GT Solar lifts full-year guidance after higher net earnings in Q2 FY 2010/11

(ADPnews) - Nov 8, 2010 - US photovoltaic (PV) equipment provider GT Solar International Inc (NASDAQ:SOLR) on Friday raised its revenue guidance for fiscal 2010/11 to USD 775 - 850 million (EUR 555 - 608m) from previously forecast USD 700 - 775 million after recording higher than expected second-quarter figures.

Full-year diluted earnings per share (EPS) are now seen at USD 1.00 to USD 1.10, compared to earlier projections of USD 0.90-1.00.

GT Solar posted a net profit of USD 42.8 million, representing EPS of USD 0.28, for its second quarter to October 2, up from USD 16.5 million in the first quarter and USD 9.4 million a year earlier.

Revenue for the quarter rose by 120% year-on-year to USD 229.3 million. The polysilicon segment brought revenues of USD 23.3 million, while photovoltaic (PV) sales amounted to USD 202.8 million. The company's recently acquired sapphire materials operations generated revenue of USD 3.2 million.

Order backlog at the beginning of October stood at USD 1.16 billion. Orders for the quarter were USD 264.1 million.

"We are feeling increasingly confident in our outlook for fiscal [2011/12] due to several factors-- the buildup of potential orders in our sapphire business, the healthy state of our order backlog, the continuing demand we are seeing from PV customers and the developing polysilicon order trends that we expect for the balance of this fiscal year," said Tom Gutierrez, president and CEO of GT Solar.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.710)

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