Focus Advisory

LDK Solar Nearly Doubles Estimates

Just as your crystal ball tells you LDK is going higher, mine tells me it's going lower.

Regards

LDK Solar Nearly Doubles Estimates

LDK is a middle man that produces a soon to be worthless commodity. They buy polysilicon and create wafers, then sell those wafers to 3rd and 4th tier, low cost, low quality manufactures.
Thin film companies do not use their matkerials and leading poly based solars like SPWR, YGE, ESLR, and STP do not use their materials.
LDK has no technology, they buy all their manufacturing tech from GT Solar.
All they have is debt as they race to build out before the market collpases. Over the next three years, there will be a major solar shakeout. Thin film players will win and new leaders like Nanosolar and Heliovolt will emerge.
Today's action tells us that. A company that has 90% QoQ growth and blows the numbers out only rises to where it was a couple months back.
Maybe the stock goes higher in the very near term, but 3 years from now it will be in single digitville on its way to nowhere.
Good luck

Chinese Solar Stocks Present Compelling Value

The problem with Chinese solar companies is that they face a currency headwind. The CNY is appreciating at 7% against the $US annually and that is expected to continue. There is also the risk of the Chinese goverment revaluing their currency overnight to the tune of 15%-20%. Either way, Chinese exporters face a currency headwind which will eat away at their margins and not allow them to grow profits at the pace of the industry.
I think YGE, LDK, and STP are enticing, but you can buy ESLR and SPWR, each of which have better technology, a similar valuation (ESLR to YGE and SPWR to STP) and should have the weak $US at their backs for some time to come.
In the end it's a technology business and a margin business and the Chinese solars have niether.
Good luck