A Look Into Ecofin’s Eco-Friendly Stock Moves Heading Into 2016: From SunPower To SolarEdge

Ecofin Ltd. is an independent, thematic, research-driven investment management firm that specializes in the global utility, infrastructure, alternative energy and environmental sectors. The firm, managed by Senior Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer Bernard Lambilliotte, was founded in 1992. It is based in London and has offices in New York and Hong Kong. Ecofin has roughly $1.5 billion in assets under management and employs 34 people. According to its most recent 13F filing, the fund’s U.S equity portfolio was worth about $594.97 million as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2015, up from $520.32 million at the end of the previous quarter. In this article we’ll take a look at the some of the most relevant moves that the firm made between October and December.

At Insider Monkey, we track around 730 hedge funds and institutional investors. Through extensive backtests, we have determined that imitating some of the stocks that these investors are collectively bullish on can help retail investors generate double digits of alpha per year. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these funds, which are usually less followed by the broader market and allow for larger price inefficiencies (see more details about our small-cap strategy).

Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB)

– Shares Owned by Ecofin as of December 31: 1.14 Million

– Value of Holding as of December 31: $29.36 Million

Ecofin disclosed ownership of 1.14 million shares of Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB) as of the end of 2015 after increasing its stake in the company by 20% during the fourth quarter. The position, worth more than $29.35 million, is the fifth-largest in the fund’s portfolio, and accounts for almost 5% of its total market value. Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB) last reported earnings in late-October, which beat the Street’s consensus of $0.17 per share on the income front, with earnings of $0.22 per share, but revenue of $1.80 billion fell well short of expectations for $2.01 billion. The firm will announce its fourth quarter financial results next Wednesday. Also quite bullish on the energy infrastructure company was Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital, which disclosed in early-December an increase to its holding of the stock, more than doubling it to 41.96 million shares, becoming one of the largest institutional investors of record in the company.

SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR)

– Shares Owned by Ecofin as of December 31: 1.04 Million

– Value of Holding as of December 31: $31.23 Million

Ecofin also boosted its stake in SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR), by 21%, over the fourth quarter of 2015. Over the same period, the stock gained almost 50%, aided by the extension of the solar investment tax credit (ITC) in the U.S. The firm, also set to report its fourth quarter results next Wednesday, February 17, last posted earnings of $0.13 per share on revenue of $441.4 million, comfortably beating the Street’s estimates of flat earnings and $418.33 million in revenue. As of the end of the third quarter of 2015, 20 funds among those that we track held long stakes in SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR). Among them, Mike Masters’ Masters Capital Management declared owning 935,000 shares of the company, worth more than $18.73 million as of the end of September.

On the next page we will look into Ecofin’s moves at First Solar, Delphi Automotive, and Solaredge Technologies.