Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) Stock Price Up 7.6% – Still a Buy?

Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ)’s share price rose 7.6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $12.12 and last traded at $11.96. Approximately 490,144 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 1,740,322 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.12.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSIQ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Canadian Solar from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Canadian Solar from $15.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Canadian Solar from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the company from $14.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Canadian Solar in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Canadian Solar in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $14.15 price objective on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Canadian Solar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.58.

Canadian Solar Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $808.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -101.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.89 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.86.

Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The solar energy provider reported ($0.31) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Canadian Solar Inc. will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Canadian Solar by 25.4% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 5,115,665 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $75,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037,800 shares during the last quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Canadian Solar in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,994,000. Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Canadian Solar in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,667,000. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Canadian Solar by 131.5% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in Canadian Solar by 494.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 115,328 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $1,932,000 after acquiring an additional 95,924 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.