Credit Suisse Expects Strong Growth In 2015 For JA Solar

In a report published Friday, Credit Suisse analyst Patrick Jobin reiterated a Neutral rating and $12.00 price target on

. In the report, Credit Suisse noted, "JA Solar reported 4Q14 Rev/non-GAAP EPS of $576m/$0.28 vs CS est of $523m/$0.37 and cons est of $539m/$0.32. Earnings miss was due to $7.9m change in fair value of derivatives, excluding which pro-forma was an EPS of $0.41/sh. Revenue beat was attributable to higher shipments than guided (952.7 MW vs guidance of 850-900 MW), while gross margins exceeded our expectation due to favorable mix of shipments (15.5% vs our est of 15%). Q1 and 2015 shipment guidance was higher than expected with growth from China & Europe and from the US in 2H once overseas non-tariff exposed capacity comes online. Downstream strategy of developing 200- 300 MW by 2015 remains unchanged. We update our model to reflect a higher percentage of projects retained on the balance sheet (vs. being sold). We lower our 2015/16 estimates to $1.25/$1.64 from $1.65/$1.72 despite total higher shipments and gross margins as we now forecast the company to retain 346 MWs of projects on balance sheet instead of selling them by YE2015. Our $12 Target price represents 7.3x 2016 P/E." JA Solar closed on Thursday at $9.04.