ES & US PV Business Growth Prospects Promising
发布时间:2026-11-10 来源:华泰证券
CSI Solar has announced 3Q26 results: revenue/attributable NP/recurring NP reached RMB5,863/-395/-497mn (-42.63/-253.09/-275.10% YoY, +3.68/-79.63/+16.72% QoQ). For 9M26, revenue/attributable NP/recurring NP came in at RMB18,647/-95/-749mn (-40.37/-109.63/-166.92% YoY). While the ESS business continued to scale up, deepening losses in the domestic PV business dragged overall profit. The industry has faced geopolitical disruptions, FX fluctuations, and upstream commodity price volatility since 2026. In addition, in response to pressure on domestic PV installation demand, the company adhered to a cash-flow-first strategy and avoided price competition, resulting in low utilization rates and excessive depreciation costs. Additionally, concentrated asset and credit impairment provisions in 3Q26 pressured net profit, but this may allow the company to move forward with a lighter balance sheet and unlock profit recovery upside potential. On a recurring basis, 3Q26 losses narrowed QoQ, while the gross margin improved by 0.92pp QoQ. Looking ahead, we expect the PV business to remain in a recovery cycle, with the ESS and US PV businesses delivering on their growth curves. Maintain BUY.
Domestic PV business at the trough
Based on the company’s 3Q26 earnings call, for 9M26 PV module shipments reached 6.2GW, with 2.2GW sold in 3Q26. For 9M26, ESS shipments were c. 9GWh, up by about 55% YoY, with 3Q26 sales of c. 3GWh, a QoQ decline. On the profit side, both overseas and domestic ESS businesses were profitable, and the US PV business (investment income and rental income) made a positive profit contribution, while losses were attributable to the domestic PV module business. Domestic PV losses primarily stemmed from the company’s proactive avoidance of low-price competition, which led to business contraction and low capacity utilization, with idle capacity depreciation costs dragging on profit. Based on the 3Q26 earnings call, excluding idle capacity depreciation, the domestic PV business was cash-profitable. Under the company’s volume-reduction and profit-stabilization sales strategy this year, the 3Q26 operating cash flow turned positive at RMB775mn.
Impact of PV energy efficiency national standards manageable
Based on the company’s 3Q26 earnings call, domestic shipments this year have been predominantly tier-2 energy-efficiency products, and all non-compliant capacity has room for technical retrofitting. In terms of retrofit pace, the company is to only retrofit capacity with locked-in orders confirmed by end-2026 or early 2027, keeping profit and cash flow pressure manageable.
Earnings forecasts and valuation
Considering that: 1) industry demand and policy disruptions in 3Q26 exceeded our expectations, and 2) the company’s sales strategy shift lowered PV module production schedules, we revise down our estimates for 2026/2027/2028 module shipment volumes, as well as gross margins for the PV module and ESS businesses. We revise down our 2026/2027/2028 attributable NP forecasts to RMB-389/+2,198/+3,539mn (adjusted by -130.03/-26.19/-6.76% vs. previously), corresponding to EPS of RMB-0.11/0.60/0.97. Based on the average 2027E PE of 14.94x for comparable companies on iFinD consensus, we assign 14.94x 2027E PE and lower our target price to RMB8.96 (previous: RMB11.53, based on 13.37x 2027E PE). Maintain BUY.
Risks: Capacity expansion falls short of our expectations; operating risks in overseas markets; industry demand falls short of our expectations; uncertainty in overseas policy.