Hedge Funds Are Absolutely Nuts Over SunPower Corporation (SPWR)

Solar’s hot, that’s no doubt. The level of hedge funds’ interest in SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) will still surprise you though.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of gauges shareholders can use to monitor the equity markets. A duo of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can outpace the market by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Just as necessary, positive insider trading activity is another way to look at the financial markets. Obviously, there are plenty of motivations for a corporate insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if investors know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to study the latest info surrounding SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR).

How are hedge funds trading SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 19 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 90% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, John Murphy’s Alydar Capital had the biggest position in SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR), worth close to $29.8 million, accounting for 1.6% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which held a $16.5 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedgies with similar optimism include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies and Philip Hempleman’s Ardsley Partners.

Now, certain bigger names were leading the bulls’ herd. Alydar Capital, managed by John Murphy, initiated the most outsized position in SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR). Alydar Capital had 29.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates also initiated a $16.5 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new SPWR investors: Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies, and Philip Hempleman’s Ardsley Partners.

What have insiders been doing with SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR)?

Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR). These stocks are LSI Corp (NASDAQ:LSI), SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY), Cirrus Logic, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRUS), First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR), and Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ:SLAB). This group of stocks are the members of the semiconductor – specialized industry and their market caps are closest to SPWR’s market cap.