Canadian Solar lifts FY08 revenue guidance

6/17/2008
(RTTNews) - Tuesday, Canadian Solar Inc., a manufacturer and marketer of solar module products, announced it will raise the 2008 annual revenue and output guidance to reflect the anticipated sales of its e-Module products in the second half of this year.

The Markham, Canada-based company lifted the revenue forecast to a range of $750 million to $870 million for fiscal 2008 from the earlier guidance of $650 million to $750 million. Wall Street analysts estimate revenues of $836.06 million.

The company estimates that it will ship approximately 10 - 12 MW of e-Modules to USA and South Korea in 2008.

The company disclosed that it has begun delivery of e-Modules to Pro Solar Solarstrom GmbH and Iliotec Solar GmbH of Germany, as per the annual supply agreements signed in early 2008. The company expects to ship 24.5 MW of e-Modules before the end of 2008. Canadian Solar has committed sales of 35 MW and customers' interest of about 20 MW for e-Modules in 2008.

"Our expected e-Module output for 2008 was sold out; we are pleased that e-Modules have been accepted by leading industry players such as Pro Solar and Iliotec. Since we have secured our supply of raw materials and are on track with our planned capacity ramp we are now comfortable in raising our guidance," said Shawn Qu, chairman and chief executive officer.

Looking ahead to 2009, the company said there is strong demand seen for both regular and e-Modules, and to meet this, the Board has authorized an increase in capital expenditures to accelerate the planned capacity ramp.

Regarding capacity expansion, Canadian Solar announced plans to increase its annual ingot and wafer capacity from the previous target of 40 MW - 60 MW to 150 MW - 200 MW; Internal cell capacity from 250 MW to 400 MW; and Module capacity to 800 MW, the company said.