Shipments from Japan, China, India, South Africa, and the United States were also pulled up during this period, and global PV shipments rose throughout the second quarter. The analyst predicts that Japan's total PV demand this year may be as high as 9 Gigawatts or more, and last year's entire Asian market's PV installations will be lower than this figure.

After many PV companies announced their second-quarter financial reports and forecasts, the PV industry appeared to be polarized: some companies have significantly increased their revenue and shipments, and some are still making large losses.

Driven by the outstanding performance of Jingke Energy's second quarter report, on the day of August 16, the share price of domestic new energy companies listed in the US also rose: Jingke Energy gained 3.59%, Yingli Green Energy rose 4.41%, and Yan Huiguang, Trina Solar gained 4% and 2.5% respectively. However, this phenomenon has not been widely recognized by the industry. Changes in stock prices are considered temporary.

People cannot help but ask: Has the PV company really survived, or is it still just breathing, but it has been out of its dying stage?

Big difference in performance

JinkoSolar (JKS.NYSE) released its second-quarter earnings report on Thursday, US time, with its revenue up 43% year-on-year to US$288 million and net profit US$8 million. After the recently announced earnings of US-based PV companies announced their financial reports, some domestic investors stayed in front of the screen and waited to buy the shares.

Several other US-listed companies, namely Huihui Sunshine, Trina Solar and Yingli Green Energy, also delivered positive sentiment in the near future: both shipment data and gross profit margin rose. Among them, Yingli Green Energy has set a new high for single-quarter shipments, reaching 800 MW.

As for Aerospace (600151.SH), it is estimated that there will be net profit of 160 million yuan in the first half of the year. The company may have a profit of 100 million in the second quarter, compared with a loss of 192 million yuan in the same period of last year.

These achievements seem to remind investors that the photovoltaic market is constantly improving, corporate income is increasing, and profits are rising.

However, the answer provided by Hareon Solar (600401. SH) is not so optimistic: In the second quarter, its operating income was 1.2 billion yuan, which was a year-on-year decline, while net profit was also -112 million yuan, compared to the same period last year - Net profit of 66.09 million yuan, losses intensified.

Large increase in shipments

Although the data is different, a sales executive of a photovoltaic company told reporters that the second quarter is indeed the peak period of shipment of the photovoltaic industry.

He said that the reason why there was crazy shipments was due to the fact that the provisional tax rate (11.8%) of the “double reverse” investigation of EU PV cells and modules was only thrown at the end of the second quarter. In June, in order to avoid the high tax rates that may come, power station investors and intermediaries in Europe have a high enthusiasm for buying batteries and components, and the demand for photovoltaics has also greatly increased. At this extreme, sometimes full-stock sales have caused some companies to even stop orders.

On the other hand, while Europe is ramping shipments, some PV companies also expect that the high volume of shipments in Europe will be unsustainable: If China-EU negotiations fail to reach agreement, the EU will impose a higher anti-dumping tariff on China, and China will also adopt a quota system to limit the amount of PV exports to Europe.

Therefore, shipments from Japan, China, India, South Africa, and the United States also rose during this period, and global PV shipments rose throughout the second quarter.

For shipments in Europe, Huatai Joint Analyst Wang Haisheng said that in the first half of this year, Chinese companies' exports of photovoltaic products to Europe were between 4G and 4.5G watts, and they are expected to decrease to 3G watts or even 2.5G watts in the second half of the year.

Japanese market is expensive

On the other hand, the second quarter gross profit margins of various companies are also rising. The profit margin of Yingli Green Energy increased from 4.1% in the first quarter to about 12%, and JinkoSolar Co., Ltd. moved from wafers and solar cells to solar modules. The gross margin of integration also reached the high point in recent years - 18.3%.

An analyst at Guotai Junan told reporters that behind the surge in shipments is the demand from Asian markets such as Japan.

Since the Japanese market is priced at 5% to 10% higher than China and other Asian markets (some high-efficiency battery prices are even higher than European prices), the gross profit margin of photovoltaic listed companies has also been improved to some extent.

The analyst predicts that Japan's total PV demand this year may be as high as 9 Gigawatts or more, and last year's entire Asian market's PV installations will be lower than this figure.

The executives of a photovoltaic company in Nanjing predicted that if the future European shipments drop sharply and domestic production stays high, then the Japanese pricing will decrease with the excess supply of the market, and then the gross profit margin may decline.

However, analysts of the above-mentioned Guotai Junan also stated that although some PV companies have high revenues, the issue of receivables has not been substantially resolved. Some of the company’s PV modules are actually sold directly to the company’s own power station projects built at home and abroad. If the power station cannot quickly change hands and have cash accounted for, or if it is difficult to connect to the grid, its accounts receivable will continue to climb.

The reporter also found that, for example, sunflower, the company's revenue as of the end of June 2013 was 517 million yuan, but accounts receivable and other receivables totaled 267 million yuan, which means that about half of the revenue , are still in the accounts receivable stage.