I am replacing some solar exposure I sold off earlier this week. I continue to find this space very undervalued but valuation has meant little in this market for a long time - so we've relied on charts. I'm also wary of the type of reversals this group is infamous for. But we have 2 industry conventions coming up, Obama, McCain, blah blah and perhaps we can get sentiment to stick. The solar story is very global and has very little to do with America thus far, but investors in solar stocks are mostly American so it's an interesting juxtaposition.
Anyhow, I sold Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) off post earnings around $82 - the stock has now fallen 10% in 24 hours so I'm getting back part of my position in the low $74s. This is a very fast moving market - and this is one case of many. This continues to be an excellent chart. I'd like to add more in the upper $60s if I can but 10% in a 1 day is too much to pass on. So we'll take this back to a 1.4% stake.
ReneSola (SOL) remains one of my favorites fundamentally at this point, but I was worried about a broken chart developing; I cut back earlier this week but was basically head faked out of this position as the stock has reversed nicely. No problem with that - it happens a lot. You can see a high volume drop Wednesday which generally indicates bad things ahead - but not this time. I'd like to see it north of $20 (over recent highs) to confirm this is a real move, but until then we're taking this back to a 1.3% stake.
Trina Solar (TSL) is trying to make a reversal as well, but from past history we'll give this one a lot more leeway before trusting any moves. But in general these stocks all move together, it is just a matter of degree. LDK Solar (LDK) remains a powerhouse with yet another contract signed today.
- LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK), a leading manufacturer of solar wafers, today announced that it has signed a seven-year contract to supply multicrystalline solar wafers to Republic of Korea-based Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd (HHI).
- Under the terms of the agreement, LDK Solar will deliver approximately 440 MW of multicrystalline silicon solar wafers to Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd over a seven-year period, commencing in 2009 and extending through 2015. Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd will make a down payment representing a portion of the contract value to LDK Solar.
Again this in a quiltwork of a very conservative portfolio sitting in very high levels of cash. I'm struggling to find long positions that can be trusted for more than 72 hours.
Long all names mentioned in fund and personal account