Cowen and Company keeps SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWR) at Outperform with a $40 price target following recent quarterly results.

Analyst Robert Stone commented that SunPower's revenue of $684 million and EPS of $.49 topped both of his estimates.

Stone noted that SunPower has 517MW of projects under contract, including 172MW residential, 81MW commercial and 264MW utility-scale (mostly Quinto and Henrietta). Rather than selling them upon completion, it plans to keep these on balance sheet until the time is right to sell them to the public as a YieldCo, or to the other investor groups. We believe this represents a strong starting point for 2015 revenue, and suggests good margins, as at least some of the cost will be recognized in 2014.

Bottom line: Demand and ASPs were firm and are expected to remain so through the year. Full year revenue and cash EPS guidance ranges were raised, despite plans to hold projects longer, which raises visibility on 2015 growth.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on SunPower click here. For more ratings news on SunPower click here.

SunPower closed at $32.02 yesterday.