Topic: How To Invest

Pat: Please provide your current advice on Canadian Solar. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Canadian Solar Inc., $33.18, symbol CSIQ on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 55.7 million; Market cap: $1.8 billion; www.canadiansolar.com), is an Ontario-based designer, maker and seller of solar modules, which convert sunlight into electricity. Its products are used in a range of residential, commercial and industrial power-generation systems. The company makes solar modules at plants in China, as well as two facilities in Ontario. To cut its reliance on solar modules, Canadian Solar has moved into designing and building solar power plants. It then resells these facilities to utilities, such as TransCanada Corp., or operates them itself under long-term power-purchase contracts. In 2014, this business supplied 45% of Canadian Solar’s revenue. In the three months ended March 31, 2015, the company’s revenue jumped 84.6%, to $860.9 million from $466.3 million a year earlier. Module shipments totalled 1.23 gigawatts, up sharply from 500 megawatts (one gigawatt is equal to 1,000 megawatts). The higher volumes—resulting from strong demand in Japan, China, Europe and Latin America—helped offset a..