Whee! First Solar (FSLR) shares have skyrocketed following the company’s blow-out third quarter report last night. The huge beat - revenue ex a special gain of 49 cents versus an expected 19 cents - has sent analysts scrambling to redo their model. And it has triggered manic buying across the solar sector.

Credit Suisse’s Satya Kumar this morning upped his price target on the stock to $250 from $160, and repeated his Outperform rating. He said this was a “transformational” quarter for the company. “As investors ponder the implications of $100 oil, potentially weakening economy, weak dollar, geopolitical oil risks and threats from global warming, we cannot but stress how FSLR/SPWR [SunPower] are excellent plays over these big themes in the stock market,” he writes.

Kumar says that First Solar’s photovoltaic panels are in the process of driving the costs of solar energy to under 15 cents per kilowatt hour, close to utility peak pricing, “a level below which there is demand for several 10s of GW of solar in a trillion dollar global electricity market.” He says the company is likely “just a few months away” from signing contracts with a U.S. utility. “FSLR will become the first [solar] stock that can remain profitable even if you completely eliminate subsidies a few years from now.”

He is hardly the company’s only fan.

Lehman’s Vishal Shah upped his target this morning to $220 from $180, and repeated his Overweight rating. “We expect near-term demand to exceed supply and execution on capacity expansion as well as on the cost reduction front to exceed expectations,” he writes. He thinks an upcoming analyst meeting on December 3 could provide a further catalyst for the stock.

Meanwhile, Merriman Curhan Ford’s Brion Tanous this morning raised his rating on the stock to Neutral from Sell. His 2007 EPS estimate jumps to $1.68 from $1.12; for ‘08 he goes to $1.72 from $1.41. And Cowen’s Robert W. Stone, who has an Outperform rating on the stock, upped his 2007 estimate to $1.22 from 65 cents, while upping 2008 to $1.79 from $1.36, and ‘09 to $4 from $3.17.

First Solar today is up - get this - $61.20, or 36.6%, to $228.32. The company now has a market cap of $16.7 billion.

Among other solar stocks:

  • Canadian Solar (CSIQ) is up $2.01, or $17, at $13.85.
  • Evergreen Solar (ESLR) is up $3.68, or 27%, at $17.33.
  • JA Solar (JASO) is up $9.18, or 15%, at $69.30.
  • Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) is up $4.22, or 16%, at $30.35.
  • MEMC (WFR) is up $5.87, or 8%, at $79.67.
  • SunPower (SPWR) is up $13.90, or 10%, at $158.90.
  • Suntech (STP) is up $7.55, or 12%, at $72.35.