Shares of Hanwha Q CELLS Co. Ltd. (HQCL, Financial) lost ground on the heels of the company reporting its financial results for the fourth quarter. The company posted a loss of 61 cents on revenue of $624.7 million. The company’s revenue was higher than the figure reported a year earlier, 10.4% year-over-year.
Further, the gross profit was $53.4 million, down 15.5% from $63.2 million in the third quarter of 2017 but higher 34.8% from $39.6 million in the fourth-quarter of 2016. Excluding one-time losses, the gross profit rose to $92.6 million, up 46.5% quarter-to-quarter and 133.8% compared to the fourth-quarter of 2016. The gross margin reached 8.5%, compared with 11.6% in the previous quarter of 2017 and 7.0% in the same trimester of 2016. The operating loss was $29.7 million compared with operating income of $10.6 million in the third-quarter of 2017 and operating loss of $21.5 million in the fourth-quarter of 2016.
Looking ahead, for the first quarter of 2018, the company expects net revenues to be between $430 and $450 million. For the full year 2018, it expects total module shipments in the range of 6,000 to 6,200 MW, capital expenditures of approximately $90.0 million for manufacturing technology upgrades and certain R&D related expenditures. Also, it estimates $37.0 million in relation to a planned capital increase in the Turkey joint venture.
Shares of Mattel (MAT, Financial) gained on Wednesday after analyst Stephanie Wissink of Jefferies upgraded rating on shares of Mattel to hold from underperform. The price target was kept at $13 per share.
(Disclosure: The author holds no position in any stocks mentioned).
