Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) Shares Up 7.6% – Time to Buy?

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on CSIQ. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on 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. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Canadian Solar in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Canadian Solar from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Canadian Solar from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $11.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Canadian Solar from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.58.

Canadian Solar Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $12.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $806.48 million, a PE ratio of -101.58, 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.

Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The solar energy provider reported ($0.31) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by $0.13. Canadian Solar had a return on equity of 0.02% and a net margin of 0.01%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Canadian Solar Inc. will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Solar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Canadian Solar by 25.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 5,115,665 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $75,456,000 after buying an additional 1,037,800 shares during the period. SIR Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian Solar during the second quarter worth about $3,994,000. Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Canadian Solar during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,667,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $7,186,000 after purchasing an additional 243,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Canadian Solar by 494.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 115,328 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $1,932,000 after buying an additional 95,924 shares in the last quarter. 52.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.