The shares of Vivint Solar Inc (NYSE:VSLR) are up 4% to trade at $5.21, after Goldman Sachs took a bullish stance to the alternative energy sector. The brokerage firm said it anticipates " lower costs for solar and favorable policy support ... to drive meaningful upside to the market," and forecast year-over-year utility-sector solar installation growth of 12% in 2019, and another 10% in 2020. Further, Goldman said it expects "some of the strongest growth to materialize in key regions such as the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East."
It's been a volatile stretch for VSLR stock, per its annual-high 120-day historical volatility of 66.1%. Looking closer, the shares hit a two-year high of $7.44 on Nov. 28, before retreating all the way back to a nine-month low of $3.55 on Dec. 27. Vivint Solar went on to retrace roughly 50% of this sell-off, before pulling back to find support at its 40-day moving average. Today's trendline has the stock back above its 200-day trendline, which has served as a magnet for the shares in recent sessions.
Most analysts are upbeat toward the solar stock, with 80% in coverage maintaining a "strong buy" rating, and not a single "sell" on the books. Plus, the average 12-month price target of $8.15 is a 56.4% premium to current trading levels.
Short sellers, meanwhile, have been in cover-mode recently. Short interest fell 5.2% in the latest two-week reporting period to 6.44 million shares. These bearish bets still account for 15.3% of VSLR stock's available float, or 11.1 times the equity's average daily pace of trading.