JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. Q1 FY2025 Earnings Call

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by for JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.’s First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After management’s prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. As a reminder, today’s conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the meeting over to your host for today’s call, Stella Wang, JinkoSolar’s Investor Relations. Please proceed, Stella.

Thank you, operator. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today for JinkoSolar’s first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. The Company’s results were released earlier today and are available on the Company’s IR website as well as our Newswire services. We have also provided a supplemental presentation for today’s earnings call, which can also be found on the IR website. On the call today from JinkoSolar are Mr. Li Xiande, Chairman and CEO of JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.; Mr. Gener Miao, CMO of JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.; Mr. Pan Li, CFO of JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.; and Mr. Charlie Cao, CFO of JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. Mr. Li will discuss JinkoSolar’s business operations and Company highlights, followed by Mr. Miao, who will talk about sales and marketing, and then Mr. Pan Li, who will go through the financials. They will be available to answer your questions during the Q&A session that follows. Please note that today’s discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, our future results may be materially different from the views expressed today. Further information regarding this and other risks is included in JinkoSolar’s public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. JinkoSolar does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable law. It’s now my pleasure to introduce Mr. Li Xiande, Chairman and CEO of JinkoSolar Holdings. Mr. Li will speak in Mandarin, and I will translate his comments into English. Please go ahead, Mr. Li.

Module shipments totaling 17.5 gigawatts generated US$1.91 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2025. Prices along the main solar industrial supply chain were low during this quarter. This situation, coupled with disruptions in demand due to changes in international trade policies, negatively impacted profit margins in every segment of the integrated solar supply chain. Despite the tough market conditions, we honored our delivery commitments to customers and achieved cost reductions through supply chain optimization, production adjustments, and various other measures. As we experienced a year-over-year decrease in shipments to the U.S. market and a decline in higher-priced international orders, both our module prices and profitability fell year-over-year as well as sequentially in the first quarter. The net loss was approximately US$180 million for this period. According to data from the NEA, new solar installations in China reached 59.7 gigawatts in the first quarter, marking a 31% increase compared to the previous year. Domestic demand showed resilience even against a higher comparison base in 2024. The market self-regulated while manufacturers' initiatives toward high-quality development became progressively effective. From January to March, average monthly bidding prices for solar modules gradually rebounded in the domestic market to more rational levels. Recently, as deadlines for distributed solar regulations and market-based renewable price reforms on April 30 and May 31 approached, market sentiment has softened somewhat, causing distributed module prices to retreat from their previous peaks. Additionally, ongoing changes in international trade policies, including reciprocal tariffs in the United States, have continued to disrupt the PV industry. In response to these challenges, we have adapted our supply chain strategy and regional shipment mix while maintaining close communication and negotiations with our customers. With our extensive market insights and effective execution, we remain dedicated to fulfilling customer demands for our highly efficient and reliable products, keeping our operations consistent while adjusting to market changes. Currently, about 60% to 70% of our order book visibility is secured, with regions like the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East and Africa showing over 80%. Cost reduction and enhanced efficiency continue to be major themes in the PV industry, as customer demand for high-power products is rapidly increasing to lower LCOE further. Due to limitations in upgrading traditional TOPCon production capacity across the industry, differences in TOPCon cell efficiency, product performance, and costs among manufacturers are widening. We believe companies that excel in high-efficiency cell capacity and high-power products will have a market advantage. By the end of the first quarter, the mass-produced cell efficiency of our third-generation TOPCon products surpassed 26.6%. We continued to enhance existing TOPCon capacity by introducing technologies like half-cell passivation, MAX, and 20BB. We anticipate that our third-generation TOPCon products will have a power advantage of 20 to 30 watts peak over previous generation TOPCon products in the industry. Meanwhile, we achieved notable advancements in our R&D. By the end of the first quarter, our laboratory's efficiency for perovskite tandem solar cells based on TOPCon reached 34.22%, setting a new record. Our investments in R&D, manufacturing, and after-sales support for energy storage are gradually yielding results. In the first quarter, our energy storage shipments exceeded 300 megawatt hours, a significant increase from the same period last year. We project our energy storage shipments will reach around 6 gigawatt hours for the full-year 2025, with a strategic focus on the overseas market. To date, confirmed orders for energy storage systems comprise 50% to 60%, with an additional 20% to 30% showing strong potential for future contracts. Capitalizing on our leading position in the PV market, we will actively pursue innovative business models that combine solar and storage solutions, delivering smart, efficient green energy solutions to global customers and contributing to sustainable energy development. Before I hand over to Gener, I'd like to outline our guidance for the second quarter and the full-year 2025. We anticipate our annual production capacities for mono wafers, solar cells, and solar modules will reach 120 gigawatts, 95 gigawatts, and 130 gigawatts, respectively, with our third-generation TOPCon modules expected to reach an annual capacity of 40 to 50 gigawatts by the end of 2025. We project module shipments will range from 20 to 25 gigawatts in the second quarter of 2025 and between 85 to 100 gigawatts for the full-year 2025. Furthermore, we will proactively adapt to market demand changes, continuously optimizing our market strategies and supply chain management while consistently enhancing our technology and product competitiveness to maintain our industry-leading position.

Thank you, Mr. Li. First quarter total shipments were 19.1 gigawatts, with module shipment accounting for approximately 90%. Although demand was impacted by the off-season, we sustained the industry’s highest shipment levels by leveraging our global sales network and the strength of our products. Shipments to overseas markets accounted for around 70%. We proactively embraced the surge in demand in the Indo-Pacific and the North Asia markets. Shipments to the Indo-Pacific market grew by nearly 10% year-over-year and 150% sequentially, while shipments to North Asia increased by nearly 20% year-over-year. U.S. shipment accounted for approximately 5%, in line with our guidance. On the product side, customer demand for our third-generation high power TOPCon products continues to grow. Our third-generation high power TOPCon is expected to have a mainstream output over 650 watt peak with a maximum of 670 watt peak. Thanks to lower degradation, lower temperature coefficient, higher bifaciality, and enhanced reliability, it can deliver better power generation yields for end customers. Currently, customers are willing to pay a premium for such high power generation. Recently, we were once again recognized as a Tier 1 energy storage provider by Bloomberg. We have been listed in the BNEF ranking for four consecutive quarters, a strong recognition from a third-party and customers of our safe and reliable energy storage solution as well as our timely delivery and deployment capability. With the increasing economics of integrated solar and storage solutions and the continued expansion in the application scenarios, particularly against the backdrop of high energy consumption driven by AI, integrated solar and storage solutions are increasingly becoming feasible. The overseas market has always been one of our strengths. In 2025, we will further expand the energy storage business globally while continuing to focus on and explore technological innovation and application in specific scenarios. We believe that the synergy between our solar and storage business will further increase our market competitiveness. On the demand side, we expect global module demand to remain above 700 gigawatts in 2025 with strong growth in Asia Pacific, Europe, and The Middle East. Following the recent rush of installations in China with the initiation of utility-scale projects in August and September, the overall demand is expected to continue to be in line with module supplies and the industry's high-quality development initiatives. In the U.S., due to the current shortage in local cell production capacity and the impact of reciprocal tariffs, there is likely to be a wave of early purchases of cells and modules. We remain optimistic about the long-term demand in the U.S. market. In addition to the announced Saudi projects and existing U.S. domestic operations, we are actively pursuing diverse solutions to strengthen our position in this market to enhance our long-term competitiveness. We are confident that our extensive sales network and deeply localized customer service system will help us respond to market dynamics, make flexible adjustments, and continue to satisfy customers’ demand for more high efficiency, reliable and sustainable products.

Thank you, Gener. Here is a challenging first quarter. We continue to control costs and expenses, leading to a significant year-over-year decrease in comprehensive costs and operating expenses. In addition, we continue to optimize our asset and liability structure as well as cash reserves. By the end of the first quarter, our asset liability ratio was approximately 74%, lower from nearly 75% at the end of the first quarter last year. By the end of the first quarter, our cash and cash equivalents were US$3.77 billion, a significant increase from US$2.44 billion at the end of the first quarter last year. We will continue to optimize our asset and liability structure and maintain healthy cash reserves in 2025, further strengthening our resilience to risks. Let me go into more details now. Total revenue was US$1.9 billion, down 33% sequentially and down 40% year-over-year. The sequential decrease was primarily due to a decrease in shipments of solar modules, and the year-over-year decrease was also due to a decrease in the average selling price of modules. Gross margin decreased both sequentially and year-over-year, mainly due to the decrease in ASP of solar modules. Total operating expenses were US$350 million, down 8% sequentially and down 18% year-over-year. The sequential decrease was mainly due to the decrease in the impairment of long-lived assets and a decrease in the losses resulting from the disposal of our long-lived assets. The year-on-year decrease was primarily due to the decrease in shipping costs as we shipped fewer solar modules. Total operating expenses accounted for 18% of total revenues compared to 13% in the fourth quarter last year and 13% in the first quarter last year. Operating loss margin was about 20% compared with 9% in the fourth quarter last year and 1.5% in the first quarter last year. Moving to the balance sheet. At the end of the first quarter, our cash and cash equivalents were US$3.77 billion compared with US$3.8 billion at the end of the fourth quarter and US$2.44 billion at the end of the first quarter last year. Accounts receivable turnover days were 111 days compared with 80 days in the fourth quarter and 100 days in the first quarter of last year. Inventory turnover days were 84 days compared with 57 days in the fourth quarter and 89 days in the first quarter of last year. At the end of the first quarter, total debt was US$6.4 billion compared to US$5.5 at the end of the fourth quarter. Net debt was US$2.6 billion compared to US$1.7 billion at the end of the fourth quarter last year. This concludes our prepared remarks. We are now happy to take your questions. Operator, please proceed.

Thank you. Your first question comes from Brian Lee with Goldman Sachs and Co.

Hey, guys. This is Tyler Bisset on for Brian. Thanks for taking our questions. I appreciate the ESS guidance of 6 gigawatt hours. And, I’m wondering if you can give a little bit more detail on kind of where these shipments are going. Is this more in line with your module shipments today? And, also curious where you guys are sourcing your battery cells?

It’s mainly dominantly, the ESS shipment mix is mainly dominated by the Asia Pacific region, Europe region, and emerging markets. Those together with China, those four regions are our main target in terms of 2025, which is slightly different from what we have for modules, but for the key market, let’s say, it’s very light to each other, but in terms of geographic mix, because of the trade barrier in the U.S., etcetera, it’s difficult to extend the ESS business in the U.S. right now.

Thank you. And, given the final determination on ADCBD, which was, I guess, relatively more favorable for Malaysia. How are you thinking about your future imports to the U.S.? Could you see that potentially increasing at all? Or do you think it’s more likely to stay in the 5% range?

Well, I think ADCBD is only preliminary tariffs. So, there’s still a cell termination after 12 months of custom clearance. So, we’re looking at a lot of uncertainty. So, in that case, we are trying to look into the different options we have in order to provide more certainties and provide more competitiveness in terms of cost as well. So right now, we are still working hard on that for the short-term because the recent hike or change on the ADCBD together with trade barriers is pretty new. But long-term, we still have our commitment to the U.S. market with our strategy in joint venture factories in the Middle East together with our local operation in the U.S., we are still fully committed.

All right. Thank you very much.

Your next question comes from Philip Shen with Roth Capital Partners.

Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. So, you guys had negative gross margins for the first time in a long time in Q1 and was wondering if you can talk through what you expect for margins for Q2 and Q3. And then, when do you expect the margins to go back positive? Thanks.

Yes, Philip, the gross margin and the risk to negative is very extreme cases in the last five years and reflecting the supply and the demand imbalance throughout last year. And on top of that, the first quarter is the slack sales and we have more exposures to the China market. And we expect in the short term, we expect the gross margin to improve slightly in the second quarter given the module price reaching an upward trend with the push demand from China and other regions. In the second half of the year, we expect it to be stable and maybe have the chance to improve. We believe the current situation is not sustainable even for the top tier companies. From the supply side, we are seeing more and more companies phase out in the solar industries. On top of that, there’s uncertainty in international trade. We believe by the end of this year, we’ll have more clarifications. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Charlie. So shifting to the U.S. market, there is the 145% tariff. I wanted to understand what’s your, the updates on your plans to ramp up U.S. cell manufacturing, in Florida or wherever that might be. And then also with the 145% tariff, are you able to import solar cell tools without, like, is there an exemption for the tools or is there no exemption for the tools? So, it makes the ramping of U.S. cell manufacturing more difficult? Thanks.

I think it’s more become a Board question, but from the long-term belief, we believe local production in the U.S. for local customers is a trend that is consistent with the long-term policies from the current administration. And for the short term, there are a lot of uncertainties. There’s budget cuts, there’s IRA incentives. There may be, what we are interested in the FEL. And so, while we take our projects, we consistently evaluate the policies from different angles. As long as there are some kinds of uncertainties and we strongly believe the U.S. store market will rebound next year. Specifically for the question of if we want to build the solar cell facilities and we import the increment from China, now with the recurring new tariff, it’s a crazy rate, right. It doesn’t make sense to make decisions even from that specific angle. So, back to your question, we don’t have a plan in the short term for solar cell production in the U.S., but we have the plan to consistently evaluate the policies, the potential side, and the tariff situations.

Okay. Thank you very much. I’ll pass it on.

Welcome.

Your next question comes from Alan Lau with Jefferies.

Thank you for taking my question. This is Alan. My first question is about, it is the first time I think the company has provided guidance on ESS. We’d like to know if there’s any indication on the margins on ESS, like some ballpark range because ESS has been quite competitive in the Middle East as well.

Oh, you mean the margin, right? Yes. Yes. Gross margin, I think we target 5% to 10%. It’s not a very big target. And given the business we developed and starting from the kind of very small scale last year, we achieved 1 gigawatts, but this year, we have the confidence to finish with the market, particularly in Asia Pacific, Latin America, and some emerging markets. So, the profitability is not the first priority. But in terms of gross margin, we expect it in kind of the range of 5% to 10%.

5% to 7%, right?

5% to 10%.

Okay. Thank you. And my next question is about so did the company receive IRA credits for the production last year at this point in time? Or if the company has sold any of the IRA 45 credits already?

Last year, I think we filed the filings, and it’s kind of the deduction of the tax payable for the facilities. And this year, we are exploring the opportunities to sell the credit to outside investors and it’s in the process.

So, you managed to get the credits already, just managing to sell it to financial institutions, right, for this year?

Yes. This year, we plan because we have two gigawatts in full operations, and there are a lot of potential investors who are interested to prop out the credit from the facilities. So we are in the process of communication and negotiation.

Thank you. So another question is, what is the U.S. shipment target approximately for this year because there are a lot of changes since the last time we talked? And is there already some inventory in the U.S. to support that shipment?

The range is 5% to 10%, but you’re right. Uncertainty, I think, is the big headwind. But I think if the headwind and uncertainty will not be, let’s say, clear in the short term, it will have an impact on the shipments of the U.S. But I think 5% it’s kind of the case and, let’s say, the low case, but we are confident we can achieve at least 5%. And if the uncertainty is kind of to have more clarity than the available supply chain to U.S., we can achieve more.

So, 5% of total shipment, right, like, so if it’s 85 to 100 gigawatt for this year, it’s around 45 gigawatt.

Yes, roughly, yes.

I see, I see. Thank you. So, my last question is on the shareholders return program. So, I think after the announcement of 4Q, the result and first Q result now, so wondering if the company can start buying back the shares given that the shares actually have gone down quite a bit? And what’s the pace of the buyback will look like?

Yes. After the release of the first quarter, we plan to buy back from the market. We think that the timing given the valuation is very low. And on top of that, we plan to declare a dividend, which is subject to the full, but I think, on our schedule.

So, to my understanding, the dividends will be approximately like $15 million, right, if it’s around $1 per share, say, for example. So, would the buyback look like $150 million then?

We have not decided, but it’s roughly, I think, at least $100 million, we split into the dividend plus repurchase. This is the first step, but I think we communicate previously, we would like to monetize financial investments for some companies that were less in years. And on top of that, we may explore other options to monetize some assets from the U.S. holding perspective.

I see. So, before that happens, actually, you can already start and there’s at least $100 million, which is like 10% of the outstanding shares, right?

Yes, $100 million I think it’s kind of included in dividend plus repurchase here. That’s a plan.

I see. So, after you liquidate some of your financial assets, there may be upside to this $100 million dividend plus buyback?

We may increase, but depending on how the timing and how quickly we can monetize the assets.

Thanks a lot. I will pass on. Thank you, Charlie.

Your next question comes from Rajiv Chaudhri with Sunsara Capital.

Hello, Charlie. The first question is about market share. You mentioned that this year the market might go to about 700 gigawatts and last year it was a little bit around 600 plus. And I’m wondering, even if you do the high end of your range, which is 100 gigawatts, your market share looks like it might be lower than last year and lower than 2023. Could you clarify that discrepancy?

I think last time we talked about, our strategy is not to increase competitors in more markets here under the imbalance of the supply and demand side and particularly as the industry is losing money. What we are doing is we want to be flexible in the near total shipments, which we guided 85 to 100 gigawatts. And what it means is we want to balance the utilization, shipment, profitability, and as well as the cash flow perspective. On top of that, we need to quite select customers. We have a lot of potential customers and interest orders, but we need to be more selective. But for the long term, at least we target a 20% market share for the module business. But it’s not a well-known target, and we need to focus on product competitiveness. We continue to invest in R&D and penetrate the key end market with some kind of premium, making sure the business is sustainable.

Okay. Thanks. Along the same lines on the market growth, can you talk about which regions, geographic regions are going to get the 100 gigawatts of growth from last year? How much growth do you expect in China and the U.S., for example, and also in Europe and India?

Sure. I have roughly talked about it. So, at the top level, we are looking at global demand at roughly 700 gigawatts, of which the largest market is believed to be China, same as last year. But the volume side, China is expected to grow roughly 10% to 15%, which will account for around 45% of the global demand. The second-largest after China is believed to be Europe, the Pan Europe region. So, the whole Europe will be over 100 gigawatts level. I think those are the only two markets that pass the 100 gigawatts threshold in 2025. But for sure there are other markets that are very interesting and sizable such as the U.S. where we are roughly looking at a 50 to 55 gigawatts level. In India, we are looking at around a 30 to 35 gigawatts level. So, yes, those are all the big numbers in our mind. But the attractive growth is mainly coming from the emerging markets, for example, the Asia Pacific region and also the African regions because of the low basis from last year; the growth rate is pretty high. But if you look into absolute growth numbers in terms of gigawatts, definitely the top four markets, which I just mentioned, are still the key focus.

So just to clarify, you are expecting that China will grow by 10% to 15% this year?

10% to 15%, yes.

I see. Okay. And final question, are you still getting a premium pricing for your top products based on the technology?

It depends on which technology or which product you are comparing with. So, definitely from the customer end, as long as the product is generating more power output or technically more yield, more IRRs returns, customers are more than happy to pay a premium on such kind of product.

I see. Can you also give the breakdown you expect between distributed generation and the utility scale for this year for Jinko?

Yes. Strategically, we lowered the distributed generation numbers a little bit based on the price trend. So last year, the distributed generation ratio was roughly close to high 40s, so close to 40, 50, but the high 40s, let's say 47, 46. This year, the number will go down to roughly 30 to 35 range.

I see. Okay. Thank you.

Yes. Thank you.

We are showing no further questions at this time. Thank you for your attendance today. That concludes our conference. You may now disconnect.