Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of LED lighting specialist Cree (Nasdaq: CREE) lit up a 12.4% intraday price jump on heavy volume.
So what: Other alternative lighting experts also soared today: Veeco Instruments (Nasdaq: VECO) gained as much as 19.5%, OLED guru Universal Display (Nasdaq: PANL) notched a 17.4% top, and microcap SemiLEDS (Nasdaq: LEDS) crushed 'em all with a 41% jump. Why all this alt-light enthusiasm? Because China plans to ban incandescent light bulbs over the next five years, thus creating a ginormous market for replacements. Conversely, light bulb giants Philips (NYSE: PHG), Siemens (NYSE: SI), and General Electric (NYSE: GE) all fell 3% or more today.
Now what: In particular, these Westerners are jumping for joy because China's local LED industry is several years behind the technology curve according to industry analysts. Regular old 100-watt bulbs will be banned from sale in China less than a year from now, with steps down the power scale to outlaw 15-watt bulbs in 2016. America already has a similar plan going on, but China is simply a much larger market.
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Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies mentioned. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Universal Display. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinion, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Check out Anders' holdings and bio, or follow him on Twitter and Google+. We have a disclosure policy.
