By Jeff Siegel of GreenChipStocks.com
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In the 1973 movie Papillon (adapted from the 1969 French novel by Henri Charriere), there’s a scene where Papillon is considering jumping off a cliff to escape the island on which he is being imprisoned. His friend Dega says, “It seems so desperate. You think it will work?”
And Papillon replies, “Does it matter?”
Papillon had two options: Stay on the island and … Read the rest
JA Solar (JASO) staged a very bullish breakout move today with heavy volume, up 16% on the day. It’s up another 6% in after hours trading after the company raised its 4th quarter and full year 2009 guidance and announced a share repurchase plan.
Due to strong demand, the company expects 4th quarter shipments to exceed 210MW which is above the previous estimate of 170 – 200MW. For the full year 2009, the company expects … Read the rest
The upgrades keep coming in for Suntech Power (STP) and JA Solar (JASO). Yesterday they were upgraded by Barclays and this morning Thomas Weisel is doing the same, upgrading both from Underweight to Market Weight. Both stocks are holding yesterday’s breakout moves well despite heavy selling in the overall market today. While it could be a rocky ride, solar stocks are increasingly showing signs that the bottom is in.
Itron (ITRI), the smart grid behemoth … Read the rest
A few analyst rating changes and coverage initiations this morning…
Barclays upgraded Suntech (STP), JA Solar (JASO) and Sunpower (SPWRA) to Overweight. All three are up about 8% today with STP and JASO breaking out of bases on the upgrade.
Wedbush Morgan isn’t quite as positive on Sunpower, lowering the price target from $29 to $21, but maintains its Neutral rating. Hat tip to StreetInsider.com for the following analyst comment:
“We believe investors do not … Read the rest
JA Solar (JASO) smashed analyst estimates this morning and has posted the first quarterly profit in a year. The company reported an EPS of .10/share, .07/share better than Wall St estimates. Revenues also smashed estimates coming in at $193 million vs the Wall St estimate of $136 million. This is a big upside surprise out of JASO, but let’s put it in perspective a bit. The EPS number is still a 78% plunge from the … Read the rest
JA Solar just announced that it is working with Innovalight, Inc. to develop new, next-generation solar products that use silicon ink technology to achieve better performance and conversion efficiency. Innovalight, the originators of the technology, recently achieved a record of 18 percent conversion efficiency in tests with these products. JA Solar plans to introduce solar panels using this technology to the commercial market by 2010.
In a press release, leaders from both companies commented … Read the rest
Another tough quarter for JA Solar (JASO) but it was a bit better than last quarter as the company saw a pick up in revenues. Unfortunately, profits are still nowhere in sight. The company missed Wall St estimates by a wide margin reporting a loss (excluding the one time charge for stock compensation) of .13/share vs the estimate of a .06/loss, despite beating on the revenue side with $88 million. Clearly, this is still a … Read the rest
JA Solar just announced that it has obtained 2 loans with a combined worth of RMB 620 million (about $90.8 million). The loans have a three-year term and were obtained from Export-Import Bank of China. The interest rate was not specified, but it is below China’s benchmark rate.
In a press release, Baofang Jin, executive chairman of JA Solar, commented on the loans:
“We are pleased to receive continued support from tier-1 domestic Chinese banks. … Read the rest
Hat tip to StreetInsider.com for the following upgrade/downgrade notes:
Hapoalim downgrades Suntech Power (STP) to Sell with a $9 price target, citing escalating solar module price war.
The firm said, “Evidenced by Ersol’s recent decision to adjust the mid-point of its CY09 EBIT guidance to “negative” vs. +12% before (due to a “sig. drop in prices of solar modules”), we believe “Tier 1” module vendors are beginning to react to price aggression by Chinese solar … Read the rest
JA Solar (JASO) is down about 15% ahead of the bell today after reporting a much steeper loss than what analysts had expected. The company reported a quarterly loss of .18/share vs expectations of a .05 loss. Revenues were awful at $34 million which badly missed estimates of $112 million and represented a nearly 80% plunge from the year ago quarter.
“The first quarter of 2009 was the most challenging quarter for JA Solar since … Read the rest