Ascent Solar (ASTI: sentiment, chart, options) has rallied more than 19% this morning, weathering a storm started by Wedbush Morgan. The brokerage cut the solar firm's price target to $3 from $5.50 this morning, assigning a "hold" rating on the shares. The good news is that ASTI is currently trading above the price target thanks to this morning's rally, so we could see this level act as support. That's the good news, the bad news is that ASTI has not broken above its 10-week moving average, which is currently dropping through the lower 4 region. Since the middle of May, ASTI has topped this trendline just once. Furthermore, the equity's 20-week moving average is dropping through the lower 6 region to provide resistance if needed. I'm not banking on sunny days for ASTI anytime in the near future.

While the technical view for ASTI isn't the prettiest, option players are bullishly aligned. ASTI's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.16 indicates that calls far outnumber puts in the front 3 months of options. Should this optimism unwind, the stock could be pushed further south. That said, it may be difficult to shake these bulls from their optimistic perches, just look at today's reaction to the price-target cut. For a look at ASTI's solar sister LDK Solar, make sure to check out Joe Hargett's Casual Contrarian video.