Shares of solar panel technology maker First Solar (FSLR) are reversing course this evening, falling to $170 after briefly going as high as $189 following a clean Q2 beat. What’s spooked people are the company’s remarks on a conference call this evening about growing uncertainty in its German market.
The lack of fun continues for Solarfun.
The company this morning reported a rough fourth quarter. Revenues were $164.6 million, a bit shy of the Street consensus, up 13.7 percent from a year ago, but down 11.9 percent from Q3. Solarfun lost $61.4 million in the quarter, or $1.14 per ADS, including $47.8 million in inventory write-downs to reflect both falling prices and “unsalable products that could not be sold in the current market environment.”
For the solar industry, there is good news and bad news about the demand picture.
In 2009, Citigroup’s Timothy Arcuri observes in a research note today, global demand is likely to sink. But driven by a growing pipeline of utility-scale projects and aided by government stimulus programs, he thinks it will jump significantly in 2010 and 2011.
Barclays Capital analyst Vishal Shah this morning picked up coverage of a half-dozen China-based solar stocks. His general view is that the stocks will be hampered in the near term by falling Street estimates and excess channel inventory, but that some stocks could outperform as polysilicon supply improves.
Piper Jaffray’s Jesse Pichel chopped his target price for Evergreen Solar in half this morning, from $5 to $2.50, after disappointing Q4 results. His cautious approach is also a result of what he sees as a possible lack of resources to execute expansion and outsourcing plans in Asia.
China-based manufacturers of solar power equipment are quietly laying off employees, slowing down production at their plants and lobbying banks for short-term financial support. According to Wedge MKI, an investment research boutique, companies are battening down hatches in anticipation of slowing demand and falling prices. “They’re doing their best to hang on,” says Wedge MKI.
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