First Solar Executives Pony Up Cash To Buy More Stock (FSLR)

Executives at companies may sell shares of their company for a myriad of reasons, but generally when they buy shares it means that they think the stock is going to ultimately go much higher than at the current time.  That is usually the case.  But what about when companies issue a press release that several executives have bought shares into the weakness?  That is exactly what came out of First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) today.

The solar leader announced on Wednesday that five senior executives purchased a total of 5,500 shares of company stock this week, which is in addition to their current share holdings.  If you have seen the drop in solar and the drop in this stock, it might lead one to wonder why the company issued a press release.  The SEC filings showed the actions.  Maybe it felt as though it needed to reaffirm its stance.

Today’s news noted that these purchases were made during one of the four annual open trading windows for First Solar’s insiders and that they purchased shares on the open market using their own personal funds.

• Tymen DeJong (Vice President of Global Operations) purchased 1,000 shares;
• Frank DeRosa (Senior Vice President of Business Development for the Americas) purchased 500 shares;
• TK Kallenbach (President of the Components Business Group) purchased 1,000 shares;
• Jim Lamon (Vice President of Engineering, Procurement and Construction) purchased 2,000 shares;
• Mark Widmar (Chief Financial Officer) purchased 1,000 shares.

First Solar’s big problem is that the stock is under $100.00 per share.  This is a blow to morale at the company as the 52-week range is $87.29 to $175.45.  First and foremost, the company cannot force insiders to buy stock.  The company can make inferences or it can hold meetings for insiders to act.  This comes to more than $500,000.00 spent this week by corporate insiders buying stock.  With a market cap of $8.2 billion, this may just be more noise than news.

The economic pricing of solar and the age of austerity are both just wreaking havoc on the sector.

JON C. OGG