UPDATE: JA Solar Shares Surge After Q3 Results

JA Solar Holdings Co JASO reported a profit in the third quarter. JA Solar posted a quarterly net profit of $25.3 million, or $0.42 per American Depositary Share, versus a year-ago loss of $37 million, or $1.10 per ADS. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted ADS fell to RMB 1.30 ($0.21), from RMB 2.24 ($0.36). Its revenue climbed 71.8% to $492.2 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.18 per share on revenue of $425.25 million. Operating profit came in at RMB 189.6 million ($30.9 million), versus a year-ago operating loss of RMB 31.6 million ($5.2 million). Total solar cell and module shipments increased 57% y/y to 785.4 megawatts (MW) in the quarter, versus the company's guidance of 730 to 760 MW. JA Solar shipped 681.8 MW in the second quarter. Shipments of modules and module tolling climbed 127.4% y/y to 693.5 MW, while shipments of cells and cell tolling fell 52.9% y/y to 91.9 MW. Gross margin rose 370 basis points y/y to 15.0%. As of Sep 30, 2014, JA Solar had cash and cash equivalents of RMB 1.7 billion ($279.5 million). Mr. Baofang Jin, chairman and CEO of JA Solar, commented, "JA Solar delivered strong results in the third quarter, as our strategic shift from cells to modules started to come to fruition. While we remain a leader in cell technology and cell manufacturing, higher margin module sales has become one of the key results drivers at JA. Module sales more than doubled year over year and were up 52% sequentially, mainly due to robust growth in sales to Japan and China. In fact, our capacity is fully booked for the fourth quarter, resulting in some of the best visibility we have had in some time." For the fourth quarter, JA Solar projects total cell and module shipments of 850 MW to 900 MW. The company also projects FY shipments of 3.1GW to 3.2GW. JA Solar shares jumped 6.41% to $8.30 in pre-market trading.