Tuesday, Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ) said that based on selected unaudited financial results, expects shipments for the third quarter of 2009 to exceed the high-end of its prior guidance. Looking ahead, the company said it was raising its guidance for the full year 2009.
Canadian Solar indicates net revenues for the third quarter of 2009 will be approximately $210 million to $215 million, with shipments of approximately 101 MW to 103 MW, compared to prior guidance for shipments of approximately 90 MW to 100 MW. The company expect to report a gross margin of 16% to 17% for the third quarter of 2009.
Based on the high level of demand in its products at the Hamburg trade show and subsequent purchase orders, the company is raising its guidance for full year 2009 shipments to approximately 295 MW to 305 MW, including expected shipments of 127 MW to 137 MW for the fourth quarter of 2009. This compares to prior guidance for shipments of approximately 260 MW to 270 MW for the full year 2009, and earlier full year 2009 guidance of 200 MW to 220 MW. The company noted that it continues to make improvements in its cost structure, which will positively impact ongoing profitability.
Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO said, "Demand has continued to be strong among our core customer group as well as among new customers. We anticipate that Q4 2009 will be even stronger than Q3 2009 in terms of shipments and we expect to maintain similar gross margins. We plan to increase our solar module manufacturing capacity to 1 GW, our solar cell capacity to 700 MW and our ingot and wafer capacity to 350 MW by the end of 2010 to meet demand levels."
CSIQ closed Tuesday's regular trading at $17.54, down $0.50 or 2.80%, on a volume of 0.897 million shares on the Nasdaq. In after hours, the stock trated at $18.00, up $0.69 or 3.93%.
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