Akeena Solar's stock sees volatility amid market uncertainty
Shares of solar power systems designer Akeena Solar (Nasdaq: AKNS) have been dimming and brightening all week on above-average volume as investors navigate choppy markets and careening oil prices propelled by broader economic concerns.
“The solar market’s been going up and down dating back to November when you had the energy bill up for vote,” said Elric Martinez, head of investor relations at Akenna Solar. “There were a lot of unknowns and obviously there are a lot of broad market concerns right now and I think a lot of people are trying to find a safe haven.”
On top of broader market concerns, Martinez says recent news out of China that a large amount of silicon is going to be coming on the market at the end of this year and beginning end of next year is weighing on Akeena’s stock.
“That’s obviously going to cut into some profits for the silicon makers,” said Martinez. “For us being an end user that’s a good thing. But I think people don’t always make that connection and that might be why we’re being brought down as a whole with the silicon manufacturers.”
Martinez says overall there’s no new news out for the company other than its Jan. 2 announcement with Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP). Akeena made a licensing agreement with Suntech to distribute its solar panel technology in Europe, Japan and Australia beginning this month. The company’s most recent announcement of its agreement with Suntech also follows an earlier arrangement made in September of 2007 in which Suntech will manufacture Akeena’s Andalay solar panels.
Martinez also added, “I think there was a bit of speculative investing that came into the stock with the Suntech announcement. The stock doubled at the time and I think that it was a market high when people were looking for places to park their money.”
Andalay, as the technology is called, improves on conventional solar panels by including built-in wiring, grounding and racking designed to provide better rooftop performance for consumers.
Shares of Akeena Solar (AKNS) jumped 9.84%, or $0.80, to $8.93 on volume of 1,652,099 at 10:24 a.m. ET. Shares of Akeena Solar have been trading in the range of $2.97 to $16.80 for the past 52 weeks. The average volume for the stock is 2,051,000.
