Power REIT stock surges 32 percent, trading volume jumps

Shares of Old Bethpage-based Power REIT surged 32 percent Thursday on 35 times normal daily volume, one day after solar panel maker SolarCity received a $2.8 billion buyout offer from Tesla Motors.

Power REIT, a real estate investment trust specializing in leasing land to companies involved in alternative energy and railroad transportation, owns about 600 acres of land leased to solar farms in California and Massachusetts.

Power REIT chief executive David Lesser said he couldn’t link Thursday’s stock price increase and heavy volume to anything specific. “We are certainly solar related, and that could be part of it,” he said. “Maybe it popped up on someone’s renewable energy portfolio list.”

The company, which has been entangled in a costly lawsuit with railroad company Norfolk Southern since December 2011, hit a 14-year low of $3.84 in November. Shares Thursday closed at a 52-week high of $6.26, up $1.51.