Here’s Why Apple, Walgreens, SunPower, and More Are in the Spotlight

After falling sharply overnight due to the surprise news that Donald J Trump will become the next President of the United States, the markets have opened surprisingly flat, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each close to flat and the Dow up by 50 points.

Given the news, let’s take a closer look at why Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR), First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR), and JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) are in the spotlight this morning and use SEC filings to determine hedge fund sentiment towards the equities.

Our backtests that covered the period between 1999 and 2012, showed that following the 15 most popular small-caps among hedge funds can help a retail investor beat the market by an average of 95 basis points per month (see the details).

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Traders are watching Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) after Ireland confirmed that it will appeal the EU’s €13 billion back tax fine on the tech company. Ireland is doing so because the Irish government “fundamentally disagrees with the European Commission’s analysis and the decision left the Government no choice but to take an appeal to the European Courts.” Although that should technically be good news and postpone Apple’s tax hit for a while, Apple shares are down by 1.8%, likely due to Donald Trump becoming President. Although a Trump Presidency will likely allow Apple to bring its overseas cash back to the United States at a low tax rate (and thus allow for more buybacks), the coming Trump administration could also cause Apple’s expenses to manufacture the iPhone to rise. Trump has said multiple times that he wants to bring jobs back home, and that might mean less of an Apple manufacturing presence overseas. David Einhorn‘s Greenlight Capital owned 6.85 million shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) at the end of June, down by 17% from the end of March.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) is in the spotlight after the company filed a lawsuit against Theranos for breach of contract. In the suit, the pharmacy chain is seeking to recover the $140 million that it invested in the startup. Walgreens is filing a suit because it believes it has been misled about the state of Theranos’ technology. Given the negative publicity that Theranos has had to contend with, the Walgreens suit is only the latest of the startup’s many problems. 67 funds that we track had a long position in Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) at the end of June, down by five funds from the end of March.

On the next page we’ll examine SunPower Corporation, First Solar, and JinkoSolar Holding.

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS), First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR), and SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) are deep in the red today after Donald Trump successfully flipped several key Midwestern states to become the 45th President of the United States, while the Republicans also maintained control of both the Senate and the House. Given that Trump hasn’t really bought into global warming (as is customary with Republicans) and is friendly to the oil and gas industry, many traders are afraid that the currently hospitable environment for renewable energy will head south, and an already bad oversupply situation in the industry will become even worse.

Of the 749 funds that we track which filed 13Fs for the June quarter, the smart money liked First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) the most, with 30 funds reporting holding stakes in it as of the end of the second quarter. Meanwhile 19 funds were long SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) at the end of June, while just four were shareholders of JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS).

Disclosure: None