JinkoSolar Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
April 29, 2025

There are 9 speakers on the call.

Operator

a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the meeting over to your host for today's call, miss Stella Wang, JinkoSolar's Investor Relations.

Operator

Please proceed, Stella.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today for JinkoSolar's first quarter twenty twenty five earnings conference call. The company's results were released earlier today and available on the company's IR website at www.dinkosolar.com as well as on newswire services. We have also provided a supplemental presentation for today's earnings call, which can also be found on the IR website. On the call today from Zinko Solar are mister Lucien De, chairman and the CEO of Zinko Solar Holding Company Limited mister Zheneng Yang, CMO of Zinko Zinko Solar Company Limited mister Pan Li, CFO of Zinko Solar Holding Company Limited and mister Charlie Chao, CFO of Zinko Solar Company Limited.

Speaker 1

Mister Li will discuss Dinkgo Solar's business operations and company highlights, followed by mister Miao, who will talk about the sales and marketing, and then mister Pan Li, who will go through the financials. They will be available to answer your questions during during the q and a session that follows. Please note that today's discussion will contain forward looking statements made under the Safe Harbor provisions of The U. S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Speaker 1

Forward looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, our future results may be materially different from the views expressed today. Further information regarding this and other risks is included in XinkoSolar's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. XinkoSolar does not assume any obligation to update any forward looking statements except as required under the applicable law. It's now my pleasure to introduce Mr.

Speaker 1

Li Xie, Chairman and CEO of Jinpo Solar Holdings. Mr. Li will speak in Mandarin, I will translate his comments into English. Please go ahead, Model shipments reached 17.5 gigawatts with revenues of US dollars 1,910,000,000.00 for the first quarter of twenty twenty five. Prices across the main solar industrial chain were low in the first quarter.

Speaker 1

This combined with disruption in demand caused by changes in international trade policies, pressured profit margins in each segment of the integrated solar supply chain. Despite this challenging market environment, we fulfilled our delivery commitments to our customers and reduced the cost through supply chain optimization, adjustments in production and operation plans, and other measures. Due to a year over year decline in shipments to The US market and a continued decline in higher price overseas orders, our model prices and profitability decreased both year over year and sequentially in the first quarter. Net loss was approximately US million dollars for the first quarter. According to data from the NDA, new installations in China in the first quarter amounted to 59.7 gigawatts, an increase of 31% year over year.

Speaker 1

Resilience we're seeing in domestic demand despite of the higher comparison base in 2024. Market self regulation and high quality development initiatives by manufacturers were gradually effective. From January to March, average monthly bidding prices for solar modules steadily recovered in the domestic market, and the bidding prices returned to a more rational net level. Recently, as the policy cut off cut off deadlines for distributed solar regulations and the market based renewable price reform on April 30 and May 31 approach, market sentiment has cooled down to some extent, and the distributed module prices have fallen back from their previous highs. At the same time, changes in international trade policies, such as reciprocal tariffs in The United States, have continued to bring certain disruptions to the PV industry.

Speaker 1

In response to these challenges, we have flexibly adjusted our supply chain strategy and the regional shipment mix while maintaining close communication and negotiation with our customers. Relying on our extensive marketing insights and efficient execution, we remain committed to meeting customer demand for our high efficient and reliable products, maintaining operations continuity while adapting to market dynamics. Currently, visibility of our order book stands at 60% to 70%, with Indo Pacific and The Middle East and Africa exceeding 80%. Cost reduction and increasing efficiency remain a main theme in the development of the PV industry, and the customers' demand for high power products is growing rapidly to further reduce LCOE due to limitations in the upgrading and the transformation of most conventional topcom capacity in the industry. Differences between manufacturers in topcom cell efficiency, product performance and costs are gradually widening.

Speaker 1

We believe that companies with high efficiency cell capacity and high power products will have a competitive advantage in the market. By the end of the first quarter, the mass produced cell efficiency for our third generation top con products exceeded 26.6%. We continued to upgrade existing top con capacity with the introduction of technologies such as the half cell, cultivation, next, and the 20 the best part. We expect the power of our third generation top con products to have a 20 to 30 watts the advantage compared to previous generation top com products in the industry. Meanwhile, we kept making breakthroughs in our R and D.

Speaker 1

By the end of the first quarter, our laboratory efficiency for perovskite tandem solar cells based on top count reached 34.22%, once again setting a new record. Our investments in R and D manufacturing and after sales service capabilities in energy storage and are gradually showing results. In the first quarter, shipments of our ESS exceeded 300 megawatt hours, a large increase compared to the same period last year. We expect our ESS to be shipments of our ESS to be around six giga gigawatt hours for the full year 2025 with the overseas market as our strategic priority. So far, confirmed orders for energy store storage systems accounted for 50% to 60%, with another 20% to 30% showing strong potential for signing.

Speaker 1

Leveraging our leading position in the TV industry, we will proactively explore the innovative business models that integrate solar and the storage solutions, providing high efficiency and smart green energy solutions to global clients and contributing to the sustainable development of the global energy. Before I turn you over to Jenna, I would like to go over our guidance for the second quarter and the full year 2025. We expect our annual production capacity for mono wafers, solar cells and solar modules to reach 120, 90 five, and 130 gigawatts, respectively, with annual production capacity of our third generation top line modules to reach 40 gigawatts to 50 gigawatts by the end of twenty twenty five. We expect module shipments to be between 20 to 25 gigawatts in the second quarter of twenty twenty five and between 85 to 100 gigawatts for the full year 2025. And we we will actively respond to changes in market demand and the policy continuously optimize market strategies and supply chain management and consistently improve technology and product competitiveness to maintain a leading position in the industry.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Ms. Li. First quarter total shipments were 19.1 gigawatts with module shipment accounting for approximately 90%. Although demand was impacted by the off season, we sustained the industry's highest shipment levels by leveraging our global sales network and the strength of our products. Shipments to overseas markets accounted for around 70%.

Speaker 2

We proactively embraced the surge in the demand in the Indo Pacific and the North Asian markets. Shipments to Indo Pacific market grew by nearly 10% year over year and 150% sequentially, while shipments to North Asia increased by nearly 20% year over year. U. S. Shipment accounted for approximately 5% in the line with our guidance.

Speaker 2

On the product side, customer demand for our third generation high power count products continued to grow. Our third generation high power top count is expected to have a mainstream output over six fifty Wp with maximum of six seventy Wp. Thanks to lower degradation, lower temperature coefficient, higher bifaciality and enhanced reliability, it can deliver better power generation yields for end customer. Currently, customers are willing to pay a premium for such high power generation. Recently, we were once again recognized as a Tier one energy storage provider by Bloomberg.

Speaker 2

We have been listed in the BNEF rankings for four consecutive quarters, a strong recognition from a third party and customers of our safe and reliable energy storage solution as well as our timely delivery and deployment capability. With the increasing economic of integrated solar and storage solutions and the continued expansion in the application scenarios, particularly against the backdrop of high energy consumption driven by AI, integrated solar and storage solutions are increasingly become feasible. The oversea market has always been one of our strengths. In 2025, we will further expand the energy storage business globally while continuing to focus on and explore technological innovation and application in specific application scenarios. We believe that the synergies between our solar and the storage business will further increase our market competitiveness.

Speaker 2

On the demand side, we expect the global module demand to remain about 700 gigawatts in 2025 with strong growth in Asia Pacific, Europe and Middle East. Following the recent rush installation in China with initiation of utility scale projects in August and September, the overall demand is expected to continue to be in line with module supplies and the industry high quality development initiatives. In U. S, due to current shortage in local cell production capacity and the impact of reciprocal tariff, there is likely to be a wave of early purchases of cell and modules. We remain optimistic about the long term demand in The U.

Speaker 2

S. Market. In addition to the announced the Saudi projects and existing U. S. Domestic operations, we are actively pursuing diverse solutions to strengthen our position in this market to enhance our long term competitiveness.

Speaker 2

We are confident that our extensive sales network and deeply localized customer services system will help us respond to the market dynamics, make flexible adjustments and continue to satisfy customers' demand for more high efficient, reliable and sustainable products. Pat?

Speaker 3

Thank you, Gener. During the challenging first quarter, we continued to control costs and expenses, leading to a significant year over year decrease in comprehensive costs and operating expenses. In addition, we continue to optimize our asset and liability structure as well as cash reserves. By the end of the first quarter, our asset liability ratio was approximately 74%, lower from nearly 75% at the end of the first quarter last year. By the end of the first quarter, our cash and cash equivalents were NT3.77 billion dollars a significant increase from NT2.44 billion dollars at the end of the first quarter last year.

Speaker 3

We will continue to optimize our asset and liability structure and maintain healthy cash reserves in 2025, further strengthening our resilience to risks. Let me go into more details now. Total revenue was $1,900,000,000 down 33% sequentially and down 40% year over year. The sequential decrease was primarily due to a decrease in shipments of solar modules, and a year over year decrease also due to a decrease in average selling price of modules. Gross margin decreased both sequentially and year over year, mainly due to the decrease in ASP of solar modules.

Speaker 3

Total operating expenses were US350 million dollars down 8% sequentially and down 18% year over year. The sequential decrease was mainly due to the decrease in the impairment of long lived assets and a decrease in the losses resulting from disposal of long lived assets. The year over year decrease was primarily due to the decrease in shipping costs as we shipped fewer solar modules. Total operating expenses accounted for 18% of total revenues compared to 13% in the fourth quarter last year and 13% in the first quarter last year. Operating loss margin was about 20% compared with 9% in the fourth quarter last year and 1.5 in the first quarter last year.

Speaker 3

Moving to the balance sheet. At the end of first quarter, our cash and cash equivalents were $3,770,000,000 compared with 3,800,000,000.0 at the end of the fourth quarter and CNY2.44 billion at the end of first quarter last year. AR turnover days were one hundred and eleven days compared with eighty days in the fourth quarter and one hundred days in the first quarter of last year. Inventory turnover days were eighty four days compared with fifty seven days in the fourth quarter and eighty nine days in the first quarter of last year. At the end of the first quarter, total debt was US6.4 billion dollars compared to $5,500,000,000 at the end of the fourth quarter.

Speaker 3

Net debt was $2,600,000,000 compared to $1,700,000,000 at the end of the fourth quarter last year. This concludes our prepared remarks. We are now happy to take your questions. Operator, please proceed.

Operator

Thank you. Your first question comes from Brian Lee with Goldman Sachs and Co.

Speaker 4

Hey, guys. This is Tyler Bisson on for Brian. Thanks for taking our questions. Appreciate the ESS guidance of six gigawatt hours. And wondering if you can give a little bit more details on kinda where these shipments are going.

Speaker 4

Is this more in line with your module shipments today? And also curious where you guys are sourcing your battery cells.

Speaker 2

It's mainly a dominant the ESF shipment mix is mainly dominated by Asia Pacific region, Europe region and emerging market. Those together with China, those four regions are our main target in terms of 2025. So which is slightly different from what we have for modules, but for the key markets, it's a very, let's say, it's a very, very light to each other. But in terms of geographic mix because of the trade barrier in US, etcetera, so it's difficult to to extend the ESS business in US right now.

Speaker 4

Thank you. And given the final determination on ADCBD, which was, I guess, relatively more favorable for Malaysia, how are you thinking about your future imports to The US? Could you see that potentially increasing at all, or do you think it's more likely to stay in the 5% range?

Speaker 2

Well, I think the ADCVD is only a preliminary tariffs. So they're still have, what they call, sunset termination after twelve months of customer clearance, which brings the company a lot of uncertainty. So in that case, we are trying to look into the different options we have in order to provide more certainty and providing more competitive in terms of the cost as well. So right now, we are still working hard on that for the short term because the recent hike or change on the ADCVD together with trade barriers is pretty new. But in long term, we still have our commitment to The US market with our strategy in joint venture factories in Middle East together with our local operation in US.

Speaker 2

We are still fully committed.

Speaker 4

All right. Thank you very much.

Speaker 5

Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from Philip Shen with ROTH Capital Partners.

Speaker 6

Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. So you guys had negative gross margins for the first time in a long time in Q1. And I was wondering if you can talk through what you expect for margins for Q2 and Q3. And then when do you expect the margins to to go back positive?

Speaker 6

Thanks.

Speaker 5

It's yeah. But the the gross margin and the rates to negative, it's already explained, you know, cases in the last five years and is reflecting, you know, the supply and the demand imbalance and, you know, throughout, you know, last year. And on top of that, the first quarter is the the slack season, and we have more exposures to the China market. And we expect, you know, the short term, we expect the gross margin and to to improve and slightly in the second quarter given the the module price is in upward trend, you know, with the push demand from China and other regions. And in the second half year, and we expect it to be stable, maybe have the chance to, you know, improve.

Speaker 5

And we believe and the the current situation is not sustainable even for the top tier companies. And from supply side, we are seeing more and more companies and, you know, and phase out in the solar industries. On top of that, there's uncertainties on international trade. We believe, you know, by the end of this year, we'll be have more clarifications.

Speaker 6

Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Charlie. So shifting to The US market, there is the 145% tariff. I wanted to understand what's your the update on your plans to ramp up US cell manufacturing, in, Florida or or wherever that might be?

Speaker 6

And so and then also with the 145% tariff, are you able to import solar cell tools without like, is there an exemption for the tools, or is there no exempt exemption for the tools? So it makes the ramping of US cell manufacturing more difficult? Thanks.

Speaker 5

I I think it's more become of the board, you know, questions. But from the long term belief. We we believe, you know, local production in The US for local customer in United States is a trend. That is consistent with, I think, you know, the long term policies from the the current, you know, Trump administrations. And the but for the short term, there's a lot of uncertainties.

Speaker 5

There's a, you know, the budget cuts. There's IRA, you know, incentive. There is maybe, you know, what we are, you know, interested in the FELOC, you know, kind of this kind of things. And so while we take our approach is we consistently evaluate the policies from the, you know, different angles. And as long as there is some kind of uncertainties and we we strongly believe The US solar market will is bound rebound, you know, next year.

Speaker 5

And specifically for the you know, if we want to build the the solar cell facilities and we input the equipment from China under the current new tariff. It's a crazy rate. Right? It's not make sense to make the decisions even from that specific angles. So so back to your questions, and then we don't have the plan in the short term, you know, solar cell we we build in The US, but we have, you know, the plan consistently evaluate the, you know, the policies, the potential side, and the potential, you know, the tariff situations.

Speaker 6

Okay. Thank you very much. I'll pass it on.

Operator

Welcome. Once again, Your next question comes from Allen Lau with Jefferies.

Speaker 7

Thank you for taking my question. This is Alan. And my first question is on it is the first time, I think, the company have provided the guidance on ESS. Would like to know if there's any indication the on the margins on ESS, like some ballpark range because ESS has been quite competitive in The Middle East as well.

Speaker 5

Oh, you mean the margin. Right?

Speaker 7

Yeah. The margin. Yeah. Gross margin.

Speaker 5

I think we target 5% to 10%. It's not where it you know, big target. And given, you know, the the the business we we developed, you know, and starting from the kind of the very small scale last year, we achieved one gigawatts. But this year, and we we have a confident we have the confidence and to finish with the market, particularly in, you know, Asia Pacific, you know, Latin America, some emerging markets. And so the is not the the the the first priorities.

Speaker 5

But in terms of gross margin, we we know we we we expect, you know, in kind of a range of 5% to 7%.

Speaker 7

Five to 7%. Right?

Speaker 5

Five to 10%.

Speaker 7

Okay. Thank you. And my next question is about so did the company receive IRA credits for for for the production last year at this point in time or or if the company has sold any of the IRA 45 x credits already?

Speaker 5

And last year, I think we we filed, you know, the filings and and, you know, it's a kind of the the the deduction of the, you know, tax payable, you know, for the facilities. And this year, we are exploring the opportunities and to sell credit to the outside investors, and it's in the process.

Speaker 7

So you managed to get the credits already just managing to sell it to financial institutions, right, for this year?

Speaker 5

Yeah. This year, we we plan. You know? It's because, you know, we have two gigawatts in for operations, and and we are there's a lot of, you know, potential investors who are interested to, you know, to to prepare the credit from the facilities. And so we are in the process of the communication and negotiation.

Speaker 7

Thank you. So and another question is, so what is The US shipment target approximately for for for for this year? Because there's a lot of changes since last time we talked. And is there already some inventory in The US to support that shipment?

Speaker 5

You know, the range is 5% to 10%, but you're right. An uncertainty, I think, is the the big headwind. So but I think we are if the, you know, headwind, you know, uncertainty is, you know, will will not be let's say, clear in the short term if it will be having an impact on the shipments to The US. But I think 5%, you know, it's kind of the phase and, let's say, the the low case, but we are confident and and we we we we can achieve on this 5%. And if the uncertainty is, you know, it's kind of the to be you know, to have more clarity than the if the supply chain is there is a, you know, available supply chain to The US and that we can ship more.

Speaker 5

But, again, not percent yeah.

Speaker 7

So 5% of total shipment. Right? Like, so if it's 85 to 100 giga for this year, it's around 45 giga.

Speaker 5

Yes, roughly, yes.

Speaker 7

I see, I see. You. So my last question is on the shareholders return program. So I think after the announcement of 4Q result and first Q result now, so wonder if the company can start buying back the shares given the shares actually have also went down quite a bit. And what's the pace of the buyback will look like?

Speaker 5

Yeah. After, you know, under the release of the, you know, first quarter, and we plan to buy back from the market, I I was thinking that the timing, you know, given the valuation is very low. And on top of that, we plan to we plan to defer dividend, but which is subject to for the pool. But it's, I think, on our, you know, schedule.

Speaker 7

So the the the to my understanding, the dividends will be approximately, like, 50,000,000. Right? If it's around $11 per share, say, for example. So would the buyback will be look like $150,000,000 then?

Speaker 5

We have not decided. You know? But it's roughly, I think, at least 100,000,000. You know, we split into the the dividend plus the repurchase. This is the the first step, but not I think we're communicating previously.

Speaker 5

We we like to monetize the financial investment, you know, for for some, you know, companies which were which was listed in recent years. And on top of that, we may explore, you know, other options to monetize some assets from The US, you know, holding perspective.

Speaker 7

I see. So but before that happens, actually, you you you can already start and there's at least 100,000,000, which is, like, 10% of our spending shares. Right?

Speaker 5

Yeah. 100,000,000, we I I think it's kind of included, you know, dividend plus the repurchase here. That's that's, you know, that's flat.

Speaker 7

I see. I see. So after you liquidate some of your financial assets, there may be upside to this 100,000,000 dividend plus buyback?

Speaker 5

We we may increase, but depending on how or the timing and how, you know, quick we can monetize the assets.

Speaker 7

Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot. I will pass on. Thank you,

Operator

Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. That's star one on your telephone, Your next question comes from Rajiv Chandri with Sensara Capital.

Speaker 8

Charlie, The first question is about market share. You mentioned that this year, the market might go to about 700 gigawatts. And last year, it was a little bit around 600 plus. And I'm wondering, you know, if even if you do the high end of your range, which is a hundred gigawatts, your market share looks like it might be lower than last year or and lower than 2023. Could you clarify that that discrepancy?

Speaker 5

I think the last time we talked about, you know, our strategy is not to increase on, you know, the penetrate more markets here under the, you know, the the imbalance of the supply and demand side and particularly the the industry is losing the money. And what we are doing is we want to be flexible in the in the total shipments and which we guided and 85 to 100 gigawatts. And what it means is we want to balance the utilization, shipment, and probabilities and as well as the cash flow, you know, perspective. And on top of that, we need to quite, know, to select customers. We have a lot of, you know, potential customers and, you know, interest orders, but we need to, you know, need to be more selective.

Speaker 5

But but for the long term, long term, I think last time we talked about, we target 20 at least 20%, the market share, you know, for for the module business. So but it's not, you know, it's not a one, you know, one night target and we need to be what what is the focus that we need to focus our product competitiveness. We continue to invest in R and D. And so, know, penetrate is a key market with some kind of premium, make sure, you know, the business is sustainable.

Speaker 8

Okay. Thanks. Along the same lines on the market growth, can you talk about where which regions, geographic regions are going to get the 100 gigawatts of growth from last year? How much growth do you expect in China and and The US, for example, and also in Europe and India?

Speaker 2

Sure. I I can roughly talk about it. So the in the top level, so we are looking at the global demand at roughly 700 gigawatt. So of which the largest market is believed to be China, same as last year. But the washing side, China is expected to grow roughly 10 to 15%.

Speaker 2

So which will accounted for around 45% of the global demand. And the second largest after China is believed to be, we we say, Europe, the the Pan Europe region. So the whole Europe will be over hundred gig 100 gigawatt level. So I think that the the only two market past the 100 gigawatt threshold in 2025. But for sure, there are other other market, it's very interesting and sizable, such like US.

Speaker 2

We are roughly looking at 50 to 55 gigawatt level. And in India, we are looking at around 30 to 35 gigawatt level. So the yeah. So that's the the all the big numbers in our mind. But for sure, the the attractive growth is mainly coming from the emerging markets, for example, the Asia Pacific region and also the African regions.

Speaker 2

Because of the low basis from last year, the growth rate is pretty high. But if you look into the absolute growth numbers in terms of the gigawatt, definitely, the top four market, which I just mentioned, is still the the key focus one.

Speaker 8

So just to clarify, so you're expecting that China will grow China will grow by 10% to 15% this year?

Speaker 2

10 to 15. Yes.

Speaker 8

I see. Okay. And final question. Are you still getting a premium pricing for your top one products based on the technology?

Speaker 2

It depends on which which technology or which product you are comparing with. Right? So definitely from the customer end, as long as the product is generating more more power output or technically more yield, more IRRs returns, customer are more than happy to pay premium on such kind further.

Speaker 8

I see. Can you also give the the the breakdown you expect between DG and the utility scale for this year for for

Speaker 2

Yeah. Strategically, we we lowered the DG numbers a little bit based on the on the on the price trend. So last year, the DG ratio is roughly close high forties. So close to forty fifty, but the high forties, like, 47, 40 six. This year, the number will go down to roughly 30 to the 35 range.

Speaker 3

I see. Okay.

Speaker 8

40 Thank you.

Speaker 2

Yeah. Thank you.

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