LDK Beats Street; Stock Shines

(Updated for share prices in afternoon)

Xinyu, China (TheStreet) -- LDK Solar(LDK Quote) added some heat to the recent strong performance of Chinese solar companies, with its $281 million in third-quarter revenues beating Street estimates of $259 million.

The company had been one of the select solar stocks performing well last Friday ahead of its expected earnings announcement.

The company showed its first profit in three quarters -- second quarter profits had been a negative $205 million. It also provided optimistic guidance on revenues for the fourth quarter: $280 million to $310 million, on higher shipments of 320MW to 340MW.

Already buoyed by the recent announcement about the sale of a 15% stake in its polysilicon plant, the stock was up 7.0% in the early afternoon on Monday, a big turnaround for a stock that had been on a downward trend for the past year, most notably from mid-June until November. Its share price rise was leading a generally up day for solar stocks, with Canadian Solar(CSIQ Quote) also up more than 5% by early afternoon.

Chinese solar stocks have been this earnings season's industry darlings, with stronger than expected results from, among others, China Sunergy(CSUN Quote), Suntech Power(STP Quote), Trina Solar(TSL Quote) and Solarfun Power(SOLF Quote).