Vestas Climbs as Two Banks Raise Stock Recommendation

By Christian Wienberg

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world's biggest wind-turbine maker, jumped the most in eight days in Copenhagen trading after two banks raised their recommendation on the shares.

Vestas rose as much as 11 percent, the biggest intraday gain since Sept. 19, and was up 36 kroner at 487 kroner as of 11:06 a.m. local time. The stock was the biggest gainer on Denmark's benchmark index today, and the advance valued the company at 90 billion kroner ($17 billion).

Piper Jaffray & Co. increased its recommendation on the stock to ``buy'' from ``neutral,'' while Societe Generale SA lifted its rating to ``hold'' from ``sell.''


``The price environment and market conditions for wind turbines have improved substantially,'' London-based Piper analyst Torben Sommer said in a note to investors today. The upgrade is ``due to the company's low valuation, strong balance sheet and excellent earnings visibility.''

Separately, Vestas said it will move its headquarters to Aarhus, Denmark's second-largest city, from Randers, to attract more skilled foreign workers.

Vestas also today said it won an order to deliver 51 turbines to Italy with a total production capacity of 102 megawatts.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen at cwienberg@bloomberg.net