What happened
Renewable energy investors dodged a bullet on Monday, when a miserable morning for stock markets turned into a more hopeful afternoon, erasing much of those early losses by close of trading.
We're having no such luck Tuesday.
As of 11:40 a.m. ET, shares of solar power play Enphase Energy (ENPH +3.81%) are tumbling 5.8%, while fuel cell stars Bloom Energy (BE +2.84%) and Plug Power (PLUG 0.87%) are down 7.7% and 8.3%, respectively.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
That's not exactly surprising, though, if you recall what happened early in yesterday's sell-off -- the fact that there was a reason for investors to be selling these three renewable energy stocks in particular, as opposed to just puking up growth stocks en masse.
In a tic-tac-toe of bad news yesterday, you see, investment bank Truist cut its price targets on Plug, Bloom, and Enphase. Granted, the banker cut its price targets because the three companies are generally considered growth stocks and there was a "broad rotation out of growth equities" underway, explained TheFly.com in a note on Truist's cuts. But Truist still singled out these three growth stocks in particular for pruning, citing their exposure to supply chain disruptions and weaker residential adoption of alternative energy solutions, and reducing its price target on Enphase to $200 a share, on Bloom to $20, and on Plug to $27.
Now what
Whether Truist was right to be pessimistic should soon be apparent, as all three of these companies are expected to report quarterly earnings in fairly short order. According to Yahoo! Finance, Enphase has its Q4 report scheduled for Feb. 7, followed a day later by Bloom. Finally, Plug Power will play caboose on this earnings train on Feb. 23.
Of the three, Truist is really optimistic only about solar stock Enphase, on which it maintains a buy rating despite its lower price target. Not coincidentally, Enphase is also the only one of these three stocks that analysts expect to report profits next month (of $0.58 per share). It's also the only one of the three with a history of making money, having been profitable since 2019, and the only one generating real free cash flow -- $291 million over the past 12 months.
If you're looking to minimize risk in growth stocks, Enphase is also probably the only one of these three stocks you should consider buying.
