We have tracked the short interest in the following North American Solar companies as of February 15: 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: J.A. 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 rise 1.5% to 2.07 million shares, 6.9% of the company’s total float.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) short interest fall by 8.7% to 16.71 million shares, which represents 27.8% of the company’s float.

GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) showed a decrease of 2.9% in short interest, to 35.32 million shares, about 29.9% of GT’s float.

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) showed a decline of 1.3% in short interest, to 16.4 million shares, about 7.2% of MEMC’s float.

Sunpower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) saw short interest rise by 33.3% to 8.87 million shares, or 22.3% of the company’s total float.

J.A. Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) showed a decrease of 0.2% in short interest to 2.91 million shares.

LDK Solar Co. Inc. (NYSE: LDK) saw short interest rise 2.1% to 4.38 million shares.

Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) showed a rise of 6.9% in short interest, to 27.32 million shares.

Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) saw short interest drop 0.1% to 17.99 million shares.

Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) showed a rise of 13% in short interest, to 5.37 million shares.

Shares of the Chinese solar stocks continue to be volatile, and share prices are tied to news related to government spending on planned solar installations in China during 2013. First Solar’s terrible results reported earlier this week probably have a lot of shorts kicking themselves for bailing out too soon. They will be back. Short interest in SunPower jumped after its earnings came in decently, as shorts probably believe there is not much positive news ahead.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.