Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) on Tuesday reported unaudited 3Q09 results showing increased profit. The Chinese solar cell maker said it expects to double shipments in 2010.
The company’s shares rose more than 7%, according to Reuters, reaching their highest mark in a year at $21.05 per share, before settling back to $19.72 at closing. The price was back over $20 in Wednesday morning trading.
Net revenues for 3Q09 were $213.1 million, compared to net revenues of $114.2 million for 2Q09 and $252.4 million for 3Q08.
Net income for 3Q09 was $25.3 million, or $0.69 per diluted share, compared to $17.7 million, or $0.49 per diluted share, for 2Q09 and $11.1 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, for 3Q08.
Shipments for 3Q09 were 102.6 megawatts (MW), compared to shipments of 48.2 MW for 2Q09 and 60 MW for 3Q08. 3Q09 sales came from all geographic markets important to the solar industry, with Europe continuing to be the largest contributing geographic market, the company said. Sales in that region grew strongly in the quarter, increasing 179% from 2Q09.
"We broke our previous records on both MW shipment volumes and net profit in this quarter. The significant increases in sales and earnings were the result of the successful implementation of our global sales strategy combined with our strong brand name recognition, cost control and effective supply chain management. Our flexible vertical integration model allowed us to capture the sharp increase in market demand during the quarter and to raise our module sales faster than the growth of our internal cell capacity,"Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar, said.
"Subsequent to the quarter end, we pre-launched our high-output premium products using our enhanced selective emitter technology. These products are expected to have monocrystalline cell conversion efficiencies of 18.5% and multicrystalline cell efficiencies of 17%. We are also in the process of testing a cost effective two-axis tracker," Qu added.
Canadian Solar reiterated its 4Q09 guidance of shipments of approximately 128 MW to 138 MW, with gross margin expected to be in the high-teens on a percentage basis. The compay expects shipments of approximately 295 MW to 305 MW for the full year 2009.
For the full year 2010, Canadian Solar forecasts shipments will be in the range of 600 MW to 700 MW.
The company said it expects demand from all major markets, including Germany, Italy, the U.S., the Czech Republic, South Korea and Spain. "We also expect strong growth from our newer markets, such as Canada, Japan and China," the company said in a release.
Given the demand forecast, the company plans to increase solar module production capacity from today’s 820 MW to 1 GW by the end of April 2010, and to increase internal cell production capacity from 420 MW to 700 MW by June 2010. The company also intends to slightly increase internal ingot and wafer capacity in 2010.
"Under this expansion plan, we expect to produce approximately 450 MW to 500 MW of solar cells internally, while outsourcing approximately 200 MW to 250 MW from our long-term solar cell partners. By achieving a higher ratio of internal cell production compared to external sourcing, we expect to sustain gross margins in the high teens and maintain a healthy net profit margin," the company stated.
Qu said: "We believe that we have reasonable visibility for our 2010 forecast based on our channel checks. We expect to more than double our shipments in 2010 and are preparing our capacity expansion accordingly."
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