EmailTrina Solar (TSL $5.06 -0.27) reported first quarter loss of $0.42 per share, $0.12 worse than the Capital IQ consensus of ($0.30), while revenues fell 36.5% year/year to $349.9 million versus the $389.72 million consensus. Solar module shipments were ~380 MW for the first quarter of 2012, compared to the Company's previous guidance of between 400 MW to 430 MW, representing a decrease of 10.6% sequentially. Gross margin was 5.8% in the first quarter of 2012, compared to the Company's previous guidance of low teens in percentage terms, compared to 7.1% in the fourth quarter of 2011 and 27.5% in the first quarter of 2011.
The sequential decrease in gross margin was due primarily to anti-dumping and countervailing duty provisions offsetting reduced costs, while the year-on-year decrease in gross margin was due primarily to module average selling price declines in excess of reduced costs. Guidance: For Q2, the Company expects to ship between 500 MW to 520 MW of PV modules. The co believes its overall gross margin for the second quarter, including the impact of provisions for potential countervailing and anti-dumping duties, will be ~10%. This figure takes into account wafer and cell requirements outsourced to third party suppliers to meet demand in excess of its internal capacity. Such guidance is based on the exchange rate between the Euro and U.S. dollar as of May 23, 2012. For the full year 2012, the co expects total PV module shipments between 2.0 to 2.1 GW, representing an increase of 32.5% to 39.1%, respectively, from 2011.
