Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) shares gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $12.70, but opened at $13.29. Canadian Solar shares last traded at $12.57, with a volume of 611,308 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSIQ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup downgraded Canadian Solar from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $19.00 to $11.00 in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded Canadian Solar from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Glj Research upped their price target on Canadian Solar from $9.10 to $12.28 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Canadian Solar from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Canadian Solar from $43.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Canadian Solar has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.03.

Canadian Solar Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $807.80 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.24, a P/E/G ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $13.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 22nd. The solar energy provider reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Canadian Solar had a return on equity of 0.99% and a net margin of 0.56%. The company’s revenue was down 30.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.39 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Canadian Solar Inc. will post 0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian Solar

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CSIQ. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Canadian Solar by 7.8% during the first quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC now owns 33,013 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Canadian Solar by 26.8% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 67,929 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $1,342,000 after purchasing an additional 14,368 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Canadian Solar by 30.9% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 198,646 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $3,925,000 after purchasing an additional 46,888 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in shares of Canadian Solar by 9.2% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 15,291 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 1,283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Canadian Solar by 172.9% during the first quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 37,370 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $738,000 after purchasing an additional 23,676 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.36% of the company’s stock.

Canadian Solar Company Profile

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.