Vetr Crowd Upgrades First Solar, Virgin America To Buy: Here's Why

• Shares of Virgin America Inc VA have been surging consistently for several months now. Since July 9, the stock has gained more than 37 percent.
• First Solar, Inc. FSLR has also been performing nicely over the past couple of months, surging more than 20 percent since September 21.
• Despite the recent gains, the Vetr crowd recently upgraded both stocks to buy, setting consensus price targets that imply an upside potential of more than 4 percent.

On Wednesday, Vetr had issued a 3.0-Stars rating for Virgin America. However, the Vetr community has now decided to upgrade its rating to 3.5-Stars. 66.7 percent of the people rating the stock believe it is a Buy, while 11.1 percent see it as a hold case. Moreover, the crowd’s price target of $38 implies a 4 percent upside potential for the stock.

While analysts at J. Lin seem to disagree with the crowd, rating the stock a Hold, and having set a $37 price target, other firms like Cowen and Raymond James also rate the stock a Buy – having issued price targets of $39 and $38, respectively.

First Solar was also upgraded from 3.0-Stars to 3.5-Stars. 57.9 percent of the crowd rating the stock now believe it’s a Buy, while 15.8 percent say Hold. The crowd price target of $56.78 implies an upside potential of almost 5 percent, but stands well below some analysts’ target. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, experts at Macquarie issued a Strong Buy rating and $64.35 6-month price target for the stock.

A few days ago, a user pointed out that “First Solar is an innovative and growing company. They have positioned themselves well in the fast growing segment of renewable energy and can look to capitalize on overall growth of the renewable energy market. First Solar also has been able to use the yieldco they founded with SunPower Corp., 8point3, to help provide a steady cash flow.”

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.