ReneSola... 'Value' Meets Buybacks & Insider Buying (SOL)

ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) is a solar stock that has beaten up so bad that it could be screened out as a value stock.  Just yesterday we gave a list of new value stocks in the solar sector, but we eliminated all stocks that were purely Chinese due to the ongoing accounting woes out of China.  Still, at $3.10 at Monday’s close it has a 52-week trading range of $2.65 to $15.34.  Both Yahoo! and Google how existing P/E ratios of less than 2.0 as a result of the selling.

Whether or not you trust that P/E ratio is up to you, because we show a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $0.42 EPS for 2011 and $0.49 EPS in 2012.  We would note that trusting any estimates on Chinese and solar companies right now is guesswork, but those were the most recent figures seen.  Today’s news is that ReneSola and its CEO have bought back shares in a total amount of 1,716,964 ADSs.  The company purchased 645,424 ADSs under its recently announced $100 million share repurchase program announced last month.  Its CEO separately purchased 1,071,540 ADSs as well.

The company noted, “ReneSola’s management may also acquire shares in the open market during open trading windows.”

CEO Xianshou Li was quoted as saying, “At present, we believe our stock is considerably undervalued. We believe our fundamentals are strong, and our business has been bolstered by our new Virtus wafer technology and increasing in-house production of polysilicon. Moreover, we maintain a positive long-term view on the solar industry as a whole, despite near-term fluctuations and challenges. Our swift move to repurchase our stock demonstrates our confidence in the long-term success of our business. Should the opportunity arise, we will continue to utilize our strong cash position to repurchase our shares in order to maximize shareholder value and reaffirm the market of our leadership position in wafer and solar manufacturing.”

The company does have debt, but it also has cash on hand if the reporting of its books is accurate.  The $100 million in the buyback allotment compares to a current market capitalization rate of only $261 million.

Shares are up almost 3% at $3.10 this morning.

JON C. OGG