I’ll keep this post on the earnings report out of  Hanwha SolarOne (HSOL) fairly brief.  It was about inline with what just about every other solar company reported – revenues about inline with analyst analyst estimates but missing on the EPS side by a wide margin due to regulatory changes in Italy, falling ASP’s, rising inventory, etc.  HSOL reported a loss of .12/share while analysts expected a .12/share profit.  However, these results have been pricing in for a few months now.  The question now becomes.. is the worst over?  I think there is a decent chance that is the case, but it’s a bit too soon to tell.  Should the tide turn I would certainly focus on the very few solar companies surprising to the upside in the latest round of earnings reports.  As I mentioned a few days ago Yingli Green Energy (YGE) moves to the top of my list of favorite solar plays.

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Mr. Ki-Joon HONG, Chairman and CEO of Hanwha SolarOne, commented, "We were not insulated from the difficult operating environment during the second quarter. Regulatory changes in Italy, rapidly falling module prices, industry overcapacity and large channel inventories all negatively affected our second quarter results. We consciously reduced our manufacturing activities for a period of time to control expenses, manage working capital, and prevent the build-up of high cost inventory. We did not retreat from our aggressive posture towards the future. We moved forward with our capacity expansion plan, invested in management systems and personnel and made good progress in branding initiatives and research and development. We expect that demand will improve for the remainder of the year."

Looking ahead, the company is guiding a bit lower for the full year and now expects shipments to come in at the lower end of its previously announced range of 1GW – 1.2GW.