HEY JACKASS, GET ON THE SUN

I eagerly await the earnings of SOL.

Huge beat by TSL, standard practice in the solar space–by the way.

Trina Solar shares soar 12% following beat on earnings; raised FY13 shipment guidance

Trina Solar (TSL $18.20 +2.01) reported thrid quarter earnings of $0.14 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues rose 84.0% year/year to $548.4 million which is higher than expected. Total shipments were 774.6 MW, compared to 646.6 MW in the second quarter of 2013 and 380.3 MW in the third quarter of 2012 (Q3 guidance was for shipments of $750-780 MW).

The sequential increase in shipments was primarily due to robust demand from China, driven by a series of incentives introduced by the Chinese government to stimulate domestic solar demand. In addition, the substantial increase in sales in Japan driven by strong demand and company efforts in that market also contributed to the increase in total revenue. Gross margin was 15.2%, compared to 11.6% in the second quarter of 2013.

“While average selling prices and polysilicon costs continue to stabilize in the third quarter, consolidation in the solar industry will also continue as it aligns more closely with supply. As a result of our ongoing efforts in improving our operational efficiency and controlling manufacturing costs, we achieved a further reduction in non-silicon costs, which contributed to notable quarter-on-quarter margin improvement” In the third quarter of 2013, the Company continued its efforts to reduce manufacturing costs, achieving a reduction of low single digit in percentage terms from a quarter ago. The sequential decrease in non-silicon manufacturing costs were primarily due to improved supply chain cost control, increased utilization of the Company’s in-house manufacturing capacities, as well as increases in the Company’s module efficiencies and improvements in its manufacturing processes.

Guidance: During the fourth quarter of 2013, the Company expects to ship between 760 MW to 790 MW of PV modules. The Company believes its overall gross margin for the fourth quarter, taking into account wafer and cell quantities outsourced from third party suppliers to meet demand in excess of its internal capacity and other needs will be in the mid-teens in percentage terms. For the full year 2013, the Company revises its previous PV module shipment guidance of between 2.3 GW and 2.4 GW to 2.58 GW and 2.62 GW.