Canadian Solar exited 2020 with an annual growth of 9% in its net revenues that added up to $3.5 billion, and net income of $147 million. It was also the year when it shipped 11.3 GW modules, reflecting an increase of 32% on annual basis. In 2019, it shipped 8.6 GW of solar modules (see Canadian Solar Exits 2019 With $171.6 Million Net Income).
To these annual results, Q4/2020 module shipments added a total of 3 GW as guided, with a 14% sequential growth in revenues at $1.04 billion, and 13.6% gross margin. Its net income was a total of $7 million.
At the end of 2020, Canadian Solar's total solar project pipeline grew to over 20 GW, and close to 9 GWh of battery storage pipeline. In 2021, it expects to deliver and capture approximately 10% market share in battery storage space in the US.
Management admitted polysilicon prices were elevated in Q4/2020 and have 'recently increased another 25%', however it is seeing solar glass prices starting to come down along with 'early signals of normalizing shipping costs'.
President of Canadian Solar's subsidiary CSI Solar Co., Ltd., Yan Zhuang said, "As solar transitions from a subsidy-driven to a market-driven industry, we need to fundamentally reevaluate today's solar market dynamics. We are approaching the bottom of the solar cost curve and the era of ever-declining solar module prices is largely behind us. In fact, in the near term, solar module prices will increase. Hence, we are focusing on leveraging our competitive position in our diversified and premium end markets to deliver growth in higher value-add applications of solar solutions, including system integration with battery storage."
Production expansion
On the manufacturing side, as previously guided Canadian Solar aims to increase its module production capacity from 16.1 GW at the end of 2020 to 25.7 GW by FY 2021 (see 20% Annual Revenue Growth For Canadian Solar In Q3/2020).
Canadian Solar specified all its 2021 capacity expansion targets will produce its next generation, high-power, high-efficiency modules in the HiKu and BiHiKu product portfolios.
Guidance
In Q1/2021, the manufacturer expects total module shipments of 3.0 GW to 3.2 GW, including 300 MW for its own projects. Total revenues will be in the range of $1.0 billion to $1.1 billion, with gross margin of 16% to 18%. "Our Q1 profitability guidance also reflects the sale of high gross margin projects, particularly in Japan, which we have already announced," explained company Chairman and CEO Dr. Shawn Qu.
For full year 2021, it reiterated total shipment guidance of 18 GW to 20 GW, and project sales guidance of 1.8 GW to 2.3 GW, and total revenue guidance of $5.6 billion to $6.0 billion.
Th management also provided an update for its planned listing for its Module and System Solutions (MSS) subsidiary CSI Solar in China saying it is on track with all targeted milestones complete. It now needs to submit official listing application to regulatory authorities and the stock exchange. It announced the plans to get listed in July 2020 (see Canadian Solar Wants Capital Market Access In China).