Home to a combined $61 million in assets under management, the
two
ETFs
devoted to solar stocks are in rally mode Thursday. Shares of the
Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSE:
TAN
), home to $49.6 million of the aforementioned $61 million in AUM,
are higher by nearly 11 percent on volume that is already close to
five times the daily average.
Shares of the Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (NYSE:
KWT
), which like TAN
reverse split its shares last year
, 10.5 percent on volume that is more than five times the daily
average.
The catalyst,
as Barron's reported
, is news that a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:
BRK-A) will pay between $2 billion and $2.5 billion for two
SunPower (NASDAQ:
SPWR
) solar projects. The projects, located in Southern California, are
currently under construction.
Arguably, what is going on with TAN and KWT today is that
investors are over-reacting to the faintest hint that Buffett, one
of the greatest value investors of all time, is taking an interest
in the solar sector. Shares of SunPower are higher by 41.3 percent
as of this writing, and rightfully so. An asset sale valued between
$2 billion and $2.5 billion means SunPower is selling something to
Berkshire Hathaway that is worth at least double the former's
current market value, maybe more.
As is often the case with solar stocks, traders apply news that
is specific to one of the group's constituents to entire sector.
The SunPower news sparked some increased activity in First Solar
(NASDAQ:
FSLR
) call options,
according to Options Monster
. That despite the fact that the Buffett/SunPower news has nothing
to do with First Solar, the largest U.S. solar company.
And it is the arguably unjustified rally in First Solar that is
leading TAN and KWT higher. TAN allocates 10.1 percent of its
weight to that stock, making it that ETF's largest holding. First
Solar is KWT's third-largest holding with a weight of 9.3
percent.
Wondering about SunPower? That stock is merely TAN's
twelfth-largest holding with an allocation of 4.25 percent. In KWT,
SunPower is the No. 13 holding with a weight of just 3.8
percent.
Here is the tell that Thursday's ebullience in TAN and KWT is
overdone. In 2011, France's Total SA (NYSE:
TOT
), Europe's third-largest oil company, paid $1.3 billion to acquire
a 60 percent stake in SunPower. Since that deal was announced,
SunPower shares plunged 74 percent through the end of last year.
Shares of Total are down today despite news that Berkshire may pay
nearly twice the value of Total's SunPower stake for just two of
SunPower's projects.
For more on ETFs, click
here
.
(c) 2013 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice.
All rights reserved.
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