Short Interest: Solar Stocks Pick Up Some Ground (CSIQ, FSLR, GTAT, WFR, SPWR, JASO, LDK, STP, TSL, YGE)

We tracked the short interest in the following North American Solar companies: Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ), First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT), MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) and Sunpower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR). In the Chinese solar sector we tracked the following short interest changes: JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO), LDK Solar Co. Inc. (NYSE: LDK), Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP), Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE).

For China-based firms, the percentage of shares short is not available because the companies are also listed on other exchanges.

Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) saw short interest fall 6.5% to 3.39 million shares, 11.2% of the company’s total float.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) short interest fell 3.5% to 28.59 million shares, which represents 47.6% of the company’s float.

GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) showed an increase of 20.3% in short interest to 34.25 million shares, about 29% of GT’s float.

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) showed a drop of 10.4% in short interest to 20.4 million shares, about 8.9% of MEMC’s float.

Sunpower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) saw short interest fall 7.7% to 4.05 million shares, 10.2% of the company’s total float.

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) showed a decrease of 6.9% in short interest to 8.66 million shares.

LDK Solar Co. Inc. (NYSE: LDK) saw short interest drop 11.9% to 8.3 million shares.

Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) showed a rise of 2.1% in short interest to 18.32 million shares.

Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) saw short interest rise 1.2% to 12.7 million shares.

Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) showed a drop of 6.4% in short interest, to 6.09 million shares.

As with the previous short interest report, we saw more solar makers’ short interest fall than rise. That could indicate that solar stocks are pretty much as low as they can get. The major exception is GT Advanced Technologies, a maker of the equipment used to manufacture solar cells and panels. Because the panel makers already have more capacity than they can sell, GT is in nasty spot. As for the drop in short interest at some Chinese makers, that could be due to more expectations that government help is on the way, though yesterday’s U.S. tariff ruling will slow enthusiasm for the Chinese solar stocks.

Paul Ausick