Trina Solar profit tops Wall Street, shares climb

Earnings per ADS 74 cents tops Wall St view of 60 cents

* Revenues rose 45 pct to $313 mln

* Shares climb 3.4 percent premarket

NEW YORK, Feb 24 (Reuters) - China-based Trina Solar Ltd (TSL.N) reported higher-than-expected fourth quarter profit and said its margins widened even as the industry continued to see weaker selling prices for solar modules.

A glut of solar cells and modules pressured prices by about 40 percent last year, but a recent rebound in demand ahead of expected subsidy cuts in Germany has boosted sales for many producers of the renewable energy systems.

Net income rose to $49.2 million, or 74 cents per American Depositary Share, versus a loss of $673,000, or 1 cent per share, in the year-earlier quarter.

That easily topped the 60 cents per share that analysts had on average forecast, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 45 percent to $313.3 million, beating analysts' forecast for $284 million.

Gross margins climbed to 32.6 percent, topping Trina's forecast of 25 percent to 27 percent.

Labels: Earnings, Solar Stocks, Trina Solar, TSL

posted by Ertai at 12:19 PM