Key Short Selling Changes In Solar Stocks (FSLR, JASO, SPWRA, STP, ENER, LDK, CSIQ)

The second half of November showed somewhat of a mixed bag in short selling activity in the universe of our actively traded and more prominent solar stocks.  We saw a gain in short selling many names at the end of November versus mid-November.  And even though there were several with lower short interest in the shares, the one common denominator is that ALL of these short interests are much higher than what we were seeing just six months ago.

The gains in short selling in major solar players are as follows:

• First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) 12,623.088 shares short, a gain of 0.3% from 12,590,473.
• JA Solar Holdings, Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) 7,612,356 shares short, a gain of 7.5% from 7,079,428.
• SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA) 13,282,532 shares short, a gain of 14.1% from 11,641,669.
• Suntech Power Holdings Co. (NYSE: STP) 23,490,428 shares short, a gain of 6.9% from 21,970,277.

The drop in the short interest in solar players is as follows:

• Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER) 15.951,275 shares short, a drop of 1% from 16,113,828.
• LDK Solar Co. Inc. (NYSE: LDK) 21,990,443 shares short, a drop of 2.5% from 22,552,585.
• Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) 1,988,891 shares short, a drop of 16.6% from the 2,385,353.

JON C. OGG
December 10, 2009