LDK Melts Down, Solar Default Signs Grow
Doug Young One of China’s 2 major meltdowns in the solar panel sector has taken a big step forward with word that trading in shares of LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) has been suspended and the de-listing process formally begun as the company liquidates. Meantime, word of a missed interest payment by a building materials maker is sending the latest signal that China will let more companies in ailing sectors default on their debt rather than pay off their creditors. That’s an important signal for the solar sector, which relies heavily on such debt to finance its operations and where...
Walmart vs Tesla
by Paula Mints
Walmart takes on Tesla Solar for Poor Quality Installations and Components
Early in August, after several quarters of slowing sales, Tesla (TSLA) announced a restart of its residential solar lease, referring to it as solar system rentals.
Around the same timeframe, Tesla stated that it had no timeline for the availability of its solar tiles.
On August 20, Walmart (WMT) filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Tesla/SolarCity in the commercial division of the New York State Supreme court claiming “years of gross neglect” leading to several fires at its facilities. According to court documents, one fire took place after...
Yingli: Sunnier Days Ahead?
Doug Young Struggling solar panel maker Yingli (NYSE: YGE) is trying the good news-bad news approach to distract investors from its latest downbeat earnings, announcing its biggest-ever new order on the same day it released its dismal third-quarter results. Based on shareholder reaction, the approach has been quite successful, with Yingli's stock surging more than 13 percent in Wednesday trade after both announcements came out. Investors seem to clearly be focused on the big new order, and are hoping that Yingli may actually be able to manufacture profitably by the time it delivers the solar cells to this...
Powering Advanced Energy
by Debra Fiakas CFA Solar power producers have many challenges. One is the direct current to alternating current dilemma. Solar panels create power that flows one way in a direct current (DC). We use electricity in our homes and businesses in alternating current (AC) that flows both directions, forward and backward. So solar cell producers must use solar inverters that convert the electricity from the direct current in the solar panel into alternating current. This is where Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (AEIS: Nasdaq) comes in. AEIS makes power inverters for the solar power industry. The...
ReneSola Finds Shareholders Hard To Please
Solar project developer ReneSola Ltd. (SOL: NYSE) reported financial results this week for the quarter ending June 2018. Revenue topped $27.8 million in the quarter well below the year ago period when a faster pace of development activity generated $44.8 million in sales. The negative year-over-year comparison was anticipated following the sale of ReneSola’s solar cell manufacturing operations in September 2017. Now the company is making its way with solar project development, engineering services and electricity sales from its owned solar power facilities.
Management had guided for sales in a range of $25 to $30 million in the June 2018 quarter. The good news was that ReneSola...
RGS Energy: Troubling Inconsistencies
Garvin Jabusch About three weeks ago, I posted a piece called "RGS Energy, Tempered, Opportunistic Growth," an optimistic bit of coverage on one of our holdings, (RGSE), that included an 18-month price target of $10.00 per share. Since then, several developments and pieces of information have come to light that have caused us to revise our assessment of the company. Thursday, July 3, a quiet half-market day, RGS Energy released a statement announcing plans to monetize its previously filed potential shelf offering; "RGS Energy (NASDAQ: RGSE) has entered into a definitive agreement to raise approximately $7.0 million in a...
SolarCity or Vivint Solar?
By Jeff Siegel In as soon as five years, you could be living right next door to a power plant. Actually, even closer. The power plant could be operating from right inside your home. I'm serious. Take a look... This is a backup battery system installed in a home that's powered by domestically generated electrons, courtesy of the biggest nuclear reactor known to humans: the sun. And according to super genius Elon Musk, within five to 10 years, every set of solar panels installed by SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY) will come with a battery pack. Nighttime Solar Musk's cousin and...
Can We Blame China for Solar Manufacturer Bankruptcies? Yes.
Jennifer Runyon It really is all China's fault, say most solar experts, but the Chinese government's motivations aren't necessarily malicious. Fingering China photo via Bigstock Today is the last day before the International Trade Commission makes its final ruling on the tariffs that will likely be added to solar panels that include cells that were manufactured in China. We'll report on the specifics as soon as we have them but it's a pretty safe bet that there'll be tariffs in the amount of...
First Solar Jettisons Its O&M Business
by Paula Mints
In August, CdTe manufacturer First Solar (FSLR) sold its North America O&M business to NovaSource Power. According to First Solar CEO Mark Widmar, the decision was due to contracting O&M margins and customer demands for more services. The company is also exploring jettisoning its EPC business. First Solar plans to focus on its module manufacturing business.
Comment: Apparently, First Solar finally realized that O&M is low margin and that the EPC business may also not have much margin cushion. Now the company can concentrate on another low margin sector of the solar manufacturing chain, manufacturing.
First Solar has occasionally...
Principal Solar’s “Unique Roll-Up Strategy”
Tom Konrad CFA Last week, the announcement that Principal Solar, Inc. was now available for public trading landed in my inbox. It's currently trading under the symbol PSWWD.PK but will transition to PSWW.PK on June 23rd. I went ahead and used the latter in our Solar Stocks list. The press release was remarkable only for the lack of hard facts about the company, focusing instead on the bright future of the solar industry. But experienced investors know that an industry can have a bright future while the individual stocks tank. A rising tide need not lift all...
Convertible Solar Bonds: Trina, SunPower Stoke Fire; Ascent Descends
by Sean Kidney Trina’s $150m 3.5% 5yr convertible solar bond In June Chinese solar manufacturer Trina announced the private placement of $150m of 5 year, 3.5% convertible bonds to “institutional investors” (no details provided). Trina weren’t clear how they would use the proceeds, but they are planning to build 400-500MW of solar plants over the rest of this year. Book-runners were Deutsche Bank, Barclays, J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs (Asia), with co-manager HSBC. SunPower issues $400m 7yr 0.875% (!) convertible solar bond That same month SunPower announced a private placement of $400 million, 7 year, 0.875% senior convertible bonds. What...
First Solar Optimistic About Future
Liz Nelson The largest thin-film panel manufacturer in the world has an optimistic view of the immediate future for renewable energy demands. First Solar (FSLR) had an impressive charge for several years until the final quarter of 2008 when the stock value of the photovoltaic manufacturer began to plummet. Over the course of four years, the stock had dropped from approximately $311 per share to a dismal $11.43 nearing the end of the second quarter in 2012. At the beginning of April of 2013, the stock had nearly tripled in value and continues to gain momentum. The beginning of...
China Trys to Cork EU Solar Tariffs With Wine Probe
Doug Young China is quickly learning how to play the game of tit-for-tat trade wars, with news that Beijing has launched a new anti-dumping probe against wines imported from the European Union. Anyone who has followed recent China-EU trade relations will know, of course, that announcement of this new probe by the Commerce Ministry comes the same day that the EU formally announced anti-dumping tariffs against imported Chinese solar panels. While I certainly don’t condone this kind of trade war rhetoric, I have to say that China’s decision to target Europe’s wine industry looks like a very...
From Solar 2009: Investment Opportunities in Solar Stocks, Part 1
Tom Konrad, Ph.D. The last panel I attended at Solar 2009 focused on investment opportunities in Solar. This is the first of several entries with ideas from the speakers. They were: Allen Goodman, of ECG Consulting Group James Groelinger, of Bellegrove Associates J. Peter Lynch, of Salem Financial, Inc. Pradeep Haldar, Ph.D., MBA of the University at Albany Each had perspectives on the solar (mostly photovoltaic (PV) industry, and struck me as very knowledgeable in the field. The caliber of the industry and investment knowledge on display impressed me, so I'll share with readers some of the...
GCL-Poly Mops Up Chaori Solar Mess
Doug Young Bottom line: Solar consolidators like GCL-Poly and Shunfeng will suffer short-term pressure due to difficult acquisitions, but could be longer-term beneficiaries as they earn government goodwill for their actions. The latest deal involving an insolvent solar panel maker is seeing a group led by GCL-Poly Energy (HKEx: 3800) take control of bankrupt Chaori Solar, in a takeover that looks slightly ominous but also potentially interesting for investors. The ominous element comes from the fact that these bankruptcy proceedings are occurring Chinese courts, where local politics are often more important than forging deals that make commercial...
The Solar Industry’s Prolonged Adolescence And What Maturity Will Look Like
by Paula Mints
Every day the solar industry’s maturity is announced in company meetings, at conferences, in articles, and on Twitter, among other means, and through various media. The industry’s presumed maturity is held as a badge of its success by most and used as a PR message by many.
The assumption of the industry’s maturity, primarily based on its size, low module prices, and low tender bidding, things that taken either individually or as a whole does not indicate ma-turity. Teenagers, after all, exhibit growth spurts even as their brains continue to develop through their early twenties.
Teenagers also declare their...
