LDK Sets Earnings, Narrows Guidance

LDK Solar will report on March 30, and the Chinese solar company narrows the low-end of its fourth quarter guidance.

By Eric Rosenbaum , Mar 11, 2010 6:14 PM EST

XINYU CITY, China and SUNNYVALE, Calif. (

TheStreet

) --

LDK Solar

(LDK)

announced after the market closed on Thursday that it would report earnings on March 30.

LDK also narrowed the low-end of its earnings guidance for the fourth quarter, while providing its first look at 2010.

LDK Solar said it expects revenue in the range of $300 million to $310 million, wafer shipments between 330 MW and 340 MW, and module shipments between 20 MW and 25 MW in the fourth quarter. LDK previously forecast revenue in the range of $280 million to $310 million, wafer shipments between 320 MW and 340 MW, and module shipments between 20 MW and 30 MW.

LDK's outlook for the fiscal year 2010 included revenues of $1.35 billion to $1.45 billion, wafer shipments of 1.3 GW to 1.4 GW, and module shipments of 300 MW to 400 MW. LDK also expects gross margins between 15% and 20% in 2010.

LDK shares, which rose Wednesday 10% on no apparent news -- and were close to flat in trading on Thursday -- were up slightly in after-hours trading on Thursday.

LDK's March 2009 guidance forecasting revenues for the full year included the expectation of $1.4 billion to $1.8 billion in revenues.

Based on Thursday's high-end revenue figure, LDK will finish 2009 with, at most, $1.1 billion in revenues.

LDK's March 2009 shipment forecast was closer to the market, hitting the low-end of its guidance of 1.2 GW. Based on the high end of Thursday's revised shipment guidance, LDK would have 1.2 GW in shipments for the full year 2009.

-- Reported by Eric Rosenbaum in New York.

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