Smart Money Not Waiting Around for JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (JKS) to Recharge

Insider Monkey has processed numerous 13F filings of hedge funds and famous investors to create an extensive database of hedge fund holdings. The 13F filings show the hedge funds and investors’ positions as of the end of the third quarter. You can find write-ups about an individual hedge fund’s trades on numerous financial news websites. However, in this article we will take a look at their collective moves and analyze what the smart money thinks of JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) based on that data.

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. was hit with a double whammy of declining sentiment both for Chinese stocks and solar stocks during the third quarter, which led to shares falling by 25%. The stock also witnessed a large decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers during that time. The number of shareholders of the stock in our database was cut in half to 6, while the value of their holdings was slashed by 58%. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as CVR Partners LP (NYSE:UAN), Sierra Wireless, Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:SWIR), and Cynosure, Inc. (NASDAQ:CYNO) to gather more data points.

Today there are a multitude of gauges shareholders use to analyze publicly traded companies. Some of the less utilized gauges are hedge fund and insider trading activity. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a healthy margin (see the details here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at the latest action regarding JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS).

What have hedge funds been doing with JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS)?

Heading into Q4, a total of 6 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a 50% fall from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly (or had already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Quentec Asset Management, managed by Ken Hahn, holds the largest position in JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS). Quentec Asset Management has a $33.3 million position in the stock, comprising 5.7% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Kingdon Capital, led by Mark Kingdon, holding a $6.8 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other members of the smart money that are bullish consist of Jonathan Barrett and Paul Segal’s Luminus Management, Teun Johnston’s GLG Partners, and Chao Ku’s Nine Chapters Capital Management.

Seeing as JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) has experienced bearish sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of money managers who were dropping their positions entirely by the end of the third quarter. Interestingly, Joshua Friedman and Mitchell Julis’ Canyon Capital Advisors dropped the biggest stake of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, valued at about $33.2 million in stock, and Michael R. Weisberg’s Crestwood Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $12.9 million worth of shares. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 6 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS). We will take a look at CVR Partners LP (NYSE:UAN), Sierra Wireless, Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:SWIR), Cynosure, Inc. (NASDAQ:CYNO), and Affymetrix, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFFX). This group of stocks’ market caps match JKS’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 14 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $59 million. That figure was $46 million in JKS’s case. Affymetrix, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFFX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand CVR Partners LP (NYSE:UAN) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average and fell heavily in the third quarter. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard AFFX might be a better candidate to consider a long position in.