Canadian Solar Hits Record Revenue & Shipments, Misses Expectations, Shares Still Jump
Canadian Solar has released its fourth quarter and full-year 2014 earnings, reporting record projects sold, shipped, revenue, net income, and free cash flow, missed market estimates, and still saw its shares jump an incredible 14%.
Never let it be said that finances make sense.
In the wake of a number of solar companies reporting impressive fourth quarter and full-year earnings for 2014, but still seeing their shares drop in the wake of missing expectations, Canadian Solar has proved the exception, thanks (according to some) to the pending launch of the company’s YieldCo.
Total module shipments for the fourth quarter 2014 were 1,125 MW, compared to 770 MW in the third quarter, 621 MW in the fourth quarter of 2013, and eclipsing fourth quarter guidance in the range of 810 to 860 MW.
Revenue for the quarter was up to $956.2 million, compared to $914.4 million in the third quarter of 2014, and up 84.1% from $519.5 million a year earlier.
For the full year 2014, total solar module shipments reached 3,105 MW, with 2,813 MW recognised in revenue, compared to 1.9 GW in 2013, and full year 2014 guidance of 2.7 to 2.8 GW. Net revenue for the year sky-rocketed to $2.96 billion, compared to $1.65 billion in 2013 and full year 2014 guidance in the range of $2.93 and $2.98 billion.
On news of the company’s earnings, shares jumped 14.65% (as of writing), and another 0.20% in pre-market trading.
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“This was a record year for Canadian Solar,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar. “We achieved new high water marks in terms of solar projects sold, solar modules shipped, revenue, net income and free cash flow. Our success in monetizing our global solar project pipeline has strengthened our balance sheet, which has allowed us to secure new projects to replenish our pipeline, as evidenced by our acquisition of projects in Japan, and the United Kingdom as well as our recently announced acquisition of Recurrent.”
“We have been reviewing various options to structure and potentially list our downstream business, and we are now planning to form a YieldCo vehicle, in order to maximize value creation for our shareholders over the long-term,” also announced in the earnings call.
“We expect that a YieldCo vehicle and its subsequent listing would enable us to capture the value inherent in our large pipeline of long-term contracted assets and to recycle capital. We are engaged in the process of analyzing the optimal structure for a YieldCo, including the optimal asset profile. We expect to complete the sale of those Canadian projects for which we have an identified end-buyer. We may, however retain other projects that we have developed for eventual inclusion in the asset base of a YieldCo structure or add additional assets from third parties. We plan to update the market as the process evolves.”
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