Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of solar module manufacturer Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) were flaring up today, gaining as much as 18% in intraday trading after the company reported second-quarter results.

So what: The numbers for Trina's second quarter actually looked really terrible. Revenue was up 56% from last year, but the company's margins got hammered and earnings per share fell from $0.52 in 2010 to $0.17 in the recent quarter. Analysts on Wall Street were expecting earnings per share of $0.47 on revenue of $599 million.

Now what: Rare indeed is the day that investors boost a stock after a big earnings miss from the company. However, investors have been looking for signs that solar demand could hold up in spite of subsidy cuts in Germany and Italy. Trina's earnings report may have provided some hope.

For the second quarter, total shipments were 396 megawatts, which was up 78% from last year. For the third quarter, the company sees shipments of 480 MW to 520 MW, while full-year shipments are expected to be in the 1.75 gigawatt to 1.8 GW range. The margin picture isn't anticipated to change quickly, but demand is enough that Trina is planning to expand its in-house wafer-production capacity.

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