LDK Solar slashes revenue forecast for Q3 2011

Nov 15, 2011 - Chinese solar wafer maker LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) yesterday reduced its revenue guidance for the third quarter to USD 460 million-470 million (EUR 339m-346m) from USD 630 million-680 million.

LDK Solar also cut its projections for wafer shipments to 285-290 MW from 350-400 MW, and for module shipments to 185-190 MW from 250-300 MW. However, it increased its expectations for in-house polysilicon production to 2,850-2,900 tonnes from 2,600-2,700 tonnes and in-house cell production to 295-300 MW from 200-220 MW.

The company expects to write down USD 45 million-50 million of inventories for the quarter due to falling market prices for wafers and modules and expects the gross margin to be between negative 3.5% and 5%, compared with positive 11-16% seen earlier.

LDK Solar also reduced its full-year projections for revenue to USD 2.20 billion-2.25 billion from USD 2.5 billion-2.7 billion, for wafer shipments to 1.55-1.65 GW from 1.8-2 GW, and module shipments to 550-650 MW from 750-800 MW. Gross margin is now seen at 9-12% from 15-20%.

The company kept its estimates for full-year in-house polysilicon production of 10,000-11,000 tonnes and cell production of 600-700 MW.

LDK Solar will report third-quarter results on November 22.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.736)

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