By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) stock rose 2.5% Monday with at least three brokerages raising their price targets for the provider of solar panels and related services.
Susquehanna sees the stock at $120, Cowen at $105 and Piper Sandler at $89. Susquehanna’s target is approximately 36% higher than First Solar’s current price of $88.15.
According to Susquehanna analyst Biju Perincheril, supply chain disruptions arising out of labor issues in China’s Xinjiang appear to be translating to higher demand and pricing power for First Solar’s thin-film panels.
Xinjiang -- where advocacy groups and a panel of U.N. experts say Uyghurs and other minorities have been subjected to mass arbitrary detention and forced to work against their will -- produces roughly half of global supply of polysilicon, a material critical for solar panels and semiconductors, according to Bloomberg.
China has denied the allegations, saying they’re an attempt to undermine successful businesses.
While 2022 module prices are already set, recent strength suggests prices could be flat year-on-year in 2023 and perhaps show an uptick in 2024, according to Perincheril.
Both Perincheril and Cowen analyst Jeffrey Osborne sounded optimistic on the company commissioning new capacities in India and Ohio this year.