Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ) reported Q3 EPS of $0.15, $0.20 better than the analyst estimate of ($0.05). Revenue for the quarter came in at $914.36 million versus the consensus estimate of $861.93 million.

Highlights

• Solar module shipments of 3.2 GW, exceeding guidance of 2.9 GW to 3.1 GW.
• 31% sequential growth in revenue to $914 million, above guidance of $840 million to $890 million.
• Gross margin of 19.5%, well above guidance of 14% to 16%.
• Net income attributable to Canadian Solar of $8.8 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, after the adverse impact of a $12.6 million withholding tax expense in China related to a special dividend distribution from the Module and System Solutions ("MSS") subsidiary to the Company.
• Completed a $260 million capital raising in preparation for the Company's MSS business' carve-out IPO and completed a $230 million convertible bond issuance.
• Reiterates 2021 module shipment guidance of 18 GW to 20 GW.
• Manufacturing capacities expected to nearly double by 2021 year-end to support accelerating growth, with significant capacity contribution starting from the second quarter of 2021.
• Secured over 860 MWp in new power purchase agreements ("PPA") in Brazil, post Q3, in a private auction with a large local utility company and through a corporate PPA agreement with one of the largest financial institutions in Latin America.

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO, commented, "I am pleased to report another strong set of results for the third quarter. We continued to focus on executing our strategy, overcoming market challenges and delivering long-term returns. During the third quarter, we took a major step forward with the successful pre-IPO equity raising of CSI Solar Co., Ltd. ("CSI Solar"), Canadian Solar's MSS subsidiary, which received overwhelming support and participation from strategic partners as we secured the capital required to expand our capacity with the latest technology. We are well on track to achieve our target of submitting the official IPO application by the second quarter of next year.

"Another highlight from last month was the signing of our first large scale energy storage system supply and service agreement, strongly positioning Canadian Solar in the solar plus energy storage market. We expect energy storage will increasingly contribute to Company revenue and profit starting in 2021, setting the stage to become an important earnings driver going forward. Our integrated business model gives us the competitive advantage to deliver bankable, end-to-end solar plus energy storage solutions, which will unlock further growth opportunities.

"We have also made progress in identifying opportunities in localized large-scale project investment vehicles to hold grid-connected solar, energy storage and other clean energy projects developed by our Energy business, leveraging the successful publicly traded investment fund in Japan, which we have sponsored since 2017. We are targeting to launch similar vehicles in Latin America and Europe within the next 12 to 24 months."

Yan Zhuang, President of CSI Solar Co., Ltd. ("CSI Solar"), Canadian Solar's MSS subsidiary, said, "As solar energy enters a new era of higher growth driven by grid parity and accelerating supply side consolidation, we see a window of opportunity to grow global market share by leveraging our leadership position across premium and distributed generation markets, investing in state-of-the-art and highly cost-competitive capacity, and increasing the level of vertical integration of our manufacturing process to better control manufacturing costs and capture value. This is reflected in our updated capacity expansion plan, which we are already implementing.

"At the same time, we face near-term challenges driven by a confluence of factors, namely, the temporary shortage of raw material supply driving approximately 50% to 100% price increases of critical inputs, such as polysilicon, solar glass and EVA; the sharp increase in shipping costs; and the depreciation of the U.S. Dollar. While we benefit from the sharp recovery of global solar demand since July, this also caused input material shortages. As a result, we are expecting pressure on our short-term profitability. We are taking active measures to mitigate these micro and macro factors. Over the longer term, however, we believe these changes will ultimately favor Canadian Solar as a market leader with a differentiated technological offering, strong brand and market leadership position."

Ismael Guerrero, Corporate VP and President of Canadian Solar's Energy business, said, "While the widespread impact of COVID-19 created project uncertainties, our teams worked relentlessly to support customers, maintain project timelines wherever possible and overcome major challenges, such as substantially securing tax equity for our U.S. projects. We started construction on the Maplewood and Pflugerville projects in the U.S., as well as on the Tastiota project in Mexico. In terms of project sales, we closed various sales across the U.S., Canada, Japan and China. We also continue to expand our high-quality project pipeline. A few days ago, we secured 862 MWp in new PPAs in Brazil and we were awarded 22 MWp in the latest solar auction in Japan, solidifying our leadership position in two key markets. We remain committed to growing our pipeline and will continue to focus on optimizing the use of cash through capital partnerships and partial ownership of select solar and storage projects."

Dr. Huifeng Chang, Senior VP and CFO, added, "We delivered revenue growth and modest underlying profitability during the third quarter. Given strong operating cash generation, the recent convertible bond issuance and MSS pre-IPO equity raising, we have strengthened our capital reserves. This puts us in a financially strong position to manage any unexpected market changes. Our total cash position at the end of September was $1.6 billion, well above our usual average, although we have since deployed some of this cash in support of long-term growth opportunities. As always, we remain disciplined in our capital allocation decisions and will continue to monitor and adjust to market conditions."

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Canadian Solar (CSIQ) click here.