Trina, A Bit of Sunshine in the Solar Space (TSL)

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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Solar Panel PicAnother Chinese integrated PV solar maker, Trina Solar Limited (NYSE:TSL) has reported less than was expected for its first quarter 2009. The net loss per fully diluted ADS was -$0.42, compared with a loss of -$0.03 in the fourth quarter of 2008. Revenues also fell sequentially, from $216.3 million to $132.1 million. Analysts had been expecting a net loss of -$0.08 per ADS on revenues of $142.5 million.

The combined effect of a $6.5 million charge related to a government reversal of approval for a tax holiday, an estimated $4.6 million cost related to cancellation of two supply agreements, and a $7.6 million foreign currency exchange loss, cost Trina $0.75 per fully diluted ADS.

Trina did not meet its expected sales target of 50-55 megawatts, instead shipping just 48.8 megawatts, down 15.3% sequentially, but up 65.5% year- over-year. The company expects to sell 60-65 megawatts of PV modules in the second quarter at a gross margin of 18%-20%. For the full fiscal year, Trina is sticking to its guidance for shipments of 350-400 megawatts.

The market seems to be taking the extraordinary charges into consideration in pre-market trading this morning. Trina shares are up about 6%, to $23.99. The company’s 52-week trading range is $5.61-$49.63.

Paul Ausick
May 28, 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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