From Notable Calls:
Merrill Lynch is defending MEMC Elec (NYSE:WFR) this morning after the co announced they are anticipating a loss of 5 days of polysilicon production due to hurricane Ike. As management had already built in a 2 week buffer as part of their quarterly guidance, the disruption has not changed management’s outlook for the quarter.
On the mid-quarter update call management said if production in September was at the same level as August, they would be in the upper half of their guidance range. In August, hurricane Edouard plus maintenance on Unit 1 and Unit 2 resulted in 7 or more days of lost production by Merrill's estimate. If the estimate of 5 days of lost production due to Ike are correct, MEMC still has 2 or 3 more days of buffer to reach the high end of the forecast range for 3Q, making the overall range still reasonable....MORE
,,Notablecalls: The decline in WFR stock has become ridiculous. Here you have a company that can't meet demand. Sure, they have had execution problems but it goes to show how difficult it is to produce poly meaning the chatter of more capacity coming online in the n-t is bollocks. If they have problems, the chinese will surely have even more problems.,
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