Chinese Solar Shares Soar on JA Solar Guidance
Wednesday April 7, 2010, 11:39 am EDT
JA Solar (NASDAQ: JASO - News) lifted the sector higher on Wednesday after announcing revised first-quarter sales guidance to well above its prior forecast. The company now expects to sell more than 265 megawatts of solar equipment in the current quarter ended March 31, compared to a prior outlook of between 215 and 225 megawatts. CEO Dr. Peng Fang said, "we saw robust demand from existing and new customers" in the first quarter, and "streamlining" production has enabled the company to "achieve higher than expected production to meet customer orders." JA shares are soaring by 9% for the session, and its Chinese peers are following.
As a whole, the Chinese Solar Stocks Index is surging by 4.3% today with Solarfun Power Holdings (NASDAQ: SOLF - News), Suntech Power Holdings (NYSE: STP - News), and China Sunergy (NASDAQ: CSUN - News) among top performers. Meanwhile, laggards LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK - News) and Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL - News) are both ahead by more than 2%.
A look at the broader Solar Stocks Index's performance over the past month shows that a number of Chinese components have outperformed. Back in February, Deutsche Bank touted Chinese cost advantages in the solar sector, upgrading ReneSola (NYSE: SOL - News) and Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE - News) to Buy from Hold, and Suntech to Hold from Sell. The latter two have been laggards over the past month, moving only fractionally as select solar players add more than 20% gains.
On the domestic front, MEMC Electronic Materials (NASDAQ: WFR - News), STR Holdings (NASDAQ: STRI - News), and giant First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR - News) are all up by double-digits over the past month as investors shrug off solar pessimism from earlier this year.
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