Evergreen Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESLR), a manufacturer of solar power products, today confirmed the financial guidance it provided on February 28, 2006.
The Company is confirming its previously announced quarterly and full-year revenue and gross margin guidance for Evergreen Solar and its EverQ strategic partnership for 2006. The Company continues to anticipate its Marlboro, Massachusetts operations will generate revenue in the range of $10 million to $12 million and gross margins of between five percent and 10 percent in the first and second quarters of 2006. In the second half of the year, the Company anticipates gross margins generated by its Marlboro facility will improve to between eight percent and 15 percent as the cost benefits of its thin wafer manufacturing process are realized.
The Company continues to expect incremental revenue from EverQ to begin in the second quarter of 2006 and be between $6 million and $12 million for that period. For the third quarter of 2006, EverQ is expected to generate revenue of between $16 million and $22 million. The Company expects EverQ revenue to increase to a range of $23 million to $25 million for the fourth quarter of 2006. All revenue estimates for EverQ are based on current exchange rates.
In the first quarter of 2006, the Company anticipates that costs associated with the start-up of EverQ operations will be in the range of $2 million to $3 million and, as a result, the Company’s consolidated gross margin will be negative. In the second quarter of 2006, gross margins generated from EverQ’s operations will be between negative 50 percent and zero percent.
Beginning with the third quarter of 2006, the Company expects that gross margins will improve substantially. In the third quarter, as production at EverQ approaches capacity, the Company expects EverQ gross margin to be between 12 percent and 25 percent. EverQ gross margin is expected to be between 30 percent and 35 percent by the fourth quarter of 2006.
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