Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) Rating Lowered to Sell at The Goldman Sachs Group

Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) was downgraded by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $11.00 target price on the solar energy provider’s stock, down from their prior target price of $14.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price suggests a potential downside of 2.83% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Roth Mkm decreased their target price on shares of Canadian Solar from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Canadian Solar in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $14.15 price objective on the stock. Citigroup downgraded shares of Canadian Solar from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the company from $19.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Oppenheimer reduced 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. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, December 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.58.

Canadian Solar Stock Performance

Shares of CSIQ opened at $11.32 on Tuesday. 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 has a 12 month low of $10.91 and a 12 month high of $26.85. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $748.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -94.33, a PEG ratio of 8.89 and a beta of 1.29.

Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The solar energy provider reported ($0.31) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by $0.13. Canadian Solar had a return on equity of 0.02% and a net margin of 0.01%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. Canadian Solar’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Canadian Solar will post 0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Solar

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSIQ. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in Canadian Solar by 25.4% during 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. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Canadian Solar by 5.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 486,800 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $8,159,000 after acquiring an additional 25,901 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Canadian Solar by 131.5% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 428,733 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $7,186,000 after acquiring an additional 243,542 shares during the period. SIR Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Canadian Solar in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,994,000. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in Canadian Solar in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,667,000. 52.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.