Last night JA Solar (JASO) raised guidance and announced a share repurchase program. Piper Jaffray is responding this morning by reiterating their Overweight rating and raising the price target from $6 – $7.
Hat tip to StreetInsider.com for the following analyst comment:
“JASO provided new guidance after the close on December 14 for 4Q09 shipment to be more than 210MW, vs. prior guidance of 170-200MW and our estimate of 185MW, on current customer orders and new customer wins. FY09 is expected to exceed 488MW, above prior guidance of 448-478MW and our estimate of 463MW. FY10 is guided to 750-800MW, vs. our prior estimate of 780MW. JASO also announced a $75M ADS repurchase program effective immediately. Shares will be bought back over time at market prices…We believe the company is at a cross roads – between a horizontally and vertically integrated supplier, and between a Chinese- and international-focused supplier. Clearly longer term it will seek to become a branded module supplier, and will not remain a cell-only component company. We believe its low cost structure makes it an attractive partner for a western company with brand presence. JASO is now qualified to supply several major European OEMs, and we believe it will win share in 2010. Its low cost cells allow western suppliers to better compete.”
Shares have come off just a touch from after hours trading last night, but still up about 5% in premarket trading.