Canadian Solar Beats Q1 Views; Yingli Ducks SunEd Bankruptcy Path
Canadian Solar ( CSIQ ) stock rocketed Wednesday on an across-the-board Q1 beat, as fellow solar panel-maker Yingli Green Energy Holding ( YGE ) announced it can’t repay 1.7 billion yuan ($263 million) in loans due Thursday. Yingli also reported fiscal Q4 sales and module shipments that missed Wall Street views, but better-than-expected losses. Canadian Solar stock, which touched an eight-month low Tuesday, was up 13% in morning trading Wednesday, near 17.50. Yingli stock, which has traded below 5 all year, was up a fraction in morning trading on the stock market today . IBD’s 20-company Energy-Solar industry group, which hit a three-year low Tuesday, was up 2.5% on Canadian Solar’s Q1 beat. And Chinese solar manufacturers JinkoSolar ( JKS ), Trina Solar ( TSL ) and JA Solar ( JASO ) were up 5%, 4% and 2.5%, respectively, on Yingli’s report. For Q1, Canadian Solar reported $721.4 million in sales and 39 cents earnings per share ex items, down a respective 16% and 62.5% vs. the year-earlier quarter, the fourth straight quarter of declines for both metrics. Still, both measures topped the consensus of 10 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for $663.7 million and 14 cents. Canadian Solar reported 1.198 gigawatts in module shipments, down 3%, but beating its own views for 1.085 GW to 1.135 GW. Current-quarter guidance for $710 million to $760 million would be up 15% at the midpoint and beats the consensus for $702.4 million. Module shipments were guided up 44% vs. the year-earlier quarter to 1.2 GW to 1.25 GW. Yingli Debts Under Negotiation Yingli said early Wednesday it’s negotiating with creditors to restructure its medium-term loans which mature Thursday. The company is also “negotiating privately with potential strategic investors” and considering selling assets to improve its debt-to-equity ratio. Potential asset sales include land-use rights for which subsidiary Hainan Yingli received 265 million yuan ($40.8 million) in 2015 and expects the balance of 470 million yuan $72.3 million) this year. The company has reported year-over-year quarterly losses since December 2011. Its loan negotiations follow a month after giant U.S. solar developer SunEdison filed for bankruptcy after technically defaulting — unless extensions were granted — on $725 million in second-lien loans. For its fiscal Q4 ended Dec. 31, Yingli reported $325.7 million in sales and a 71-cent per-share loss ex items. Sales fell 41% year over year, but losses shrank from a $4.90 per-share loss in the year-earlier quarter. The consensus modeled $372.3 million and a $1.48 per-share loss ex items. Yingli wrapped up fiscal 2015 with $1.54 billion in sales, down 26%, and a $1.98 per-share loss minus items vs. $12.10 in year-ago losses. Analysts expected $1.63 billion and a $31.30 per-share loss. On a year-over-year basis, module shipments for fiscal Q4 and the year fell 51% and 27%, respectively, to 460.4 megawatts and 2.45 GW. For the current quarter, Yingli guided to 480 MW to 510 MW in module shipments, down 34% at the midpoint. Wall Street view $414.4 million in fiscal Q1 sales, down 12%, and a $1.11 per-share loss ex items, shrinking from $3.60 in the year-earlier quarter.