Short interest in leading solar power companies First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR), SolarCity Corp and SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) fell significantly in the first two weeks of April. Notably, two of the three solar stocks have declined significantly over the last month, except SunPower which is up 4%. Let’s take a look at how First Solar, SolarCity and SunPower fared between the March 31 and April 15 settlement dates.
First Solar
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) witnessed a 16% decline in short interest in the first two weeks of April. According to Nasdaq, 10.21 million shares of the Tempe, Arizona-based company were sold short, representing about 14% of the float. With an average daily trading volume of 5 million shares, it will take a little more than two days to cover all short positions.
Analysts expect solid revenue growth for the current quarter as well as the full year. As First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR)’s growth in solar farms market slows, the company is betting big on international projects and smaller rooftop market. The company CEO Jim Hughes says that smaller projects alone can increase the company’s revenues by more than 36% in the next three years.
SolarCity
The provider of residential and commercial solar panels has seen its short interest decline by more than 10%. As of April 15, 9.60 million shares of SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) are held short, the lowest figure since mid-February. Though it represents over 23% of the float, it will take short sellers just 1.7 days to cover their short positions, thanks to the heavy daily trading volume of 5.67 million.
The San Mateo-based company is facing federal investigations as regulators claimed that SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) overvalued sales contracts to claim a higher federal tax incentive. The company is also facing lawsuits for delaying its financial reporting due to accounting-related issues. Currently, six of the 10 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters have a Buy rating on the stock, with just one analyst rating it Underperform.
SunPower
SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) has seen its short interest fall by more than 17% in the first two weeks of April to 12.95 million shares. That’s the lowest level since the beginning of 2014. The number of days required to cover the short position has also declined from 6.3 on December 31 to 3.65 on April 15. However, the short interest still makes up 30% of the float. SunPower forecasts its long-term EPS growth to be about 30%.
