What happened
Some years ago, solar stocks were -- pardon the pun -- very hot with investors. That was then and this is now, however. After a new and bearish analysis was published on the sector on Wednesday, the share prices of a clutch of solar operators promptly dropped. For example, SunPower (SPWR -2.17%) closed the day nearly 11% lower, while Sunrun (RUN -6.78%) took a more than 6% hit.
So what
The new bear on the scene is one of the "big four" U.S. banks, Wells Fargo. Its analyst Michael Blum initiated coverage on a quartet of solar stocks. In addition to SunPower and Sunrun, he is also now tracking Sunnova Energy and backup-power specialist Generac Holdings.
Blum isn't enthusiastic about the sector at all, at least in the short-to-medium term. In a new research note, he said that his outlook for it is neutral to negative. Reasons for this include what he believes to be a lack of support from federal government energy policy (including a lack of clarity on the role of solar in the proposed Build Back Better economic and infrastructure bill), supply chain difficulties, and the effects of inflation.
Now what
The outlook should be brighter in the longer term. Blum feels that utilities backed by traditional energy-production methods will start charging more for their product, making solar that much more competitive.
But he's still largely bearish on the covered stocks. Of the four, he rates only Generac an overweight (buy, in other words). Sunnova and Sunrun are both equal weight (hold), while Blum has tagged SunPower as an underweight (sell).
