Yingli Green Energy Earnings Review: Expected Slow First Quarter

Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE) is down on Thursday following an expected weak fiscal year 2013 first quarter. The Boading, China solar energy company posted earnings of $-0.62 per share, tumbling behind its Q4 FY 2012 performance by over 113 percent. EPS also came in below Wall Street consensus of $-0.43. Total net revenue closed down 16 percent at around $431 million - beating the analysts' expectations of $380.97 million. Correspondingly, the firms photovoltaic module shipments decreased by 6.4 percent from Q4 FY 2012.Gross profit was also dropped to $17.8 million, a decrease of nearly 55 percent year over year. The company's loses were partially offset by the effective cost control efforts. Operating expenses were $70.1 million Q1 2013, compared to $83.3 million Q4 2012. Slow first quarter results were expected in China due to seasonality and economic slow down, the company is confident that demand will pick up. Looking forward to full year 2013, the company expects an increase of 39.4% to 43.7% in PV module shipments. Yingli Green Energy Hold opened on Thursday at $3.40, and is trading down 5 percent at the time of publication.