Investor love-in with solar continues
Thursday, December 15th, 2005
Suntech Power, the first Chinese solar play in the United States, saw its stock soar more than 40 per cent on its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange — yet another strong sign of high investor interest in solar technology companies. Checked the share price today and it’s holding up: was about $20.85 (U.S.) at noon, compared to its offering price of $15.
Suntech’s IPO raised nearly $400 million for a company expected to have between $30 million to $35 million in profits this year.
SunPower Corp., which had its IPO in November, is still trading nearly 60 per cent above its offering price. Other major solar IPOs include Q-Cells and Conergy, two German solar manufacturers that went public in October and experienced similar success.
Rhone Resch, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Solar Energy Industries Association, told Red Herring that SunTech’s IPO is “consistent with the trend we’ve seen from investors that solar is a smart investment right now.”
Considering the valuations being given to these companies, it makes me wonder about the potential in Canadian plays, such as Carmanah Technologies, which has broadened its entry into the solar market with its purchase earlier of Soltek and remains profitable.
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.