(By Balachander) Yingli Green Energy Hold. Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE), a maker of photovoltaic (PV) products, forecast PV module shipment to be significantly higher than its outlook for the fourth quarter.
The company expects gross margin to be in the range of negative 8 percent to 8.5 percent for the three month period. Gross margin was negative 22.7 percent in the third quarter of 2012.
The China-based company said it expects PV module shipment to rise by roughly 40 percent from the third quarter, and higher than low teen percentage increase projected earlier.
For the year 2012, Yingli now expects PV module shipment to reach about 2.3 gigawatts (GW), significantly higher than the high end of its guidance of 2.1 GW to 2.2 GW.
Yingli expects to record a non-cash charge of inventory provision and a depreciation expense related to underutilized capacity to negatively impact the quarter.
In the preceding third quarter, the company posted a net loss of US$152.6 million and adjusted loss of US$63.4 million on revenue of US$355.9 million.
ADR's of YGE, which have been trading in the 52-week range between $1.25 and $4.60, closed Thursday's regular trading session 6.29 percent lower at $2.98.