JinkoSolar (JKS) Tops Q4 EPS by 1c, Revenues Beat

JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS) reported Q4 EPS of $1.40, $0.01 better than the analyst estimate of $1.39. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.37 billion versus the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion.

Fourth Quarter 2019 Operational and Financial Highlights

• Total solar module shipments were 4,538 megawatts ("MW"), within JinkoSolar's updated guidance range of 4.5 GW to 4.6 GW; an increase of 36.4% from 3,326 MW in the third quarter of 2019 and 25.4% from 3,618 MW in the fourth quarter of 2018.
• Total revenues were RMB9.53 billion (US$1.37 billion), within JinkoSolar's updated guidance range of US$1.35 billion to US$1.38 billion; an increase of 27.4% from the third quarter of 2019 and 23.4% from the fourth quarter of 2018.
• Gross margin was 18.2%, within JinkoSolar's updated guidance range of 18.0% to 20.0%, compared with 21.3% in the third quarter of 2019 and 14.7% in the fourth quarter of 2018. Excluding the Countervailing Duty ("CVD") and Anti-dumping Duty ("ADD") reversal benefits, gross margin was 18.1% in the fourth quarter of 2019, 18.5% in the third quarter of 2019 and 13.8% in the fourth quarter of 2018.
• Income from operations was RMB594.8 million (US$85.4 million), compared with RMB638.8 million in the third quarter of 2019 and RMB237.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2018.
• Net income attributable to the Company's ordinary shareholders was RMB369.5 million (US$53.1 million) in the fourth quarter of 2019, compared with RMB363.6 million in the third quarter of 2019 and RMB114.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2018.
• Diluted earnings per American depositary share ("ADS") were RMB6.68 (US$0.96) in the fourth quarter of 2019.
• Non-GAAP net income attributable to the Company's ordinary shareholders in the fourth quarter of 2019 was RMB432.2 million (US$62.1 million), compared with RMB301.2 million in the third quarter of 2019 and RMB111.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2018.
• Non-GAAP basic and diluted earnings per ADS were both RMB9.74 (US$1.40) in the fourth quarter of 2019, compared with RMB6.83 and RMB6.13 in the third quarter of 2019, respectively, and RMB2.84 for both in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Mr. Kangping Chen, JinkoSolar's Chief Executive Officer commented, "JinkoSolar's growth story continues to progress strongly and I couldn't be prouder of our very strong performance during the quarter in which solar module shipments, total revenue and gross profit all hit record highs. Module shipments during the quarter were 4,538 MW, an increase of 36% sequentially and 25% year-over-year. Total revenues during the quarter were US$1.37 billion, an increase of 27% sequentially and 23% year-over-year, while gross profit hit US$250 million. We are benefitting from the rapid expansion of our mono wafer production capacity during the second half of 2019 and our industry-leading integrated cost structure, which has ideally positioned us to drive growth throughout full year 2020 where we expect solar module shipments to increase by approximately 35%."

"2019 marked a significant milestone in our corporate history in which we successfully completed our transformation into the most competitive solar manufacturer in the world. The efficient execution of our strategy throughout the second half of the year allowed us to rapidly transition our operations and production facilities from poly to mono while steadily increasing the proportion of products produced through our fully integrated manufacturing process. This allowed us to rapidly begin mass production of our innovative solar products and distribute them to our growing customer base who are eager to benefit from the increased efficiency of our products. We also further refined our management processes to further optimize operational efficiency across our business and supply chain, which significantly reduced manufacturing costs."

"A number of emerging markets are flourishing with many of them approaching gigawatts levels, which we believe reflects the direction the market is headed with demand diversifying globally instead of concentrating in a few large markets. We believe global demand in 2020 will continue its strong growth momentum with newly added installations expected to reach 140GW to 150GW, an increase of around 20% year-over-year. New installations in Europe doubled in 2019 while ASPs in the U.S. remained high as a result of constrained supply. The subsidy in China for 2020 is finalized earlier in the year than was done last year which will allow more time for project development planning and installation and is expected to result in a higher overall completion rate. A number of projects from 2019 will likely be delayed into 2020 which we expect will result in total installations in China reaching 40GW to 50GW for full year 2020, an increase of about 50% year-over-year. With grid parity rapidly approaching in many markets, the long-term growth potential of the industry is rapidly opening up."

"The outbreak of COVID-19 across China affected certain raw materials supply and logistics during the first quarter of 2020, causing some module shipments be postponed to the second quarter of 2020. In response to the outbreak, we implemented a number of initiatives to ensure business continuity, including ensuring the safety and health of our employees and minimizing the impact of the outbreak on production and delivery by stocking up on critical raw materials and optimizing production and logistics. Our supply chain and logistics were temporarily affected by the outbreak early in the first quarter of 2020 but has improved significantly. Our current capacity utilization rate has already recovered to 100%. We estimate that approximately 400 MW to 500MW of our solar module shipments in the first quarter will be postponed to the second quarter, causing shipments in the second quarter to increase significantly. We believe our shipments and capacity expansion plans for the full year 2020 will not be impacted by the outbreak."

"The competitiveness of products in the market today is driven by the technologies they incorporate. We increased our investments into R&D in 2019 which resulted in our products breaking world records of cell efficiency and module output twice in June 2019 and once in January 2020. We believe our ability to consistently drive technological breakthroughs coupled with our expanding production capacity for high efficiency products will continue to drive down manufacturing costs."

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