JA Solar Q1 Profit Plunges On Weak Margin; Says Cautious On H2 View

(RTTNews) - JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (JASO), a Chinese manufacturer of high-performance solar power products, reported Wednesday that its first-quarter net income was 8.1 million Chinese yuan or $1.2 million, compared to 158.0 million yuan or $23 million last year.

Earnings per ADS were 0.17 yuan or $0.03, compared to 2.74 yuan or $0.40 a year ago. The prior year's adjusted earnings per ADS were 2.33 yuan or $0.34.

Gross profit of $63 million decreased 24.7% from last year. Gross margin was 11.7%, compared to 16.6% in the year-ago quarter, primarily due to a decline of average selling price of solar modules.

Net revenue was 3.7 billion yuan or $536.4 million, an increase of 6.4% from last year.

Total shipments were 1,392.7 megawatts, consisting of 1,325.1 MW of modules. External shipments were up 32.5% to 1,375.3 MW.

The company said its operating results were in line with expectations. The higher shipments were driven by strength in the Asia Pacific markets.

Looking ahead, Baofang Jin, Chairman and CEO of JA Solar, said, "We expect solid demand from China in the second quarter, driven by accelerated activity ahead of subsidy reductions. Despite this near-term strength, we are cautious on the business outlook for the second half of 2017, given limited visibility into customer demand, as well as the competitive pricing environment across multiple geographies."

For the second quarter of 2017, the Company expects total cell and module shipments to be in the range of 1,550 to 1,650 MW. Nearly all will be external shipments.