wind Archives ~ Business China : news for investors in China

NEW ENERGY: Market Ignores Good News from Trina, ReneSola, Ming Yang

By newsdoug on November 18, 2015

Bottom line: Weak share reactions to upbeat news from Trina, ReneSola and Ming Yang reflect investor skepticism towards new energy stocks, as they face lingering issues of overcapacity and phasing out of government subsidies.

Investors pour rain on upbeat new energy news

A flurry of upbeat news is in the headlines today from 3 of China’s largest new energy equipment makers, led by a return to the profit column for solar panel maker ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) after a year in the red. At the same time, wind power equipment maker Ming Yang (NYSE: MY) also announced its latest quarterly results that were quite upbeat, and solar panel maker Trina (NYSE: TSL) said it obtained a modest new financing from some major global lenders.

But contrary to expectation, investors greeted the string of upbeat news by dumping shares of all 3 companies, reflecting a high degree of skepticism in the market. Ming Yang led the downward migration, with its shares slipping 3.7 percent after it announced its latest quarterly results. Its shares now trade more than 17 percent below the price for a previously announced buyout bid to take the company private. Read Full Post…

Rulings Boost China Wind, Solar In US

By newsdoug on July 17, 2014

New rulings favor China solar, wind firms

In a quirk of timing, 2 completely unrelated rulings are boosting the outlook for Chinese new energy firms from the wind and solar sectors in their complex relationship with the US. The 2 cases are quite different, but each reflects the wariness Washington feels towards these Chinese firms due to their government ties. In the bigger of the 2 cases, a World Trade Organization panel has ruled that US anti-dumping tariffs against Chinese solar panel makers violate WTO rules. In the second case, a US judge’s ruling has given a boost to a Chinese firm that planned to build a wind farm in the state of Oregon, only to get vetoed by Washington over national security concerns. Read Full Post…

Ming Yang Joins China Power Building Team

By newsdoug on June 10, 2014

Wind power company Ming Yang (NYSE: MY) became China’s latest new energy equipment maker to dip its toe into project finance and development last week, when it announced a new plan for a massive wind farm project in Jiangsu province. Its announcement follows similar moves by many of its peers from the solar sector, and comes as Beijing embarks on a broader plan to clean up China’s air through initiatives like clean energy development. Read Full Post…

Yingli Joins State Bail-Out Queue

By newsdoug on April 24, 2013

Yingli (NYSE: YGE) has become the latest player in China’s struggling solar sector to get a lifeline from Beijing, as an interesting picture starts to emerge of the relative health of the sector’s major players and who is likely to lead a coming consolidation. The list of who gets these lifelines could also reflect the relative importance Beijing places on China’s wide and varied field of solar panel and panel component makers, meaning some of these lifeline recipients could emerge as potential leaders to help consolidate the sector in the months ahead. Read Full Post…

Renesola Rights Plan: Consolidation Coming

By newsdoug on August 16, 2011

The alternate energy sector’s current downturn may have bottomed, but signs of pain still linger, as reflected by the latest announcements from Renesola (NYSE: SOL), which may be bracing for hostile takeover attempts, and Yang Ming Wind Power (NYSE: MY), which reported anemic results and sharply reduced its full year outlook. In what looks like a first for the industry, Renesola has announced it will implement a shareholder rights issue plan, something companies do when they believe they could face a hostile takeover bid. (company announcement) Renesola added it knows of no imminent hostile takeover bids, but is rather seeking to protect its shareholders in case such a bid occurs. With a share price that has tumbled by more than two-thirds since March and a rock-bottom price-to-earnings ratio of 1.7, Renesola could indeed look like an attractive takeover target in an industry that is sorely in need of consolidation. Investors also seem to believe something may be in the works, with Renesola’s battered shares jumping more than 7 percent in Monday trade on Wall Street. Given such low valuations, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a buyout or two announced for Renesola or one of its other battered mid-sized competitors in the next few months. Meantime, Ming Yang has come out with its own weak results, and reduced its full year sales outlook by a hefty 20 percent. (company announcement) Even the lower full-year target looks difficult, with the company saying it hopes to sell 1.8 to 2 gigawatts worth of wind turbines in 2011, after selling only 0.7 gigawatts worth in the first half of the year. Its recent tie-up in China with the developer of the Three Gorges Dam project could put some wind back in its sails (previous post) in the second half of the year, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see more downward revisions before the year is finished.

Bottom line: Renesola’s shareholder rights plan could signal a coming wave of consolidation in the solar sector, with mid-sized companies like Renesola as attractive buy-out targets.

Trina, Ming Yang Kick Off New Wave of Energy Deals 天合光能、明阳风电掀起新一轮能源“订单潮

By newsdoug on August 8, 2011

Sun rising for alternate energy firms It’s been less than a week since Beijing announced new incentives to help boost its struggling alternate energy sector (previous post), and already we’re seeing the first trickle of new deals as state-run entities start to heed the call to help these companies by building new projects. In the first round of what will undoubtedly be many similar announcements in the months ahead, solar cell maker Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) has signed a contract with a unit of China Power Investment Corp to provide panels for a plant in Qinghai with up to 30 megawatts of capacity. (company announcement) In a similar deal announced at nearly the same time, wind energy specialist Ming Yang (NYSE: MY) has announced its own tie-up with another state-owned entity, the operator of the massive Three Gorges Dam Project, to co-develop wind energy projects in Guangdong province and potentially overseas down the road. (company announcement) Neither of these deals should come as a huge surprise to anyone, as Beijing has indicated for the last few months that it will step up to help these promising but struggling young companies through the worst-ever downturn for their young industry. What is a bit surprising is how fast Beijing has taken action, with these two deals coming just a week after it announced its first concrete incentives to help the sector, which just proves that the central government can move surprisingly fast when it makes up its mind to do something. This coming wave of orders from domestic Chinese power producers, combined with recent positive signs from the global market (previous post) mean the sector will be poised for a sharp comeback in the months ahead, making these beaten down stocks an attractive prospect in the second half of the year.

Bottom line: The solar sector is poised for a strong comeback, riding a rebound in global demand and a coming wave of new domestic orders like ones just announced by Trina Solar and Ming Yang.

中国政府宣布新能源刺激政策还不到一个星期，我们已开始看到新的协议签署，因国有企业响应号召，通过新项目来帮助这些企业。光伏产品制造商天合光能<TSL.N>与中国电力投资集团旗下公司签署协议，向青海一工厂提供太阳能面板。未来数月，预计还将有更多类似协议宣布。几乎与此同时，风电厂商明阳风电<MY.N>宣布，与另一家国有企业–中国三峡集团旗下公司中国三峡新能源公司签署协议，在广东省共同开发风电项目，未来还可能在海外进行合作。这些协议毫不令人感到意外，因为中国政府最近几个月已表示，将帮助这些遇到困难的新能源企业渡过难关。但让人意外的是中国政府行动会如此之快–刚刚宣布新的行业扶持政策就有两宗协议签署，由此证明，只要中央政府下定决心，就可快速行动。中国国内风电企业的此番“订单潮”以及全球市场最近出现的积极迹象都意味着，太阳能产业未来数月料迅速扭转颓势，今年下半年这些公司的股票料前景向好。

一句话：全球需求反弹以及中国将出现一批类似天合光能、明阳风电的新协议，太阳能产业料强势复苏。