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: Riding a wave of momentum with no new company-specific announcements, shares of Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE) climbed more than 11% early Thursday before settling to close up around 7%.
So what: Yingli Green Energy stock also jumped more than 10% yesterday after the Chinese solar specialist announced trial production of M-SI modules with what it's calling N-type Metal-Wrap-Through, or "N-MWT," technology. According to yesterday's press release, N-MWT should serve as a significant differentiator for Yingli's solar tech by both reducing power loss in the module encapsulation process and improving solar cell efficiency.
Now what: But while N-MWT definitely isn't a near-term catalyst, in March Yingli management did state they're aiming to increase photovoltaic market shipments in 2014 by roughly a third over last year to a range of 4 GW to 4.2 GW. That would help them achieve sustained profitability early in the third quarter. If Yingli shows notable progress toward these goals with its upcoming second quarter results -- and with the stock still trading more than 60% off its 52-week-high of $8.77 per share -- patient investors could still stand to be rewarded handsomely.
