Pros Place Bets on Wind Stocks in 2010, Pickens Not Among Them

Ever since T. Boone Pickens announced his “Pickens’ Plan” back in 2008, we’ve been waiting for some wind stocks to break into his top holdings, but given his recent shift towards natural gas, it’s no surprise it didn’t happen in Q4.

Earlier this year we covered the continued shift of Pickens’ Plan away from wind energy when the Texas billionaire slashed his order for General Electric (GE) turbines more than in half. Given that he’s been paring emphasis on wind, and focusing more on the natural gas portion of his plan, we’re not surprised that no wind energy stocks broke into Pickens’ top-15 U.S.-listed equity holdings as represented by his hedge fund’s fourth-quarter regulatory filings. Meanwhile, however, a number of other funds and advisors were placing their bets on wind stocks, and a new favorite was crowned in Q4.

As a whole, the Wind Energy Stocks Index is lagging the S&P 500 by -1.5% over the last month. The somewhat volatile sector is trading at similar levels to various points in the fourth quarter, when Pros were placing their final bets on the sector ahead of the New Year.

American Superconductor (AMSC) is the Index’s new Pro favorite, with ten hedge funds, mutual funds, and advisors counting it among their top-15 positions at the end of 2009. Meanwhile, Owens Corning (OC) also had ten Pro holders, but a look at the stock’s Spy page shows that some of the top Pros were taking money off the table during Q4.

Elsewhere in the wind energy segment, Quanta Services (PWR), MasTec (MTZ), and Trinity Industries (TRN) all had six or more Pro holders at the end of 2009. Meanwhile, a pair of Pros bumped Chinese player A-Power Energy Generation Systems (APWR) into their top-15 holdings as of the most recent SEC filings.

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Pro portfolio performance is based on institutions’ top-15 holdings as disclosed in quarter-end filings with the SEC. Pro performance does not take into account additional holdings beyond the top 15 nor does it include positions that are not required to be disclosed by the SEC. As such, Pro portfolio performance should be considered an approximation and not a precise record of how an institution has performed over time.

Tags: AMSC, APWR, GE, MTZ, OC, PWR, TRN