Wedbush downgrades First Solar (FSLR 116.12), Energy Conversion Devices (ENER 25.69) and SunPower (SPWRA 30.17) to Hold from Buy and lowers their targets to $110 from $175, $24 from $43, and $27 from $32, respectively. Wedbush has adopted a more cautious near-term stance on the solar sector due to increasingly negative trends that emerged from Q308 earnings. Firm notes the global financial crisis is impacting demand for solar as project financiers become more conservative in the deployment of capital, in turn reducing demand and leading to an oversupply of modules and a drop in ASPs. Firm believes further pressure on margins are likely as manufacturers take charges (and in some cases write-off) for slow-moving inventory. They see a turnaround in the industry in Q209 at the earliest.
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