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To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (9404)11/24/2010 6:50:36 PM
From: Eric  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 16955
 
Just out from CS this morning on FSLR:

AV Solar Ranch Allowed to Move Forward, as
Expected; Cash Grant in Jeopardy

Bottom line.

The LA County Board of Supervisors allowed FSLR’s 230MW AV Solar Ranch One project to move forward, rejecting Northrop Grumman’s appeal to delay the project. We had expected the project to move forward and we are maintaining our FSLR estimates after attending the hearing. The next step for FSLR will be to obtain building permits and plan checks to start construction. The best-case scenario is for FSLR to incur at least 5% of project construction costs by year end to qualify for the ITC cash grant.

Approval followed statements of support from LA County Regional Planning staff, community members, and FSLR. The speakers repeated the benefits of the project including 400 jobs, $50mm in local taxes, andclean energy. In an exchange that grew heated at times, the Regional Planning Commission reprimanded Northrop Grumman for the last-minute appeal after the project’s approval on Sep. 15 and for delivering over 1,000 pages on Fri last week and a weblink of 1,500 pages the day before the appeal hearing to the planning commission. The documents copied verbatim portions of Northrop Grumman’s comments against the Rosamond solar project, approved by Kern County recently. The attorney for Northrop Grumman claimed that while their law office knew of AV Solar Ranch in February 2010, Northrop Grumman learned of the project only on Sep. 16, 2010, the day after it was approved. A director of engineering for Northrop repeated company claims that the solar installation would render their radar facility useless and hinder their ability to develop stealth aircraft. In contrast, the Department of Defense claims the appeal is a dispute between 2 private parties and that they have “no position” on the solar installation.As well, a study by Exponent Inc. claims that the solar installations would have no effect on the radar facility. As mentioned, we maintain our estimates for FSLR.

Companies Mentioned (Price as of 22 Nov 10)
Exponent Inc. (EXPO, $33.06)
First Solar (FSLR, $124.20, NEUTRAL [V], TP $127.50)
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC, $62.28, RESTRICTED)



To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (9404)12/1/2010 1:47:05 AM
From: Jacob Snyder1 Recommendation  Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 16955
 
TSL 3Q2010 results:

rev 508M$; 420M expected
EPS GAAP $1.08; 0.87 expected; 4 straight quarters of beating expectations
gross margin 31%
0.73$/W non-silicon manufacturing cost (applicable to its in-house wafer production to module production)
1.08$/W total manufacturing cost (= 0.73NS + 0.35 silicon cost)
777M$ cash unrestricted + eq.
669M$ debt (ST + LT + convertibles)

guidance for 4Q2010:
gross margin 30%
0.73$/W non-silicon man. cost (previous guidance had been 0.70$/W by end-2010)
"we’re expecting euro ASP during the fourth quarter to increase from the third quarter"

guidance for the full year 2010: total PV module shipments to be approximately 1 GW, compared to its earlier guidance of between 900 MW to 930 MW, representing an increase of approximately 151% from the annual PV module shipments in 2009.

2011 guidance:
total manufacturing costs will fall below $1.00 per Watt...
50$/kg average poly costs
we are already fully committed for Q1...2011 could well prove to be another year of tight supply...

"In the second half of 2011, the Company expects to raise its annualized in-house production capacity of ingot and wafer to 1.2GW; PV cell and module production capacity to reach 1.7 GW."

"We continue to see strong demand momentum into the fourth quarter and the outlook for 2011 is increasingly positive; we expect that demand for our products will outpace our planned capacity expansion in 2011."

16-20GW total global demand

phx.corporate-ir.net
media.corporate-ir.net
seekingalpha.com

my comments:
1. FSLR, YGE, and TSL are the only solars with 30% or better gross margins this quarter.
2. no 2011 guidance for sales, EPS...
3. they appear quite confident of staying at 100% cap. utilization in 2011, and still being able to maintain gross margins at about 30%
4. PE = 5 = 22.32/(1.08 X 4); using 4 times this quarter's earnings, or:
PE = 7 = 22.32/3.00; using trailing 12-month's earnings
5. 108M$ net cash (= 777-669M$) is worse that FSLR, better than YGE, and much better than STP, LDK, etc.
6. Trina is the best c-Si solar company, IMO. TSL out-performs on balance sheet, margins, low manufacturing costs, vertical integration, government support, low PE.
7. red flags: share bloat, lack of guidance, missed targets for manufacturing costs, possible 2011 oversupply