JinkoSolar Hits Mammoth 2017 Shipment Target But Falls Short On Expected Profit & Gross Margin

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

Chinese solar PV manufacturer JinkoSolar reported last week that it hit its mammoth 2017 module shipments target, but investors were unimpressed with falling profits and gross margins, sinking the company’s shares by nearly 10%.

Over a year ago, JinkoSolar announced to the world that it had not only shipped 6.65 gigawatts (GW) of solar modules in 2016 but that it was also targeting solar PV module shipments in the range of 8.5 GW to 9.0 GW for 2017, a figure it then increased in December to between 9.6 GW and 9.8 GW. The demand for product was well predicted and continued to exceed expectations, as the global solar industry continues to expand.

Last week, the company published its Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2017 Financial Results which confirmed its shipping guidance for both the fourth quarter and the full year 2017. Total solar module shipments for the fourth quarter were 2,481 megawatts (MW), a 4.5% increase from the third quarter and a 43.1% increase on the same quarter a year ago. For the full year 2017, shipments were 9,807 MW, a 47.3% increase year-over-year.

Revenue for the fourth quarter was RMB6.35 billion (US$976.4 million), a 1% decrease over the third quarter but a 24% increase year-over-year. It also represented a 59% overshot of market expectations and resulted in earnings per share of RMB1.28 (US$0.20) which again beat expectations by $0.03.

However, despite what appears to be a wealth of good news, investors were less than impressed with a steadily declining gross margin, which was down to 11.6% from 12% in the third quarter and 14.3% in the same quarter a year ago, a 22.7% decrease to full year gross profit of RMB2.99 billion (US$459.8 million), and a decline in its gross margin from 18.1% for 2016 down to only 11.3% for 2017.

As a result, JinkoSolar shares have fallen by 8.6% on the back of the company’s earnings report, which is itself a mild rebound from the 16% decline seen early on Friday.

Nevertheless, the company still remains confident for the future, providing guidance of solar module shipments in the range of 1.8 GW to 2 GW for the first quarter, and in the range of 11.5 GW to 12 GW for the full year 2018. The company is also planning to expand its production capacity for bifacial cell plus bifacial duo glass modules.

“We expect global demand to continue growing in 2018,” explained Kangping Chen, JinkoSolar’s Chief Executive Officer. “This growth will mostly be driven by the emerging markets. With the cost of solar energy continuing to decrease and support for clean energy globally increasing, solar energy is becoming more and more competitive and are being applied more widely. We are very confident in the industry’s long-term sustainability and prospects.”


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

Joshua S Hill

I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, and I believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), and can be found writing articles for a variety of other sites. Check me out at about.me for more.

Joshua S Hill has 4403 posts and counting. See all posts by Joshua S Hill