American Superconductor (AMSC) is releasing preliminary earnings results this evening and they aren’t pretty.  The company’s revenue estimates are about in line with analyst estimates at around 41 million, but the company is expecting larger losses for the quarter due to estimated cost overruns on its turnkey SVC projects, higher Windtec engineering costs, charges for excess inventory and unfavorable exchange rates.  Excuses, excuses, excuses.  Yep, it was a poorly executed quarter all the way around and the stock will surely pay  the price tomorrow. 

The company sees FY08 losses around .40 – .42/share.. about 10 cents more than previous estimates.  For the quarter the company expects to lose .18 – 21/share vs the Reuters estimate of a .11/share loss.  On the bright side, the company does see a GAAP profit in Q4 08 and profitability for full fiscal year 2009.  Should that happen, it would be the first profitable year in company history. 

AMSC is trading down more than 8% after hours and will likely test support of the 50 day moving average around 14 in the coming days.  If it can successfully test and hold there, that would be significantly bullish as the stock seeks a bottom to its large base.