AES - First Solar Array both rising despite Morgan Stanley's divergent analysis

First Solar ( NASDAQ: FSLR ) +2.1% in Thursday's trading as Morgan Stanley upgraded shares to Equal Weight from Underweight with a $136 price target, but Array Technologies ( NASDAQ: ARRY ) +4.7% even after the firm downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight with a $17 PT, after the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law.

Morgan Stanley's Stephen Byrd estimates the benefits to First Solar ( FSLR ) from the new law add $69/share of equity value, and he anticipates continued healthy and growing margins, but in the long term, the analyst remains concerned about the degree of competition from efficient, large scale Asian panel manufacturers - the main reason for keeping the stock at Equal Weight.

While Array Technologies ( ARRY ) also benefits from subsidies included in the IRA, Byrd views Array's business as having relatively lower margins and barriers to entry over time, and notes the stock has outperformed other clean tech names by ~15% since news broke that Senators Manchin and Schumer had reached a deal on the legislation.

Byrd's favorite clean tech beneficiaries of the new law are Sunrun ( RUN ), Plug Power ( PLUG ) and AES Corp. ( AES )

First Solar ( FSLR ) has enjoyed a raft of analyst upgrades in recent weeks; shares have surged 76% in the past month .

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