Yingli’s New Deadline, Hanergy’s Plunging Value
Doug Young Bottom line: Yingli’s shares could rebound a bit as concerns ease about an imminent bankruptcy, while Hanergy’s shares are likely to continue sliding when trading resumes to correct from a massively speculative recent run-up. This week has been a volatile time for solar company stocks, which have taken a beating after Yingli (NYSE: YGE) warned about its ability to stay in business due to its heavy debt load. Now Yingli has put out a new statement saying its earlier warning was misinterpreted, helping to reverse a huge sell-off of its shares as it laid out the next...
Two New Reasons to Buy SolarCity
By Jeff Siegel DISCLOSURE: Long SCTY. Well, SolarCity's (NASDAQ:SCTY) latest news probably won't be enough to silence the bears and scare off shorty, but it has stopped the bleeding a bit. After falling more than 25% over the past month, SCTY has stabilized after announcing a new loan program that will allow customers to buy a solar energy system outright instead of leasing a system. Thanks to the company's massive scale and low cost of capital, SCTY will now lend directly to customers. This is a huge advantage over having customers seek out...
Beijing Administers Tough Medicine to Solar Cos
Doug Young Solar Injection photo via Bigstock A report in Thursday's China Daily is providing the clearest indication yet that Beijing is delivering some tough medicine to many of the nation's smaller solar panel and polysilicon makers by letting them go backrupt to return the struggling sector to health. Up until now, much of the talk in China has focused on rescuing the money-bleeding sector through a comprehensive bailout plan designed to create about a dozen major players as the industry's backbone. But little has been...
Nuclear and Solar From Down Under
by Debra Fiakas CFA Last week the Aussies invaded New York City, bivouacking at a popular hotel and parading a string of Australia-based companies in front of investors. Of course, there were the usual mining and minerals companies for which resource-rich Australia is so famous. However, the Australia Stock Exchange - one of the event sponsors - has diversified with listings in communications, biotechnology and alternative energy. One of the presenters, Silex Systems, Inc. (SLX: ASX and SILXY: OTCQX) is a talented little company with technologies for solar and nuclear power generation. Silex has developed a laser...
Suntech Nears Final Reckoning; Yingli’s Sales Grow While Losses Narrow
Doug Young New developments in the battered solar energy space indicate the day of reckoning is fast approaching for embattled Suntech (NYSE: STP), even as the latest results from rival Yingli (NYSE: YGE) are showing early signs of a rebound for the battered sector. Industry watchers will recall that cash-strapped Suntech has nearly $600 million worth of bonds that will mature on March 15, even though it lacks the money to repay the bondholders. The company hired investment bank UBS in October to try and renegotiate the debt, though we haven't heard anything from the company since...
Sunpower Optimistic, But Needs Cash
This recent post explored the unusual mating call of a solar panel manufacturer, SunPower Corporation (SPWR: Nasdaq). The Company is looking for a partner to bankroll the upgrade of a manufacturing facility in Hillsboro, Oregon acquired in October 2018, in a tie up with one of its rivals, SolarWorld America. SunPower now has one less competitor and more room to flex its production muscles. However, capital is still important.
The Company suffered a net loss of $811.1 million or $5.76 per share on $1.73 billion in total sales. Profit margins were negative straight down. Investors could accept the loss without too much worry if the pace of...
SolarCity Soars On Silevo Aquisition
Silevo's Triex Solar Technology By Jeff Siegel DISCLOSURE: Long SCTY. SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) has signed a deal to acquire Silevo, a solar panel technology and manufacturing company on June 16th. With Silevo now in the fold, SolarCity is in discussions with the state of New York to build a new manufacturing plant with a targeted capacity in excess of one gigawatt – within two years. Upon completion, this will be one of the largest solar panel production plants in the world. Although there are plenty...
Solar Stocks Double from Lows
L. Myron Clark A two-day surge on Feb. 8-9 took at least thirteen solar energy stocks more than twice their recent lows. These names represent about half the publicly traded companies in the industry (on an unweighted basis). The "two-bagger" stocks follow somewhat different patterns, as indicated in the two graphs below. Several of them hit their 52-week lows in late September or early October 2011, close to the bottom in the broad market. Those lows ranged from 80% (YGE) to 86% (JKS) below the respective 52-week highs. The companies include: Jinkosolar Holding Co (JKS), ...
Making Residual Value Real: Where is Solar’s Emilio Estevez?
by Colin Murchie Seeking Solars' Emilio Estevez It is no secret that costs of capital must decrease to make distributed generation a massively scaling resource. And, as costs of capital steadily decrease, the “residual value” – what happens to the asset once the PPA has run out – becomes more and more important. With that in mind, it no longer seems reasonable to fill the years after the PPA’s expiration – with a row of zeros on the pro forma. There is residual value there that is often...
Yingli In Danger Of Default
by Doug Young Bottom line: Yingli is in increasing danger of defaulting on its heavy debt load, which could result in a rapid and disorderly bankruptcy if its hometown government fails to provide support. After sending out a steady series of distress signals over the last few weeks, solar panel maker Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE) has sent out its strongest trouble sign yet as it struggles under a huge debt load. The most recent signal comes in a new filing with the US securities regulator, in which Yingli says its big debt could threaten its...
The History and Future of Solar Shingles
by Kyle Pennell
Back in late 2016, Tesla (TSLA) moved to acquire SolarCity, a solar panel manufacturer and installer. Shortly thereafter, the electric automaker revealed why: it had developed a new residential solar product, the solar roof. While it looked like any other home roof, the tiles that composed the roof actually contained solar cells. An individual roof tile won’t produce much energy, but when linked with others in sequence, the tiles can potentially generate power equal to that of regular solar panels.
But while Tesla’s solar roof energized the solar industry, it was hardly revolutionary. At the time of Tesla’s unveiling...
LDK Sells 16.6% of Company in Chinese State Bailout
Doug Young The nascent state-led bailout of China's struggling solar industry has taken another step forward with word that LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) has just sold a big chunk of itself to a partly state-owned consortium for enough cash to perhaps fund its operations for another month or 2. This new rescue package values LDK at just $140 million, which is probably still too high a figure for one of China's weakest solar panel makers in an industry where everyone losing big money due to a huge supply glut. Let's take a closer look at this latest announcement...
Trina Warning Foreshadows Solar Gloom
Doug Young After watching their shares and prospects soar over the past year, solar stocks are suddenly hitting a cloudy patch as investors anxiously wait for most companies to return to the profit column following a 2 year sector downturn. That wait may have just gotten a lot longer, following a warning from Trina (NYSE: TSL) that it will fall far short of its previous sales forecasts for the just-ended first quarter. Trina blames the problem on short-term factors, as it and other Chinese panel makers work to finalize an...
US Solar: Lawsuits, A Quiet Exit, and Grand Plans But Fewer Results
Lessons From SunEdison, First Solar, and SolarCity by Paula Mints SunEdison (SUNEQ) Currently SunEdison faces at least 15 lawsuits. SunEdison, Terraform (TERP) and other defendants asked to have the cases against them consolidated. Along with the lawsuits, from October 2015 through May 26 at least 20 security class actions have been filed against SunEdison its subsidiaries, officials and underwriters. Many of these actions relate to claims that investors were misled about the liquidity of SunEdison, et al. Meanwhile, GCL-Poly wants to buy SunEdison’s (MEMC) polysilicon business for $150-million and those in charge of selling off the...
End Draws Near for Suntech
Doug Young Sunset looms for Suntech. Photo by Tom Konrad The month of February could mark the final sunset for solar panel maker Suntech (OTC: STPFQ), with 2 major events on the calendar that look like the swansong for this former solar energy pioneer. If the ending does indeed come, it would be almost a year after Suntech first was forced into bankruptcy in a Chinese court in its home city of Wuxi, kicking off a contentious process that saw many of its top executives and board members...
Schizophrenic Signals Surround Sino Solar Stocks Yingli, ReneSola And Jinko
Doug Young Bottom line: YIngli’s debt restructuring plan and ReneSola’s early debt repurchase will bring some confidence to solar shares, but pessimism will quickly return as their situations deteriorate without major signals of new government support. Shares of Yingli (NYSE: YGE) and ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) have taken investors on a wild ride these last few weeks, reflecting the alternating hopes and fears gripping 2 of the shakiest companies in a solar sector crippled by a downturn now entering its fourth year. If I were a betting man, I would say the chances are better than 80 percent...
