ReneSola (SOL) has reported earnings results this morning ahead of analyst estimates but the red ink continues to flow despite the best quarterly revenue number in over a year. They posted an adjusted loss of .03/share (estimates called for loss of .08/share) on revenues of $180 million (beating estimates of $169 million).
SOL CFO Charles Bai commented on the quarter: “During the fourth quarter of 2009, we continued to improve our manufacturing efficiency while expanding our market share worldwide. We worked through the remainder of our high-cost raw materials and expect first quarter 2010 polysilicon cost to be below US$60 per kilogram. We also reduced our average wafer processing cost significantly to approximately US$0.34 per watt. With anticipated further cost reductions in each segment of our business and continuing strong demand for our products and services, we expect to return to profitability in the first quarter of 2010.”
Looking ahead, the company is seeing robust demand to begin 2010 and expect total shipments in the range of 215 – 230MW and revenues in the range of $195 – 205 million (ahead of analyst expectations of $180 million) in the first quarter. While the company does expect wafer price declines of 10 -15% in the 2nd half of 2010 due to increasing competition and German tariff cuts, they maintain their full year 2010 shipment guidance of 900MW – 950MW and expect to be profitable.
Shares of SOL are down about 2% in premarket trading.