Canadian Solar's EPC Solar Project In Vietnam Comes Online

Canadian Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) recently announced that its first third-party Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) project in Vietnam has started commercial operation. Notably, the company has supplied solar modules, inverter stations and EPC services for this 15 megawatt-peak (MWp) Chu Ngoc Solar Project.

The solar farm is capable of lighting up more than 3,800 homes and reducing nearly 8,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

Solar Prospects in Vietnam

Vietnam’s power sector has been expanding alongside its economy over the last decade. Per a February 2019 Vietnamese news report, the state-owned utility Electricity of Vietnam (“EVN”) expects $123.8 billion to be invested in development of Vietnam’s national power system within the next 20 years. However, solar power accounts for a negligible percentage of electricity generation in Vietnam, around 0.01% of national output, according to a September 2018 Vietnam solar power market briefing from international law firm Dezan Shira & Associates.

Yet, there exists a tremendous amount of untapped solar energy resource potential in Vietnam, highlighting huge growth prospects for its solar market. Subsequently, solar power players like Canadian Solar enjoy ample opportunity to expand its footprint over there.

Canadian Solar’s Potential

Apart from manufacturing solar ingots, wafers, cells, modules and other solar power products, Canadian Solar has increased its investment in its energy segment. This unit primarily engaged in solar power project development and sale, operations of solar power projects, and electricity sales. The company plans to consistently monetize its current portfolio of solar power projects in operation. Also, it intends to boost the energy segment by strengthening its project pipeline and increasing the EPC services provided to customers. Notably, Canadian Solar’s involvement in the Chu Ngoc Solar Project is in line with the aforementioned strategy of the company.

To monetize its current portfolio of solar power projects, this May, the company sold its remaining equity stake in the 100 megawatts ac (MWac) Mustang solar project to the Renewable Power Group of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) Asset Management. Moreover, Canadian Solar announced its plan to sell its 80% interest in a 482.6 MWp portfolio of contracted solar projects in Brazil to Nebras Power Investment Management.

Such initiatives are likely to boost the company’s revenue generation capability, considering the global solar market’s growth potential.

Price Performance

In a year’s time, shares of Canadian Solar have surged 55.8% compared with the industry’s 30% rally.

Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

Canadian Solar currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). A few similar-ranked stocks in the same industry are JinkoSolar Holding Company Limited (NYSE:JKS) , Azure Power Global Ltd (NYSE:AZRE) and Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENPH) . You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

JinkoSolar boasts a solid long term earnings growth estimate of 20%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 earnings reflects year-over-year growth of 70.1%.

Azure Power delivered average positive earnings surprise of 75.14% in the trailing four quarters. The company’s fiscal 2020 earnings estimate of 29 cents reflects year-over-year growth of 123.1%.

Enphase Energy delivered average positive earnings surprise of 31.67% in the last four quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 earnings has moved 44.4% north to 52 cents over the past 90 days.

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