Phoenix Sonnenstrom AG advanced 56 cents today, or 3.5 percent, to 16.71 euros. The shares surged as much as 11 percent after HSBC Holdings Plc rated them ``overweight'' in new coverage on expectations for ``healthy profitability.''

Phoenix is in the wholesale side of solar power for complete solar power systems, solar modules and inverters. I always find it instructive where possible to look over earlier ratings and the reasons behind them - like this one almost exactly a year ago by Deutsche Bank. Then it said . . . Phoenix Sonnenstrom (PS4.XE) a buy with EUR16.60 target . . . a leading German photovoltaic distributor next to Conergy (CGY.XE), it says. Sees company well-positioned, with a strong brand name and a highly scalable business model. Believes political support and regulatory changes for photovoltaics should allow for 25%-30% market growth until 2010.

So it's interesting to read that their half-yearly figures released last week were 16.4% lower than the year before. But Deutsche Bank's 25 - 30% annual growth figure is looking spot on - 2005 sales were EUR 111 million and this year the sales forecast is EUR 140 million.