WFR warns ahead of Q1

Trouble at the solar bellwether could arrest the sector's recent rise

The company now anticipates revenue for the first quarter will be approximately $500 million with gross margin of approximately 52% and operating expenses of approximately $42 million. This compares to the company’s previously announced targets of $560 million in revenue with gross margin of approximately 54.8% and operating expenses of approximately $42 million.

“It is unfortunate that issues with our new unit prevented us from taking advantage of available market opportunities; however we were able to limit the impact to approximately 10% of our targeted revenue in spite of the utilization being 20% lower than fourth quarter levels,” stated Nabeel Gareeb, MEMC’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Although our anticipated revenue is between the levels of the 2007 third and fourth quarters, we are pleased that our cost reductions and product mix enabled us to keep margins between the third and fourth quarter levels as well, in spite of sequential price reductions in the mid-to-high single digit percentage range and a significant reduction in spot polysilicon sales volume compared to the fourth quarter. The reduction in spot polysilicon sales was intended to minimize disruptions to our wafer customers.”

Analysts were looking for $559 million in revenues for Q1.