Applied Expecting ‘Break Even or Better'
Applied Materials executives provided a mixed picture for its solar unit, during a briefing about fiscal 2009, a difficult period for the industry overall. CFO George Davis said revenues for the company's Energy and Environmental Solutions (EES) unit could be ±10% for the coming fiscal year, depending on the signoff pattern for its SunFab thin-film factories and capital investments in crystalline silicon (c-Si) lines.
David Lammers, News Editor -- PV Society, 11/12/2009
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Fiscal Q4 orders are up over the third quarter, but 2010 results could be volatile. (Source: Applied Materials) |
The solar market in the near term remains challenging, Applied Materials Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.) executives said in a conference call following release of the company's fiscal fourth-quarter and year-end results yesterday. For the fiscal year ended Oct. 25, Applied's solar unit had sales of $1.16B, down slightly from the prior year, and an operating loss of $242M.
Applied's Energy and Environmental Solutions (EES) business unit has grown to become roughly a billion-dollar business in just three years, a significant fraction of Applied's $5B in revenues for the 2009 fiscal year. Solar is the company's fastest-growing opportunity, said CEO Mike Splinter, adding, "We are quite excited about the solar space."
CFO George Davis said EES will be "break even or better on an operating basis" in the coming fiscal year, offering a fairly conservative estimate that EES revenues will be ±10% in the coming year. Revenue is volatile due to the timing of the SunFab thin-film factory signoffs and the level of capital available for crystalline silicon (c-Si) lines, he added.
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Applied Materials expects 2010 EES sales to be ±10%. |
Sales of solar equipment in the fourth quarter to Germany were relatively strong. Queried about possible cutbacks in subsidies offered to German solar users, Splinter said those fears are overblown. Although the German market may be flat to up slightly in the coming year, he said any slack would be made up for by strong demand for solar products in Italy, China and the United States.
"In crystalline silicon, companies are seeing increasing levels of automation and improved efficiencies," Splinter said. "That will benefit Applied's wiresaw and Baccini product lines."
Asked about how quickly Applied would see financial benefit from the acquisition of Advent Solar, which is developing proprietary module assembly techniques, Splinter said Applied would see "meaningful" revenues from the acquisition in 2011.
Applied has 2500 systems in the field for c-Si module production, opening up increasing services and spares opportunities. It qualified its seventh SunFab thin-film line in fiscal 2009, including its second tandem-junction line.
EES had $357M in new orders in the fourth fiscal quarter, up from only $136M in orders during the previous quarter but down from the fiscal 2008 fourth quarter, when new orders were $490M.
Splinter said Applied gets some visibility from its order pattern. "We can get an idea from demand for our wafering equipment how fast the market is growing. If we watch the wafering orders, we know those wafers have to go into cell manufacturing at some point."
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