MEMC, First Solar Fall After Announcing Second-Quarter Results

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. and First Solar Inc. led solar shares lower in New York after second-quarter results yesterday disappointed some investors for different reasons.

MEMC sank $1.34, or 12 percent, to $9.92 as of 8:42 a.m. in trading before the floor opened on the New York Stock Exchange. Before today, the shares had declined 38 percent in the past year. First Solar slipped $4.50, or 3.3 percent, to $131.

MEMC fell after reporting net income that was 30 percent less than analysts expected and that profit for the year will be less than the 70 cents to 80 cents a share it predicted Feb. 2. Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar fell as costs for faulty panel replacements surged because a manufacturing “excursion” from June 2008 to June 2009 could cause premature power losses.

“With First Solar, I think it’s a one-time chink in their armor and that they did the right thing by going out and replacing modules that their customers didn’t even know were defective,” said John Hardy, an analyst at Gleacher & Co. in Greenwich, Connecticut. “What they both did was introduce a little uncertainty for investors going forward.”

Concerns about second-quarter earnings and profit outlooks also reduced shares of SunPower Corp. 40 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $12.26 and DayStar Technologies Inc. 18 cent, or 7.6 percent, to $2.20.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Martin in New York at cmartin11@bloomberg.net.