Revenue tumbled 20.9% to $728.1 million due to a decrease in solar module shipments and a decline in the average selling price of solar modules in 2018.
Total solar module shipments decreased 2.6% to 2,015 megawatts (MW), which includes 209 MW to be used in its overseas downstream solar projects for which no revenue has been recognized.
Meanwhile, gross margin for the first quarter increased to 14.4% from 11.2% in the previous year quarter. This was mainly attributable to decreasing solar module cost, which was partially offset by a decrease in solar module shipments in 2018. Total operating expenses fell by 10.3% primarily due to a decrease in shipping costs.
As of March 31, 2018, the company’s in-house annual silicon wafer, solar cell and solar module production capacity was 9.0 GW, 5.0 GW, and 9.0 GW, respectively.
Looking ahead, for the second quarter of 2018, JinkoSolar expects total solar module shipments to be in the range of 2.4 GW to 2.5 GW. For the full year 2018, the Shangrao, China-based company predicts total solar module shipments to be in the range of 11.5 GW to 12 GW.
Despite the strong initial reaction to the new policies, JinkoSolar remains optimistic about the demand of the Chinese market for the full year 2018, which is expected to hit 35G+. Looking into 2019, aside from the Top Runner Program, poverty alleviation, and DG projects, the company expects to see a large number of grid parity projects under new business models appear in the second of half of 2019.
Shares of JinkoSolar ended Monday’s regular trading session down 1.70% at $13.90 on the NYSE. The stock had been trading between $11.48 and $30.50 for the past 52 weeks.