Short Interest in Solar Stocks Focused on Just Two Names

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), SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY), 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 by 10.1% to 3.14 million shares, about 9.7% of the company’s total float.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) saw short interest rise by 0.4% to 10.82 million shares, which represents 15.3% of the company’s float.

GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) showed a decrease of 9.8% in short interest to 34.25 million shares, about 28.1% of GT’s float.

SunEdison Inc. (NYSE: SUNE) showed a decline of 1.5% in short interest to 21.38 million shares. About 8.2% of the company’s stock is now short.

Sunpower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) saw short interest drop 4.9% to 11.64 million shares, 27.8% of the company’s total float.

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) showed a drop of 1.9% in short interest to 3.83 million shares.

LDK Solar Co. Inc. (NYSE: LDK) saw short interest fall by 5.9% to 3.71 million shares.

SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) showed a rise of 23% in short interest to 6.84 million shares, or 24.8% of the company’s float.

Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) saw a short interest drop of 22.6% to 6.8 million shares.

Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) showed a rise of 9.6% in short interest to 11.39 million shares.

Short interest in solar stocks mainly dropped in the final two weeks of September, with two notable exceptions. Yingli attracted some additional short interest, as we suggested it would, and SolarCity’s short interest jumped significantly. While solar PV installations continue to rise in the United States, SolarCity has a lot of competition and that is squeezing both revenues and profits. The company announced on Wednesday that it had acquired a component maker, Zep Solar, and that might help it lower its costs and boost its margins.