Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) Short Interest Up 27.1% in August

Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,360,000 shares, an increase of 27.1% from the July 31st total of 5,790,000 shares. Approximately 15.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,520,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.8 days.

Canadian Solar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSIQ traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $12.63. The company had a trading volume of 1,156,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,745,634. Canadian Solar has a 52 week low of $12.18 and a 52 week high of $28.72. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $15.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.14. The stock has a market cap of $835.59 million, a PE ratio of 4.39, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 22nd. The solar energy provider reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Canadian Solar had a net margin of 0.56% and a return on equity of 0.99%. Canadian Solar’s revenue was down 30.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.39 EPS. Analysts expect that Canadian Solar will post 0.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Canadian Solar from $43.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Canadian Solar from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Roth Mkm lowered their price target on Canadian Solar from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Canadian Solar from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Canadian Solar from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.33.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Solar

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSIQ. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Canadian Solar in the 1st quarter valued at about $989,000. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of Canadian Solar by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,575,683 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $41,330,000 after acquiring an additional 213,959 shares during the last quarter. D. Scott Neal Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Canadian Solar in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,898,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Canadian Solar by 30.9% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 198,646 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $3,925,000 after acquiring an additional 46,888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Canadian Solar in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $201,000. 52.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Canadian Solar Company Profile

Canadian Solar Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides solar energy and battery energy storage products and solutions in in Asia, the Americas, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, CSI Solar and Recurrent Energy. The CSI Solar segment designs, develops, and manufactures solar ingots, wafers, cells, modules, and other solar power and battery storage products.