Suntech Surprises By Increasing Shipments For Q2 But Lowers Full-Year Outlook
Still reeling from the bond scandal and the unexpected replacement of their CEO, Suntech Power (STP :NYSE) provided some relief for its investors today by increasing their outlook for Q2 2012’s shipments but reducing the range for full-year 2012.
Shipments for Q2 2012 were 33 percent higher than the previous quarter. This is significantly better than the 20 percent increase SunPower had been offering.
Revenues were also boosted to $471 million, a 15 percent increase from the $409.5 million generated in Q1 2012.
If preannouncing improved shipments and revenues was meant to boost the spirits of revenues, the new full-year guidance for shipments will offset some of that excitement.
Originally offering full-year guidance of 2.1 gigawatts (GW) to 2.5 GW, Suntech dropped those numbers to 1.8 GW to 2.0 GW. The solar manufacturer also stated that Q3 2012 shipments would remain relatively flat when compared to Q2 2012’s numbers.
Cutting shipments for the year shouldn’t come as a surprise to investors as Yingli Green Energy (YGE :NYSE), JA Solar (JASO :NASDAQ) and Trina Solar (TSL :NYSE) all lowered their shipment guidance recently.
Despite most solar manufacturers finding themselves enjoying gains in afternoon trading, shares of Suntech were down 2.06 percent.
