ASTI

[Goldeneyes]

link...

http://seekingalpha.com/article/57456-us-energy-bill-solar-stocks-will-feel-all-the-heat

[kslifka]

That article is biased and non-factual.   The writer appears to be a short.

Who cares if these companies aren't getting U.S. federal help.

Many of these Solar companies have real earnings and getting more contracts....mainly outside of the U.S. anyway...where solar continues to grow. 

I hope ASTI is down for this reason.  The short covering that follows will be sweet.

[la-onda]

ugly chart action today, insider selling the last weeks, waiting for the Hydro news

[David Randolph]

ugly chart action today, insider selling the last weeks, waiting for the Hydro news

Ehhh, I'm not so sure that news will be announced over the short term la-onda

It seems to me that yesterday's press release ...

• Ascent Solar Achieves Major Milestone on Its 1.5MW Manufacturing Line
Business Wire (Mon 6:00am)

... was a nice way of saying: "Hydro didn't increase its stake in us from 23% to 35%, but we didn't need it anyway".

When I saw that Hydro wouldn't be paying $11 for each new stock of ASTI, but market prices (through their buying of class B warrants at market prices), I feared this could happen, but was hopeful that they would pay the price the market was asking. That would be huge news for ASTI.

Yesterday's "news" without any real news made the stock tank 15.8%.

Maybe Hydro's management (now Statoilhydro, I hope they didn't change their stance towards investing in solar energy, since they're an oil company - I don't think so) isn't stupid and thought that if they didn't buy the additional 12% stake right after they were allowed to do so, many investors would be disappointed, sell out and then Hydro could buy its stake a good $5 a share lower. This is plausible because Hydro already filed a form with the SEC saying they can control/control, 35% of ASTI.

We're still not sure of what are Hydro's intentions. But I don't think they would announce Brise Soleil, expose products at Batimat and then just give up. We'll probably know more over the next few weeks.

Anyway, given the explicit information of the press release, everything seems on track from an operational standpoint. Management sees 100 MW of annual production of thin film and flexible solar pannels over the long term and that will make the company be worth more than $1 B in my view (currently ASTI is worth $0.193 B).

I'll continue holding ASTI for the long term, despite the setback.

[soxguy]

AP
Ascent Solar Cuts Deal With Norsk Hydro
Wednesday December 19, 3:16 pm ET 
Ascent Solar Reaches New Cooperation Agreement With Norway-Based Norsk Hydro ASA


LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) -- Ascent Solar Technologies Inc. said Wednesday it signed a new cooperation agreement with its partner Norsk Hydro ASA.
Financial terms were not disclosed.

Ascent said that in anticipation of commencement of its 1.5 megawatt pilot scale production set for next year, the companies agreed to jointly develop and build integrated photovoltaic products.

Hydro, a Norway-based producer of aluminum and aluminum products, has agreed to provide Ascent with manufacturing and engineering expertise, as well as project management assistance, Ascent said.

Hydro currently owns an about 23 percent stake in Ascent and has an option to acquire up to a 35 percent stake in the company.

Ascent shares rose 83 cents, or 4.5 percent, to $19.18 in afternoon trading.


I hope this keeps the ball rolling in the right direction.

[David Randolph]

From reading yesterday's press release ...

• Ascent Solar and Hydro Sign Cooperation Agreement
Business Wire (Wed 12:00pm)

... and the complete agreement filed with the SEC ...

COOPERATION AGREEMENT

... I get the feeling that negotiations between the two parties were tough.

What I read between the lines was Hydro's management saying:

«Ok, we want to increase our stake in Ascent to 35%, but we need exclusivity rights to your production»

And ASTI's management replied: «No, we want to sell to other companies too.»

Since they couldn't agree on this issue, they made another agreement: Hydro won't increase its stake to 35% (at least not right away), but it will help ASTI in other forms, like setting up contacts and building a new production plant in Europe. And ASTI won't give Hydro exclusivity rights, but just an undisclosed quota of its future production at market prices.

Of course, I'm just speculating on what really happened, I'm not sure.

This new agreement tells me that David (ASTI) stood up against Golias (Hydro) and said: we want to be bigger than you!

It also shows that ASTI has all the capital it needs to pursuit its plans.

I'll keep holding ASTI for the long term.

[la-onda]

ASTI: Short Interest UP 30.7% to 1.6M in Mid Dec 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007 16:15ET

According to new short interest data from NASDAQ, short interest for Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NasdaqNM: ASTI) INCREASED 30.7% to 1,567,432 shares as reported in mid-December, 2007. Based on ASTI's 20-day average daily share volume of 749,765, it would require approximately 3 day(s) of buying to cover this short interest.

Insiders are still selling...

chart is going up:

[kslifka]

Moving up above $23.

[soxguy]

On cnbc they have been saying lighten up on solar stocks; they will correct 20%. This one's correcting to the upside.Keep going!

[Se7en]

Look at that volume the latest hour  , something must be up! 

[soxguy]

Can't find any news.It seems there's a large short interest.It seems they heard something and started buying to cover.My 2 cents.

[kslifka]

Volume really kicked in the last half hour of trading. 
Market cap is only $200 million.

[soxguy]

Up 75 cents ah. lovin it

[la-onda]

just awesome  year ending

ASTI: Jumps +22.71%; Vol +591%; Last 90 Min of Trading
Friday , December 28, 2007 16:21ET

During the last 90 minutes of today's session, shares of Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NasdaqNM: ASTI) demonstrated a strong UPWARD close relative to its 13:30 ET statistics. "Strong Closers" are determined by proprietary Knobias calculations performed during the last segment of each trading day.

sym: ASTI      @13:30 ET        @CLOSE      % CHANGE
----------   -----------   -----------  ------------
PRICE             $21.80        $26.75       +22.71%
VOLUME           263,900     1,824,100      +591.21%
#TRADES            1,008         6,146      +509.72%
DAY-HI            $21.87        $26.88       LATE-HI
DAY-LO            $20.35        $20.35           N/A

[stocky]

ASTI may turn out to be the best 3SoF pick ever. I think it has much more to go.