Lazard Capital solar analyst Sanjay Shrestha today raised his ratings on both Suntech and LDK Solar. Shrestha writes today that ASPs in the solar sector “are beginning to stabilize.” He notes that limited access to capital throughout the solar value chain has caused widespread cancellations or decreases in capacity expansion plans.
Several of Suntech’s employees were injures at its plant in Wuxi, China, on Nov. 28–it’s unclear how many and to what extent, though. Research firm Wedge Partners reported that one worker was killed and seven injured in an explosion on a cell-diffusion line. Hours later, the company issued an announcement stating that seven of its workers were hurt, but said nothing about either an explosion or a fatality. It remains unclear exactly what happened.
Suntech shares are trading dramatically lower–and dragging down the rest of the already battered solar sector–on an extremely weak outlook for Q4 results.
For Q3, the company posted revenue of $594.4 million and non-GAAP profits of 36 cents a share. That beat the Street estimate of $571.7 million at the top line, but fell short of Street estimate of 42 cents at the bottom line.
As far as I can tell, the sun is operating normally.
But you might think otherwise judging from this week’s action in solar stocks. The sector, which suffered considerable losses yesterday, today went into freefall, with many names in the sector suffering losses of more than 10 percent. Exactly why investors decided to bail on the stocks today is unclear, but there are a number of factors that appear to be contributing to the current solar scare.
Sunshine is free. Solar modules are not. But they are getting cheaper: UBS analyst Stephen Chin today revised his forecast for solar module pricing to down 20 percent from a previous estimate of down 14 percent.
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