Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) beat Wall Street expectations, posting $49.2 million in 4Q profit on record shipments and improved margins.
The earnings equaled $0.74 per American Depository Share (ADS), better industry estimates of $0.60, as reported by Thomson Reuters. The Chinese company reported a loss of $700,000 in the same period a year ago.
Trina Solar announced 4Q09 net revenues of $313.3 million, an increase of 25.4% sequentially and an increase of 44.8% year-over-year. Total shipments were 163.7 megawatts (MW), compared to the Company’s previous guidance of 145 MW to 165 MW, versus 122.6 MW in 3Q09 and 57.6 MW in 4Q08.
The company said the sequential increase in total shipments was primarily due to increased demand in European markets, due, in part, to improved PV system purchase financing conditions in major European markets and increased year-end demand to install new PV systems ahead of annual feed-in tariff adjustments in January in established PV markets including Germany and Italy.
Gross margin was 32.6% in 4Q09, compared to the Company’s previous guidance of 25% to 27%, and was primarily due to greater-than-anticipated silicon cost reduction as a result of renegotiated contracts and inventory management, and higher than anticipated ASP. The 4Q gross margin increased from 28.5% in 3Q09 and 9.6% in 4Q08. The year-over-year increase in gross margin was primarily due to the Company’s favorable reduction of its silicon purchase price and non-silicon manufacturing costs relative to module ASP decline.
For 1Q10, the Company expects to ship between 180 MW to 190 MW of PV modules and see a gross margin between 26% and 28%.
For the full year of 2010, the Company expects total PV module shipments between 750 MW to 800 MW, representing an increase of 88% to 100% from 2009.
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