NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It's Earth Day's 40th anniversary, and solar technology has also been around for four decades. But as much as times change, some solar stock earnings season events remain constant.
"It's the same pitfalls each time. Inventory, raw material costs, some hiccup with expanding capacity, or some problem with customer account receivables bad debt. You don't know who it will happen to, but it's always the same handful of things," said Wedbush Securities analyst Christine Hersey. This quarter, add to the list of likely candidates for negative surprises any foreign exchange losses related to the euro's 6% first quarter slide. In the run-up to solar earnings, JA Solar(JASO), Evergreen Solar(ESLR) and Canadian Solar(CSIQ) announced first quarter shipment levels that exceeded expectations. There's plenty of reason to be positive going into solar earnings season, too, with the recent demand in Germany for solar installations exceeding even the most bullish scenarios. Yet it's never that simple. Evergreen's record shipments were achieved amid weak gross margins, and Canadian Solar shares tanked by 15% on Wednesday after saying its gross margins would also disappoint, stemming primarily from a forex loss. Solar has surprised even before one earnings report is out. The recent rally in solar may lead to short-term profit taking ahead of earnings of earnings reports, or on the slightest sign of any deterioration in gross margin or pricing in the second half of the year. Analysts say this has been a typical pattern in previous quarters for the typically volatile sector, and it's something that has pushed institutional investors away from the solar stocks. That's how it went down last time around, with solar stocks being punished in the fourth quarter earnings period on any sign of gross margin weakness -- even though coming into the fourth quarter earnings, expectations were for a positive round of reports from solar companies. In this earnings season, solar investors should receive a better look at just how pricing is shaping up for the second half of the year, when there is likely to be a feed-in tariff reduction in Germany. It's complicated by the fact that German politicians are meeting right now, and any surprise -- such as a further delay in the implementation of the FIT reductions -- could supersede earnings data and change the outlook in a hurry. In light of all this, here is a rundown of some of the solar energy stock first quarter earnings reports to watch. Read on to see which solar companies will have fortune shine upon them. Loading Comments... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Last » Next ›SHARE:
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