Wednesday, February 25, 2009

First Solar (FSLR) Earnings

First Solar, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:FSLR) closed today with a -21,8% drop, after reporting it's earnings, beating expectations, but there is fear that the following months wont be easy.

Expected $1.30 was beat by the $1.61 per share in the fourth quarter, up from 77 cents per share a year earlier.

Fourth-quarter sales increased to $433.7 million, far better than the expected $410.4 million. Yearly sales totaled $348.3 million, with earnings checking in at $4.24 per share.

The technicals in the chart look more ugly now:


Let's see if the stock find some support around the $100 figure.

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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

China invites bid for biggest solar PV power plant

Most Solar Stocks closed today with heavy gains, with the rest of the market recovering from recent new lows. Expect the short term trend to be Bullish for the next couple of days.

Some Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. related news:

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BEIJING, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- A total of 50 power enterprises placed bids for a 10 megawatt solar photovoltaic generation project in northwest China's Gansu Province, the biggest in the country, the Shanghai Securities News said Monday.

Chinese bidders include China Power Investment Corporation, China Huaneng Group, China Guodian Corporation, China Datang Corporation, China Huadian Corporation and Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (STP.NYSE), Shi Lishan, an official with the National Energy Bureau was quoted as saying.

"Overseas power enterprises that have joined the bidding include a company from Denmark and one from Germany," said Shi.

Covering one million square meters, the solar PV power plant in Dunhuang city involves a total investment of 500 million yuan (73 million U.S. dollars). It will generate on average 16.37 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year.

Source

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Friday, February 20, 2009

Inventory Writedowns Beat down Solar Sector - LDK Solar (LDK) & Suntech Power (STP)

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. is having a heavy drop today, along with the rest of the sector, on the following news:

We expunged the last exposure to solar Friday [Feb 13: Closing LDK Solar] and frankly this solar sector has been a dog for a long while. [Feb 6, 2009: NYT - Dark Days for Green Energy] [Dec 20, 2008: BusinessWeek - Clouds Over the Solar Industry] The competition we thought would come a few years out [Jan 3, 2008: The Long Term in Solar] is here and combined with the credit issues, and global economic contraction it is ugly out there. After the bell last night, LDK Solar (LDK) lowered its guidance and announced a massive write off of inventory (>$200M!). This will throw their margins into the negative area and lead to losses. The stock was down 13% afterhours - it would not affect us much as we had just a tiny position but it's just a bad time out there in this group.

Suntech Power (STP) - the largest player in China also reported a not so inspiring earnings with inventory write downs as well. Guidance was also not something to hang your hat on.

•Chinese solar company Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd (STP) posted a quarterly loss on Wednesday as prices and orders for its clean power products fell sharply.

•For the fourth quarter, the company posted a loss of $65.9 million, or 42 cents per American depositary share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $50.6 million, or 29 cents per ADS.

Continue reading

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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Trina Solar sees 2008 revenue meeting target

rina Solar Ltd. said Tuesday that reduced costs will help the manufacturer of solar photovoltaic products meet its 2008 revenue guidance and exceed its estimate for fourth-quarter revenue.

The Changzhou, China-based company said it expects 2008 revenue to meet its previous guidance of $800 million to $850 million. It anticipates revenue for the fourth quarter will exceed its previous estimate of between $190 million and $210 million, Trina Solar (nyse: TSL - news - people ) said.

Wall Street analysts expect quarterly revenue of $194.1 million, and annual revenue of $816 million, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/02/17/ap6061733.html

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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:ENER) 2009 Outlook

Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. Issues Q3, FY 2009 Outlook Below Analysts' Estimates

Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. announced that for the third quarter of 2009, it expects consolidated revenues are expected to be $95-$110 million. For fiscal 2009, the Company expects consolidated revenues are expected to be $395-$440 million. According to Reuters Estimates, analysts were expecting the Company to report revenue of $119 million for the third quarter of 2009; revenue of $451 million for fiscal 2009.

Source: Reuters


ENER is up today 4% on the pre-market.

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Monday, February 09, 2009

Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Evergreen Solar

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Evergreen Solar (NASDAQ: ESLR), The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI), Epicor Software (NASDAQ: EPIC), Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE).

Evergreen Solar Misses Slightly

Evergreen Solar (NASDAQ: ESLR) reported financial results for the 4th quarter and full year 2008. The company recorded revenue of $44 million for the 4th quarter and $112 million for the year.

Net loss for the 4th quarter of 2008 was $52.1, or $0.32 per share, and includes charges of $23.1 million for the closure of the Marlboro pilot facility, $8.0 million for the write-off of certain research and development equipment and $9.7 million of facility start up costs for Devens and Midland.


Source

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Thursday, February 05, 2009

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (Public, NYSE:STP) Short term play

Suntech Power Holdings Co. made a nice move yesterday, pointing to a technical short-term buy, along with SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWRA), both having a bullish look for the next days.

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR) (Public, NYSE:STP) Chart:


SunPower Corporation (Public, NASDAQ:SPWRA) Chart:


I will be tracking their performance for the next weeks, counting from yesterday's closing price.

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Monday, February 02, 2009

Marketing Solar Panels to Fifth-Graders


Employees of the Sharp Electronics Corporation were at Joyce Kilmer Elementary School in Mahwah, N.J., recently to teach a lesson on climate change and renewable energy. The cartoon image of an ailing Earth — a thermometer sticking out of its mouth — was the opening slide in their presentation.

Climate change and energy are complex issues, so I was interested to observe how they would be distilled by the Japanese electronics giant — and one of the world’s largest makers of solar panels — to an audience of 10 and 11-year-olds. I recently sat in the back of a fifth-grade class and listened in.


Source: NY Green Inc. Blog

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