JinkoSolar (JKS) To Report Q4 Earnings: What's In Store?

JinkoSolar Holding Company Limited (NYSE:JKS) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter and 2019 results on Mar 13, before market open.

In the last reported quarter, the company delivered a negative earnings surprise of 18.75%. The company’s bottom line missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average negative surprise being 36.68%.

Let's see how things have shaped up prior to this announcement.

Factors at Play

Backed by rapidly increasing demand for solar products, JinkoSolar has been witnessing a significant increase in shipment of its products. The fourth quarter was also no exception. The company witnessed solid shipment along with an enhancement in its production capacity.

Notably, during the fourth quarter, JinkoSolar delivered 950 MW of its ultra-high efficiency Cheetah 72 cells solar modules to Spain-based X-ELIO. Also, the company supplied 300 MW of its high-energy density Tiger panels for an ultra-high voltage demonstration plant in China.

From the viewpoint of capacity expansions, JinkoSolar made an announcement in November regarding the additional 5-GW expansion of its high-efficiency mono wafer production capacity in Lehsan, China.

Phase I of the capacity expansion project reached full capacity by Nov 8, 2019, and further progress is expected to have been achieved by the end of the year.

Such favorable developments are expected to have boosted JinkoSolar’s performance in the soon-to-be-reported quarter. In fact, this must have encouraged the company to raise its fourth-quarter guidance, just ahead of the earnings announcement

Notably, the company's total solar module shipments are now likely to be in the range of 4.5-4.6 GW (gigawatt), compared with the previous guidance of 4.2-4.4 GW. Gross margin is expected to be 18-20% compared with the previous guidance of 18.5-20.5%.

Further, total revenues for the fourth quarter are expected to be $1.35-$1.38 billion, compared with the previous guidance of $1.17-$1.23 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same is pegged at $1.21 billion.

Moreover, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for JinkoSolar’s fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at $1.32, implying a massive improvement of 230% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

What the Zacks Model Unveils

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for JinkoSolar this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But that’s not the case here. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

JinkoSolar has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Recent Solar Releases

First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) reported fourth-quarter 2019 adjusted earnings of $2.02 per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.79 by 27.6%.

Enphase Energy (NASDAQ:ENPH) reported fourth-quarter 2019 adjusted earnings of 39 cents per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 33 cents by 18.2%.

SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ:SEDG) reported fourth-quarter 2019 adjusted earnings of $1.65 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.30 by 26.9%.

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