Is First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) was in 21 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. FSLR has experienced a decrease in hedge fund sentiment of late. There were 22 hedge funds in our database with FSLR positions at the end of the previous quarter.

At the moment, there are many gauges market participants can use to track their holdings. Some of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can beat the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Just as integral, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the marketplace. Obviously, there are a number of motivations for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a glance at the latest action encompassing First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR).

What have hedge funds been doing with First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 21 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -5% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group had the most valuable position in First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR), worth close to $19.9 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group, with a $13.9 million call position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds that hold long positions include John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Wojciech Uzdelewicz’s Espalier Global Management.

Because First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) has witnessed a declination in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there were a few fund managers that decided to sell off their positions entirely heading into Q2. At the top of the heap, Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management dumped the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, totaling close to $60.6 million in stock.. Gilchrist Berg’s fund, Water Street Capital, also dropped its call options., about $31.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds heading into Q2.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR)?

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time period, First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR). These stocks are SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY), Cirrus Logic, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRUS), LSI Corp (NASDAQ:LSI), Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ:SLAB), and SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR). This group of stocks are the members of the semiconductor – specialized industry and their market caps are closest to FSLR’s market cap.

With the results exhibited by the aforementioned strategies, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) is no exception.

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