November 4, 2009 ndash; Analyst Comments ndash; Cowenrsquo;s Robert Stone weighed in this morning on Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq:ESLR) noting that the company may report a narrower loss than he had modeled, citing strong demand in Europenbsp; and possible upside to shipments. He maintains a NEUTRAL rating on the stock. Key Takeaways middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Still sees pressure on ASPs in 2010 which may make conversion costs uncompetitive ($1.65 at Devens and $1.17 at Wuhan while vertically integrated competitors in China are close to $0.80) middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Targeting cost/watt of $2 in Devens (Q4:09 if fully ramped) and $1.50 in Wuhan (by year-end 2010); long-term cost/watt target of $1 in 2012 middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Sees potential upside to model of $.10 loss on $73.8M in revenue due to better results at Sovello middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Believes risk/reward remains unfavorable and maintains a NEUTRAL rating on the stock

Evergreen Solar Inc. has emerged as a recognizable figure in the solar power industry. The company develops, manufactures and markets String Ribbon™ solar power products for residential and commercial applications around the world.

The solar manufacturer today announced the recent opening of its Europe-based headquarters in Berlin, Germany, which is expected to extend the reach of the company’s presence in the German market. With headquarters in Berlin, the company anticipates taking advantage of solar incentives and the accelerated business growth in Europe.

“Berlin is an ideal location for us to establish our European headquarters,” Peter Rusch, managing director of Evergreen Solar GmbH and vice president of Sales for Evergreen Solar stated in the press release. “Our excellent products and strong relationships with customers have allowed us to establish ourselves very quickly as a leader across the European market.”

In 2002, Evergreen Solar launched European operations and became a fully-registered German

...

Coca-Cola has announced that its non-carbonated beverage plant in Wuhan, Hubei, was put into production recently. With a total investment of CNY600 million, this new production base is reported to be the company's largest non-carbonated beverage plant in the world. According to reports in local media, Coca-Cola's production base in Wuhan will have four production lines. So [...]

Swedish furniture retail giant Ikea has announced that it will close its trade offices in Chengdu, Wuhan, and Xiamen and employees in these three offices will be dismissed. Ikea told local media that this decision is the company's efforts to integrate its purchasing businesses in China. In the future, its trade offices in Shanghai, Qingdao, and [...]

The international fast food giant McDonald's has announced that following a one year trial in Shanghai, it will launch its 24-hour delivery service in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. In addition, the company will start to develop this service in other Chinese cities including Wuhan, Nanjing, and Tianjin. McDonald's has promised that each delivery will be completed within [...]

Taiwan-based food and beverage group Uni-President has announced plans to produce dairy products in Wuhan, Hubei, and to sell these products under its Uni-President brand in China. Xiao Fengshi, the general manager of Uni-President Central China, told local media that dairy sector is the largest sector for Uni-President's food business in Taiwan. The group plans to [...]

MARLBORO, Mass. and WUHAN, China -- May 1 2009 -- Evergreen Solar, Inc. (NasdaqGM: ESLR), a manufacturer of String Ribbon solar power products with its proprietary, low-cost silicon wafer technology, today announced it has entered into a frame agreement with Jiawei Solar (Wuhan) Co. and the Wuhan Donghu New Technology Development Zone Management Committee which calls for a significant expansion of String Ribbon wafer manufacturing in Wuhan, China.

With the competition in the budget hotel industry becoming increasingly fierce, each budget hotel is busying seizing the market in central China.
According to Chinese media, budget hotel brands such as 7 Days Inn, Home Inns, Jinjiang Inn, and GreenTree Inn are all increasing their expansion in central China, particularly Wuhan in Hubei province.
Of these, 7 [...]

Information from Wuhan’s latest Food and Drug Administrative Meeting shows that the number of retail drugstores in Wuhan dropped for the first time, a decrease of 37 drugstores compared with the same period last year.
Prior to this, to avoid excessive competition in Wuhan’s retail drugstore industry, the local government promulgated an order which said that [...]

According to Chutian Metropolis Daily, more than 40 restaurants in Wuhan are selling diluted juice to consumers. The report says that more and more restaurants are now handing over the operation of their juice service to a third party with the restaurants providing space for the third-party contractors to sell their freshly-made juices on a profit [...]