Hedge Funds Love These Three Solar Stocks

There is a large drop in fund ownership after SunEdison, to a number of solar energy companies with fund ownership in the 20 to 30 range. The next highest of those was SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) with 31 funds owning the stock, though that was a drop from 37 at the end of the third quarter. Aggregate among of capital invested in it also slipped to $1.05 billion from $1.18 billion, though that is almost entire attributable to an 11.94% drop in SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY)’s shares during the quarter, with invested capital otherwise staying relatively flat.

However, while analysts are bullish on SunEdison Inc (NYSE:SUNE) they are quite the opposite with SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY). Increasing competition is expected to prove a challenge for the company, and its increasing volume of insider sales is also pointed at as a potential sign that the peak has been reached. Karthik Sarma’s SRS Investment Management was the largest shareholder of SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) among the funds that we track with an even 8.0 million shares. Barry Rosenstein of JANA Partners was also bullish on SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY), opening a new 5.16 million share stake while shares lost some ground during the fourth quarter.

Lastly is First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR), which had 26 funds with an aggregate of $183.82 million invested. As you can see, invested capital was low, and had decreased from $249.10 million from the previous quarter, while fund ownership was down from 27 funds that held stakes at the end of September. The capital decrease was again due to a decline of First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR)’s stock price, which was down by 33.95% for the fourth quarter (capital actually increased slightly when removing the fluctuation in shares). First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) has suffered through lowered guidance, unmet estimates, and weakened sales on lower margins throughout the year, which has dampened investor enthusiasm somewhat.

Nonetheless, First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) was considered a potential turnaround tech stock heading into 2015 after its disastrous 2014, and so far it’s more than lived up to that billing, gaining 36.92% year-to-date. Mike Masters’ Masters Capital Management was the top shareholder of First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) among funds from our database heading into 2015, with 600,000 shares, while Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management held 511,300 shares.

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