JA Solar Slashes Revenue View
Date: 11-Dec-08
Country: US
Author: Nichola Groom
LOS ANGELES - Chinese solar company JA Solar Holdings Co Ltd sharply reduced its fourth quarter revenue outlook on Wednesday, citing a dramatic slowdown in orders.
The company's stock, which had been trading down about 1 percent before the announcement, slid 5 percent on the news to close at $2.85 on Nasdaq.
JA Solar's warning came a day after Q-Cells, the world's largest maker of solar cells, stunned markets by abruptly cutting its outlook for this year due to "a flood" of requests from customers to postpone deliveries
Despite the weakening solar market, JA Solar said it still expects earnings before one-time items to about break even for the quarter. Analysts were expecting a loss of about 2 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.
JA Solar forecast revenue of $124 million for the current quarter, down from its prior view of $191.5 million to $220.9 million. Analysts, on average, had been expecting revenue of $201.8 million, according to Reuters Estimates.
"Over the past few weeks, we have seen a dramatic slowdown in orders, which we believe is related to macro economic conditions," JA Solar Chief Executive Samuel Yang said in a statement.
Total production for 2008 will be in the range of 250 megawatts (MW) to 260 MW, down from the company's previous expectation of 310 MW.
JA Solar also stood by its gross margin forecast of 5 percent 7 percent for the quarter.
JA Solar shares have lost 89 percent of their value since hitting a year high of $27 in April.
(Editing by Richard Chang)
