A Potential Carbon Tax Sends SunPower Corporation (SPWR) Higher

SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) shares have rallied over 2% today due to the Washington Post reporting that the Trump administration is considering a possible carbon tax in addition to a possible value added tax to address the budget deficit and as part of a broader tax code overhaul. The carbon tax specifically would target the emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in the burning of various fossil fuels. Given that President Trump has previously not placed much emphasis on regulating global temperatures, the news that the administration is considering such a levy is a surprise to many traders and could boost sentiment in the short term.

If a carbon tax is enacted, solar will be more competitive, and SunPower might realize more in revenues. Whether a carbon tax will actually be passed is anyone’s guess, however. Although many Democrats support such a tax, the Republicans control both the House and the Senate. The Trump administration is also considering other ways outside of a carbon tax to address the deficit.

What Does The Smart Money Sentiment Say?

At Insider Monkey, we’ve developed an investment strategy that has delivered market-beating returns over the past 12 months. Our strategy identifies the 100 best-performing funds of the previous quarter from among the collection of 700+ successful funds that we track in our database, which we accomplish using our returns methodology. We then study the portfolios of those 100 funds using the latest 13F data to uncover the 30 most popular mid-cap stocks (market caps of between $1 billion and $10 billion) among them to hold until the next filing period. This strategy delivered 39.7% gains over the past 12 months and outperformed the 24.1% gain enjoyed by the S&P 500 ETFs. Our enhanced small-cap hedge fund strategy returned more than 45% over the last 12 months and outperformed SPY by more than 30 percentage points over the last 4.5 years (see details here).

According to our records, the smart money was less optimistic on SunPower in the fourth quarter. Of the 742 elite funds we track, 14 owned shares of SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) at the end of the fourth quarter, down 4 from the previous quarter. The amount held also fell to $38.38 million from  $52.53 million in the same time frame. Kenneth Tropin‘s Graham Capital Management was among the funds that went the other way, initiating a new stake of 16.775 million shares, worth over $11 million at the time.

The Bottom Line

SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) shares are almost 3% higher on improved sentiment due to the news that the Trump administration is considering a potential carbon tax. For more solar reading, check out, ‘8 Countries that Produce The Most Solar Energy in The World‘.

Disclosure:None

Wall Street Bull