The hottest sector over the past year has been energy, but one part of that sector has trailed the oil complex in a massive way. The top solar stocks, which just a few years ago were some of the hottest on Wall Street, have been absolutely eviscerated over the past year and a half. That may offer aggressive growth investors a shot at some incredible gains.

The analysts at Goldman Sachs who cover solar energy recently made some very necessary target price cuts on some of the leading companies. For aggressive investors looking to bottom fish and catch some huge bargains at outstanding entry points, now may be the time.

We screened the target price changes, which all were at least 10%, and found five very well-known Buy-rated stocks with massive upside to the Goldman Sachs price objectives. It is important to remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decisions.

Array Technologies

This company is still sometimes confused with a biotech with a similar name that Pfizer bought in 2019. Array Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRY) provides solar tracking solutions and services for utility-scale projects. Its products include DuraTrack HZ v3, a single-axis solar tracking system, and SmarTrack, a machine learning software that automatically adjusts module angles in response to weather and site conditions.

This stock had a red-hot initial public offering last year. Shares charged out of the gate, as the first trade was 34% above where the upsized IPO was priced. A total of 47.5 million shares were sold in the offering, as the maker of ground-mounting systems used in solar energy projects sold 7 million shares to raise $154 million and a selling shareholder sold 40.5 million shares.

Since then, Array Technologies stock has crashed and is offering investors an incredible entry point.

Goldman Sachs cut its $24 target price to $20, while the analysts’ consensus target is $23. Hitting the Goldman Sachs target would be almost a 90% gain, as the shares closed on Tuesday at $10.89. That was up over 3% for the day.

While somewhat forgotten, this sector leader is another top solar energy play. Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) designs, develops, manufactures and sells home energy solutions for the solar photovoltaic industry in the United States and internationally.

The company offers semiconductor-based microinverter, which converts energy at the individual solar module level and combines with its proprietary networking and software technologies to provide energy monitoring and control services. It also offers AC battery storage systems, Envoy communications gateway and Enlighten cloud-based monitoring service, as well as other accessories.

Enphase Energy sells its solutions to solar distributors and directly to large installers, original equipment manufacturers, strategic partners and homeowners, as well as directly to the do-it-yourself market through its legacy product upgrade program or online store.

Goldman Sachs continues to love the secular growth story on battery storage and the European exposure, but it lowered the $264 target price to $231. The consensus target for Enphase Energy stock is $235.67. Shares closed on Tuesday at $142.67 apiece, so hitting the Goldman Sachs target would be a 65% gain.

Shoals Technologies

This off-the-radar idea appears to have bottomed and looks poised to trade higher. Shoals Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SHLS) provides electrical balance of system (EBOS) solutions for solar energy projects in the United States. The company offers EBOS components, such as cable assemblies, inline fuses, combiners, recombiners, disconnects, wireless monitoring systems, junction boxes, transition enclosures and splice boxes that carry the electric current produced by solar panels to an inverter and to the power grid. The company sells its products to engineering, procurement and construction firms that build solar energy projects.

Top money managers have started to nibble at the shares at current levels, and a money-making stock like Shoals Technologies appears to be one of the top targets.

The $35 Goldman Sachs target price was lowered to $28, way below the $50.09 consensus target. Shoals Technologies stock closed on Tuesday at $17.23, so hitting the price objective would be a 65% gain.

This is not only a very solid idea but another of the top stocks to buy in the sector. Sunnova Energy International Inc. (NYSE: NOVA) provides residential solar and energy storage services in the United States.

The company offers operations and maintenance, monitoring, repairs and replacements, equipment upgrades, on-site power optimization and diagnostics services. It operates a fleet of residential solar energy systems with a generation capacity of approximately 790 megawatts serving approximately 107,000 customers.

The company announced this week the expansion of its strategic partnership with Generac. This will allow Sunnova to add Generac’s newly updated technology to its current suite of offerings, which will include energy storage units and, for the first time, standby home generators, microinverters and load managers, which will provide Sunnova with an option for a single equipment provider for the energy-independent Sunnova Adaptive Home.

Goldman Sachs lowered its price target on Sunnova Energy stock from $41 to $31. The consensus target is up at $49. With the shares closing at $20.02 on Tuesday, hitting the Goldman Sachs target would be a gain of over 50%.

Sunrun

The Goldman Sachs team has remained positive on this top stock for years. Sunrun Inc. (NASDAQ: RUN) designs, develops, installs, sells, owns and maintains residential solar energy systems in the United States. The company also sells solar energy systems and products, such as panels and racking, and solar leads generated to customers. In addition, the company offers battery storage, along with solar energy systems. Its primary customers are residential homeowners.

Sunrun markets and sells its products through direct-to-consumer approach across online, retail, mass media, digital media, canvassing, field marketing and referral channels, as well as its partner network.

Goldman Sachs slashed its $53 price target to $37, which compares to the much higher consensus figure of $61.27. The closing share price on Tuesday was $26.01. Hitting the firm’s Sunrun stock target would be a very solid 40% increase.

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These top stocks have been murdered over the past year. While the acceptance of solar power continues to grow, in many areas it is not a feasible alternative without expensive storage capability. With that noted, all these stocks now offer very compelling entry points with limited downside. With the Democrats firmly in power, at least for now, the focus on clean energy will remain at the forefront, and these top stocks are the way to play that compelling potential.

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