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

Courtesy of Benzinga.

• Shares of Virgin America Inc (NASDAQ: VA) have been surging for several months now. Since July 9, the stock has gained more than 37 percent.
• First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) has surged more than 20 percent since September 21.
• 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 issued a 3.0-Star 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. Moreover, the crowd's price target of $38 implies 4 percent upside potential for the stock.

Firms like Cowen and Raymond James rate the stock a Buy having issued price targets of $39 and $38, respectively.

First Solar was upgraded from 3.0 Stars to 3.5 Stars. 57.9 percent of the crowd 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 targets. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, Macquarie issued a Strong Buy rating and $64.35 six-month price target for the stock.

A few days ago, a Vetr 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.

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