Ed Lin

Two solar stocks recently saw their first insider buys of 2025, each made by their chairs.

SolarEdge Technologies and Sunrun shares crumbled last year. The August bankruptcy filing of SunPower in August put a dark cloud over the entire sector. The election of Donald Trump as president in November sent solar stocks tumbling in anticipation that grants and loans benefiting the industry would end or be compromised. As 2024 wound down, green-energy companies were pitching themselves to Republicans as helping the country to meet energy needs rather than being "clean and affordable."

Shares of SolarEdge, a maker of smart-energy technology, including inverters and power optimizers for solar systems, cratered 85% in 2024, while shares of Sunrun, which installs and maintains solar systems on homes, dove 53%. The iShares Global Clean Energy exchange-traded fund, which includes both SolarEdge and Sunrun as components, bested both stocks in 2024, dropping only 27%, while the S&P 500 index rose 23%.

The new year has seen the two stocks diverge. SolarEdge stock has gained 19%, while Sunrun stock has dropped 30% so far in 2025. The clean-energy ETF is up 2%, while the index is down 4% year to date.

Avery More, chairman of SolarEdge, paid $411,000 on March 4 for 30,000 shares, an average price of $13.70 each, according to a form he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. More now owns 274,478 shares, including 180,778 shares in a personal account, 52,000 shares held through trusts, 40,000 shares held through a limited-liability company, and 1,700 shares held by Jerralyn Smith More, Avery More's wife.

Avery More, a general partner of Dallas-based venture-capital firm Eureka Ventures, has served as a member of SolarEdge's board of directors since 2006. Eureka didn't respond to a request to make Avery More available for comment on his stock purchase.

More last bought SolarEdge shares on the open market in November when he paid $2.1 million for 156,000 shares, an average price of $13.65 each.

Edward Fenster, co-executive chair of Sunrun, paid $1 million on March 3 for 150,000 shares, an average price of $6.80 each. He now owns 1.36 million shares, including 17,381 unvested restricted stock units.

Sunrun didn't respond to a request to make Fenster available for comment. Fenster co-founded the company, and previously served as Sunrun's CEO. This is his first open-market purchase of stock on record.

Inside Scoop is a regular Barron's feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members -- so-called insiders -- as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.

Write to Ed Lin at ed.lin@barrons.com

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March 16, 2025 03:00 ET (07:00 GMT)

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