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Solar

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSIQ. Shah Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Canadian Solar by 825.6% in the 4th quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 1,745,546 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $19,410,000 after acquiring an additional 1,556,964 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Canadian Solar by 131.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 428,733 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $7,186,000 after buying an additional 243,542 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Canadian Solar by 494.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 115,328 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $1,932,000 after buying an additional 95,924 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Canadian Solar in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,109,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Canadian Solar by 101.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 113,461 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $1,902,000 after acquiring an additional 57,246 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 52.36% of the company’s stock.

About Canadian Solar

Canadian Solar Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides solar energy and battery energy storage products and solutions in in Asia, the Americas, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, CSI Solar and Recurrent Energy. The CSI Solar segment designs, develops, and manufactures solar ingots, wafers, cells, modules, and other solar power and battery storage products.