Solar Weekly Notes: TSL, SPWR, YGE

June 5th, 2015 by Trefis Team
10.37
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TSL: Trina Solar logo
TSL
Trina Solar

The solar sector had a relatively quiet week, except for SunPower‘s (NASDAQ:SPWR) lawsuit against SunEdison and some panel supply agreements. The Guggenheim Solar ETF, a popular index fund comprising of solar stocks, was down by about 3% through Thursday. Here is a quick recap of some of the recent happenings for the solar companies we cover.

See Our Complete Analysis For Solar Stocks Trina Solar| Yingli Green Energy |First Solar | SunPower

SunPower Files Lawsuit Against SunEdison

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SunPower, the second largest U.S. solar equipment manufacturer, has sued renewable energy developer SunEdison over claims that it recruited away employees who stole trade secrets. [1] According to a complaint filed earlier this week in federal court in San Francisco, SunPower said that SunEdison acquired its proprietary information when it poached 20 workers in the U.S., Spain and Italy between 2011 and 2014.

  • Trefis has a $35 price estimate for SunPower, which is about 15% ahead of the current market price. We project the company’s CY 2015 revenues at about $2.80 billion, with an adjusted EPS of about $1.35. This compares to a consensus EPS estimate of about $1.12.

Trina Solar’s Residential Battery Launches In June

Trina Solar (NYSE:TSL), the world’s largest solar panel manufacturer, is expected to start selling residential storage batteries in Australia starting this month. The batteries, which will be priced at about $1200 per kwh, are based on lithium ion technology and will also include a built-in inverter. Trina Solar intends to launch grid and microgrid models in the coming year, with plans to follow up with commercial models. [2] While most solar companies have been discussing integrating solar systems with storage over the last few years, the trend hasn’t really caught on, particularly for residential applications, likely due to high prices and the availability of net metering options in several countries.

  • Trefis has a $15 price estimate for Trina Solar, which is about 20% ahead of the current market price. We project the company’s CY 2015 revenues at about $2.60 billion, with an adjusted EPS of about $0.78. This compares to a consensus EPS estimate of about $0.94.

Yingli Green Energy’s Renews Panel Supply Agreement With Vivint Solar

Yingli Green Energy (NYSE:YGE) noted that it had renewed its panel supply agreement with U.S. distributed solar systems installer Vivint Solar. As part of the agreement, Yingli will deliver its YGE Series solar panels through 2015 for Vivint’s solar power installations across the United States. The deal should allow Yingli to continue making inroads into the fast growing U.S. residential solar market, which is posed to see new installations touch 3 GW by the end of 2016. [3]

Trefis will be revisiting its $2 price estimate for Yingli Green Energy following the company’s earnings release on Friday. The stock currently trades at about $1.

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Notes:
  1. SunPower Alleges SunEdison Poached Employees, Trade Secrets, Bloomberg, June 2015 [↩]
  2. Trina Solar Introduces Home Battery, Clean technica, May 2015 [↩]
  3. Company Press Release [↩]