Yingli & LDK, Solar Earnings in the Shade (LDK, YGE, TAN)

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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LDK Solar Co. Ltd. (NYSE:LDK) makes multicrystalline wafers used to manufacture PV solar cells and Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE:YGE) is an integrated maker of PV solar products. Both companies have reported large net losses for the first quarter of 2009, and shares of both look lower ahead of the open.

LDK reported a net loss of -$0.21 per diluted ADS on revenue of $283.3 million. Analysts had been estimating a net loss of -$0.07 per diluted ADS on $240 million in revenues. Sequentially, LDK did a lot better, having lost -$2.05 per diluted ADS in the fourth quarter of 2008. The company also had to take an additional write-down on inventories when it filed its 2008 annual report.

Yingli posted a net loss of -$0.16 per diluted ADS on revenue of $146.3 million. Analysts were expecting a loss of -$0.01 per diluted ADS on revenues of $194.36 million.

Yingli cited the weak global economy, tight credit for PV solar project financing, lousy weather in Germany, and changes to Spain’s feed-in tariff as the culprits for the weak report. LDK referred only to a “continued challenging operating environment for economies and industries globally” as the reason for its slide.

The problems for solar providers look to be continuing through this quarter. The global economy is still weak and credit is still tight. Until something shakes the money tree, the solar makers face a dim outlook.

LDK is off more than 5% in the pre-market, at $8.80. The company’s 52-week trading range is $3.75-$52.40. Yingli is off just a penny, to $10.10 in the pre-market. Its 52-week range is $2.50-$23.15. The Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy ETF (NYSE:TAN) is off about 0.42% in the pre-market, to $9.40. Its 52-week range is $4.65-$29.84.

Paul Ausick
May 22, 2009

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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