August 27, 2009 ndash; LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) announced an agreement with Yancheng City of Jiangsu Province for the development of a number of PV projects (ground-mount, roof and BIPV) totaling up to 500MW over the next five years. And Canadian Solar (Nasdaq:CSIQ) said it has signed a LOI with the Administration Committee of Baotou National Rare Earth Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, for rights to design, install, operate and maintain a 500MW solar facilitynbsp; in Baotou. The three-phase project is expected to start in September 2009 and run through December 2011 (phase 1: 100MW; phase 2 and 3: 200MW). These announcements mark an important trend in the solar markets and one that we have been commentating on a lot lately ndash; the further move by midstream solar firms to vertically integrate downstream and even moving into operations of solar facilities. Cowenrsquo;s Raj Seth this morning commented on the ...

November 14, 2008 – LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) one of our favorite companies to tout on the Small Cap Pulse, tipped to a lowly $12.40 in yesterday’s session before closing back up to $14.32. The management took the time this week to remind the Street that its fundamentals remains strong, despite a challenging global economic environment: secured contracts of 1.8GW for 2009, more than 100% of current planned output for the year; operating at full capacity; strong cash position of $460 million with available line of credit for another $430 million. At current levels, we think the stock is ridiculously oversold and represents a huge upside – near and long term. Here is why: At yesterday’s closing price, the stock is trading at a P/E ratio of 5.26x trailing-twelve months’ earnings and a P/S ratio of 1.49x trailing-twelve months’ sales. We are forecasting FY2008 revenue of $1.8 billion and profit of ...

October 29, 2008 – With valuations on the S&P based on estimated profits now at 10.7 times, and valuations in the solar sector at even lower levels, we have to ask how pessimistic, and how cynical the markets are going to get when valuing these companies. What is a reasonable valuation for an industry that is growing 62% per year and for leading companies that are posting triple-digit earnings and revenue growth? For example, LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) is trading 6.13 times trailing 12 months earnings, and slightly more than 1 times trailing 12 months sales. It is posting more than $100 million in profit per month, it has $1 billion in cash (on prepayments of contracts) and is booked through 1018. It has no need to raise capital and has recently said it won’t do so for the next couple years while it is doubling production capacity. The company expects ...

October 1, 2008 – The renewable energy sector has sold off lately amidst the broader market selloff, but aided by the failure of Congress to pass key legislation this week on the renewable tax credit extensions. That the tax credits will get renewed seems to us to be pretty much a sure thing. Congress has reached an agreement on the tax credits, but now there is just a debate between the House and the Senate how to pay for them. Adding to the delay, no doubt, is the focus that is being paid to the financial crisis bailout bill. In any case, failure to get the legislation passed has exacerbated weakness for renewable energy and clean tech stocks – but we see this as a significant opportunity to buy quality companies, that are extremely well positioned in a global renewable energy economy for the next 20 to 30 years. Perhaps ...

GT Solar International Inc. (SOLR), a U.S. manufacturer of equipment used in the production of photovoltaic cells, announced first quarter 2009 financial results today after the close. Revenues rose to $57.1 million, an increase of 272% year over year compared to $15.4 million. Net income rose to $5.1 million, or 3 cents per diluted share, reversing a loss of $5.0 million, or 4 cents per share, for the same period a year ago. There were no analyst earnings estimates ahead of the earnings release.

“We are pleased with the results for our first quarter of fiscal 2009 for several reasons,” said GT Solar President and CEO Tom Zarrella. “We were able to manage dynamic growth while achieving both gross and operating margins at record high levels. Additionally we increased our investment in R&D and approached completion of our previously announced factory expansion. Our backlog remains strong

...