What: Shares of residential solar installer SolarCity Corp (SCTY +0.00%) jumped as much as 10% by 10:30 a.m. EST Wednesday as solar stocks in general bounced from their recent lows.
So what: There's been a lot of noise around solar stocks recently with SunEdison and its yieldcos running into financial trouble, SolarCity lowering installation guidance, and the ups and downs of oil and energy stocks in general. But solar stocks have started to bounce off lows recently with SolarCity bouncing off a 52-week low of $24.07 per share.
The short-term driver of the stock has been unusually high option activity, which can cause a run-up in the stock. That combined with an apparent short squeeze has caused a bounce on Wednesday, which has faded as the day has gone on.
Now what: Chalk today's move up to noise in SolarCity's stock and traders in the market fighting over bullish and bearish positions. Long-term, what will drive the stock is profitable installation growth and falling sales costs, something management is putting an emphasis on in 2016. Those will be the big drivers of a long-term recovery in SolarCity's stock, not a short-term move driven by options or a short squeeze.
