Canadian Solar Shares Jump After Q3 Results

Canadian Solar CSIQ reported a strong rise in its third-quarter profit. The West Guelph, Canada-based company posted a quarterly net profit of $104.2 million, or $1.75 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $27.7 million, or $0.56 per share. The company's profit in the second quarter was $55.8 million, or $0.95 per share. Canadian Solar recorded a gain on change in fair value of derivatives of $15.4 million in the latest quarter, versus a loss on change in fair value of derivatives of $1.6 million in the year-ago quarter. Its revenue climbed 86.3% y/y to $914.4 million from $490.9 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.16 per share on revenue of $803.24 million. Total solar module shipments climbed to 770 MW in the quarter, versus 646 MW in the second quarter and 478 MW in the year-ago quarter. Gross profit widened to $209.3 million, from $100.2 million, while gross margin widened to 22.9% from 20.4%. Total operating expenses climbed 18.4% to $53.2 million from $44.9 million. As of September 30, 2014, Canadian Solar had $817.2 million of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, versus $788.3 million, as of June 30, 2014. Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar, said, "Our results for the third quarter exceeded our expectations on all financial and operating metrics, led by the strength of our utility-scale solar energy business, combined with a robust performance from our module business, which continues to benefit from our Tier-1 brand, global scale, stable average selling price and broad-based growth in demand.” Canadian Solar expects Q4 module shipments of approximately 810 MW to 860 MW and total revenue of $925 million to $975 million For full year 2014, Canadian Solar now expects annual module shipment of 2.73 GW to 2.78 GW, versus its earlier forecast of 2.5 GW to 2.7 GW. It now projects revenue of around $2.93 billion to $2.98 billion, versus prior range of $2.7 billion to $2.9 billion. Canadian Solar shares jumped 9.63% to $34.50 in pre-market trading.