We have tracked the short interest in the following North American Solar companies as of October 15: Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ), First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT), SunEdison Inc. (NYSE: SUNE) 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), 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 28.0% to 2.26 million shares, about 6.9% of the company’s total float.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) saw short interest rise by about 10% to 11.9 million shares, which represents 16.9% of the company’s float.
GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) showed a decrease of 3.0% in short interest, to 33.22 million shares, about 27.2% of GT’s float.
SunEdison Inc. (NYSE: SUNE) showed an increase of 4.2% in short interest to 22.28 million shares. About 8.6% of the company’s stock is now sold short.
Sunpower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) saw a short interest rise of 1.6% to 11.82 million shares, or 28.2% of the company’s total float.
JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) showed a drop of 14.1% in short interest to 3.29 million shares.
LDK Solar Co. Inc. (NYSE: LDK) saw short interest rise by 42.3% to 5.27 million shares.
SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) showed a rise of 7.1% in short interest to 7.33 million shares, or 30.2% of the company’s float.
Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) saw a short interest drop of 7.6% to 6.28 million shares.
Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) showed a rise of 19.4% in short interest to 13.6 million shares.
Short interest in Yingli has risen for the past three reporting periods. The reason is simple: the stock appears to be overvalued. The consensus price target is around $4.75 and the stock has not traded that low since early September. LDK showed a big jump in short interest as well, due largely to a 30-day forbearance agreement it arranged in late September postponing a $13 million interest payment. The extension ends on October 27.
