Trina Solar Releases 3rd Quarter Results

Trina Solar (NYSE TSL) is up 1701% this year (through Dec. 1, 2010).   They just released their third quarter results.

The PV manufacturer reported module shipments of approximately 291MW, exceeding previous guidance of 250MW to 260MW with Net revenues of US$508.3 million and a gross margin rate of 31.4%. 

Jifan Gao, chairman and CEO of Trina Solar said that the outlook for 2011 was increasingly positive as demand would outpace Trina’s planned capacity expansions in 2011. 

"We continue to see strong demand momentum into the fourth quarter and the outlook for 2011 is increasingly positive; we expect that demand for our products will outpace our planned capacity expansion in 2011,” noted Gao. “Our expansion will allow us to increase sales in high growth PV markets such as the United States and Japan, while expand our presence and sales in Australia and other emerging solar markets. In parallel, our continued investments in localizing customer service and increasing service levels allow us to target higher value end-segments and high profile projects and to further differentiate our product offerings from other brands.  We expect continuous gain in market share linked to our sales strategy and our emphasis on quality in our existing and new PV products and solutions."

Trina Solar noted that its annualised in-house production capacity of ingots and wafers as well as PV cell and module production capacity is expected to reach approximately 1.2GW and 1.7GW, respectively.

Based on continued strong demand, Trina Solar expects 2010 module shipments to reach approximately 1GW, up from previous guidance of between 900MW and 930MW.

However, despite high factory utilisation rates and a virtual ‘sold-out’ situation in 2010, the PV manufacturer saw non-silicon manufacturing cost applicable to its in-house wafer production to module production of approximately US$0.73 per watt, compared to US$0.74 per watt in the previous quarter.

Sources:  Trina Solar + PV Tech.org