JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. Fourth Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

JA Solar Holdings, Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:JASO) will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, March 20, 2012. JA Solar Holdings designs, manufactures and markets high-performance solar cells, which are made from specially processed silicon wafers.

JA Solar Holdings, Co., Ltd. Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for a loss of 11 cents per share, a swing from net income of 54 cents in the year-earlier quarter. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from a loss of 9 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It also has dropped from a loss of 10 cents during the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting net loss of 25 cents per share, a spike from profit of $1.59 last year.

Past Earnings Performance: The company is hoping to beat estimates after missing the mark for two straight quarters. Last quarter, it reported a loss of 36 cents per share against an estimate of net loss of 2 cents per share. The quarter before that, it missed forecasts by 19 cents.

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Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts predict a decline of 58% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $245.2 million.

Analyst Ratings: Analysts are bearish on JA Solar Holdings, as six analysts rate it as a sell, two rate it as a buy and five rate it as a hold.

A Look Back: In the third quarter, the company swung to a loss of $58.9 million (36 cents a share) from a profit of $76.8 million (47 cents) a year earlier, missing analyst expectations. Revenue fell 28.4% to $387.5 million from $541 million.

Key Stats:

Revenue fell in the third quarter after seeing a rise the quarter before. In the second quarter, revenue rose 17.6%.

Stock Price Performance: Between December 15, 2011 and March 14, 2012, the stock price rose 44 cents (32.6%), from $1.35 to $1.79. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between March 6, 2012 and March 13, 2012, when shares rose for six straight days, increasing 6.9% (+12 cents) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between September 7, 2011 and September 20, 2011 when shares fell for 10 straight days, dropping 37.9% (-$1.22) over that span.

(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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To contact the reporter on this story: Derek Hoffman at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com