Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Evergreen Solar disappoints yet again

Evergreen Solar (ESLR) again has disappointed The Street by missing earnings again. Evergreen ended up losing 48 cents per share vs. analyst estimates of a loss of 9 cents per share, though ESLR did beat revenue estimates slightly.

What happens from here? ESLR has been missing earnings quarter after quarter and not by small margins. Further, there is talk that ESLR will be charged with a loss on their Sovello venture in Europe for failure to file correctly for a loan they received - meaning they may need to repay that loan in a time when there isn't much cash on the books.

Year to date the whole solar sector seems to be down between 10-20%, ESLR is down about 16% YTD. Industry leader First Solar (FSLR) is by far the strongest of the pack and they are down a similar amount YTD.

Solar stocks are all extremely speculative now with the exception of FSLR. It's my prediction that ESLR will continue in a downward spiral this quarter and the rest of this year, ending up around .80/share while speculative investors hold for some positive news to happen for once with this troubled company.

It should be noted that ThetaMutual no longer holds a position in ESLR and sold it's position at around $2/share last year.