GT Solar (SOLR) has been able to do what most solar stocks haven’t over the past few weeks and that’s avoid a big sell off. The stock has held up very well in recent weeks heading into earnings and will gap up significantly at the open tomorrow after smashing low Wall expectations today. The company reported an EPS .10 above estimates at .25/share on revenues of $173.6 million. That was way ahead of the estimates of $145 million. Compared to the year ago quarter it wasn’t all that impressive with EPS and revenues declining 17% and 15% respectively, but the year ago quarter was a record for the company and a bit out of line with that they had been posting. All in all, a solid quarter out of SOLR and it looks like the stock is going to break out of a 9 month base in the morning.
Looking ahead, the company expects full year 2010 revenues and EPS at the top of the previously announced range of $500 – $550 million and .52 – .60 respectively.
CEO Tom Gutierrez commented on the quarter, saying, “We have seen an increase in business activity over the last four months from our key customers in Asia, indicating that their utilization rates are climbing and, as a result, the supply environment for low cost, high quality wafers is expected to tighten. We believe recent orders, including some from new customers, provide further evidence that GT Solar remains the technology leader in the market and that our systems continue to be the choice of leading PV manufacturers.”