JinkoSolar Blows It on Earnings

Sequentially, revenues slipped 8% while year-over-year growth came in at 73.1%. The company attributed the drop in revenues to the impact of seasonality on module shipments. The year-over-year gain in revenues is attributed to increased shipment volume, improved average selling prices and an increase in electricity sales for the company’s solar projects.

JinkoSolar blew past analysts’ estimates in the fourth quarter, nearly doubling EPS estimates and beating the revenue estimate by more than 40%. Expectations for the first quarter were set accordingly, and the company failed to deliver on earnings although it did beat the revenue estimate. With EPS only half the estimate, the company’s shares will get a beating in Tuesday’s trading.

The company’s CEO said:

We continued to expand our manufacturing and downstream businesses by increasing our geographic reach, further cutting costs and keeping gross margins stable. We are confident in our ability to deliver solid results for the year as we benefit from the high gross margins in our module business and the growing profits from our downstream business. … Our geographic footprint continued to grow, as we expanded into new emerging markets. We also maintained our market leading position in China, where we anticipate a strong second quarter and second half of the year. Shipments to the US and Japan now account for approximately 30% of total shipments as we expanded our presence there to take advantage of higher ASPs. We continue to see shipments to new emerging markets such as South Africa, Chile and India increase as we leverage our position there as one of largest module suppliers. We expect module shipments to increase by approximately 30% next quarter and are confident we will meet our full year guidance.

For the second quarter, JinkoSolar expects to ship between 570 and 600 megawatts of solar modules. For the full fiscal year, the company forecasts shipments in the range of 2,300 to 2,500 megawatts.

JinkoSolar shares closed on Friday at $25.86, and traded down about 7.3% Tuesday morning, at $23.97 in a 52-week range of $7.25 to $37.8. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $44.30 before the results were announced.

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