The solar panel manufacturer and energy storage provider posted revenues of $1.51 billion and a net loss of $14 million.
Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ), a global provider of solar modules, energy storage, and other clean energy components and solutions, announced its Q3 2024 earnings, falling short of Wall Street consensus expectations.
The company posted Q3 revenues of $1.51 billion, declining about 18% from the year-ago quarter. It had a net loss of $14 million, and diluted earnings per share loss of ($0.31).
Canadian Solar came in ahead of its guidance for solar module shipments. The company shipped 8.2 GW, above the expected 7.5 GW to 8.0 GW. It had a gross margin of 17.2%, which was in line with expectations.
“We achieved solid results in the second quarter of 2024, with shipments, revenue, and gross margin meeting or surpassing our previous guidance. Today, we have reached an optimal scale—large enough to maintain a highly competitive cost structure yet lean enough to adapt swiftly to changes in industry dynamics,” said Shawn Qu, chairman and chief executive officer, Canadian Solar.
The company’s grid scale energy storage backlog has grown considerably. The e-Storage backlog grew to $2.6 billion, with a project pipeline exceeding 66 GWh.
For the full year of 2024, the company said it expects total module shipments to be in the range of 32 GW to 36 GW. Total battery energy storage shipments in the range of 6.5 GWh to 7.0 GWh, including approximately 1 GWh and 2.5 GWh respectively to the company’s own development projects.
Phil Shen, managing director, Roth Capital Partners issued an industry not on the earnings report, called results “mixed.” The note said that the company’s guidance for solar module shipments for 2025 was weaker than expected, but the energy storage division is “a point of differentiation” that could help the company maintain healthy profit margins. This is key for module providers, as global oversupply has led to a sharp decline in selling prices.
“Amidst fierce industry competition, we maintained our focus on profitability while also increasing volume this quarter,” said Yan Zhuang, president of Canadian Solar’s CSI Solar subsidiary. “As polysilicon prices further declined, the resulting price decreases across the upstream supply chain helped reduce manufacturing costs. Given the current industry landscape, we have decided to delay certain upstream investments to further prioritize profitability.”
The company’s project development arm Recurrent Energy expanded its total development pipeline from 27 GW of solar and 63 GWh of battery energy storage. In-quarter, it achieved initial closing of BlackRock’s investment in Recurrent Energy, which led to the majority of a planned $500 million capital investment from the infrastructure giant.
“As we progress toward our operational targets, we continue to demonstrate our ability to secure competitive financing,” said Ismael Guerrero, chief executive officer, Recurrent Energy. “Notably, we obtained a landmark multi-currency revolving credit facility valued at up to $1.37 billion, involving ten banks, to support the construction of renewable energy projects across several European countries.”
