China Sunergy Surges on Big Beat
NANJING, China (
--
China Sunergy
(CSUN)
made the solar sector two-out-of -hree so far in beating Street earnings expectations.
China Sunergy reported earnings per share of 18 cents in the pre-market on Friday morning, versus a Street estimate of 10 cents earnings in the first quarters.
China Sunergy revenue was $104 million in the first quarter, versus a Street consensus estimate of $91 million.
Shares of China Sunergy, which ended Thursday up 10%, were up more than 10% again in the-premarket on Friday morning.
Revenue was 6.9% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2009 for China Sunergy. Gross margin went up from 10.7% in the fourth quarter to 16.2% in the first quarter 2010.
The improvement in China Sunergy gross margin was partially due to stable average sales prices and a lower cost structure, a result of better supply-chain management and higher production levels during the quarter, the Chinese solar company stated in its earnings release.
On Wednesday,
First Solar
(FSLR) - Get First Solar, Inc. Report
kicked off the earnings season from the major solar companies with a big beat. In the after-market on Thursday,
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MEMC Electronic Materials
(WFR)
disappointed investors with a surprise quarterly loss.
Given the big demand for solar in 2010 that led to
the First Solar outperformance -- as well as higher-than-anticipated prices for
MEMC purchase of third-party solar wafers -- China Sunergy said it plans to expand its solar cell manufacturing capabilities through the addition of three new solar cell lines in China, adding 80 MW in solar cell capacity by the end of 2010. China Sunergy anticipates $13 million in capital expenditure during 2010 to fund this capacity expansion.
In the second quarter, China Sunergy is projecting shipments will be between 80 MW to 90 MW, with a gross margin of between 14% and 16%. For the full year of 2010, the Chinese solar company still expects to ship 280 MW to 350 MW of solar products.
-- Reported by Eric Rosenbaum in New York
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