LDK Solar cuts jobs as margins collapse

[FBaggins]

* Cuts 5,250 jobs
* Sees Q1 rev $190 mln to $230 mln vs est. $397.2 mln
* Q4 sales down 54 percent
* Q4 loss $4.63/ADS vs est. $0.85/ADS

Solar products maker LDK Solar Co Ltd said it cut more than 5,000 jobs this year as the industry grapples with a steep decline in prices that has decimated profit margins and pushed several companies into bankruptcy.

LDK Solar's shares, which had touched a six-month low of $2.55 earlier in the day following weak results and a bleak outlook, reversed course to close up 7 percent at $3.18 on the New York Stock Exchange.

LDK Solar, which supplies polysilicon, wafers and cells used to build photovoltaic panels, has cut more than 20 percent of its workforce this year to 19,195 employees, said CFO chief Jack Lai on a post-earnings conference call.

...snip...

LDK forecast first-quarter module shipments of 170 megawatts (MW) to 180 MW. It shipped 255.5 MW in the fourth quarter.

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL4E8FU5HD20120430?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0

[pscot]

1. This sort of realinement was predicted

by Wall Street analysts several years ago. It's inevitable in a new, technology driven industry. It's the very definition of creative destruction. No pain, no gain.