Man, silicon solar gear maker GT Solar has been having a rough couple of days. Shares of the company, which priced at $16.50 for their stock market debut yesterday, closed down almost 12 percent. But the stock lost even more ground today, slumping as much as 36 percent to change hands for $9.30 after it was revealed that one of its customers had signed a deal with a competitor.
Chinese solar wafer maker LDK Solar said it inked an agreement to buy equipment from GT Solar competitor JYT Corp., also of China. It’s a big deal because as Reuters notes, LDK represented 62 percent of GT Solar’s revenue in fiscal year 2008.
In an effort to deflect investor concern, GT Solar issued a statement , with CFO Bob Woodbury saying:
“This announcement by LDK does not in any way impact GT Solar’s backlog, nor do we believe it will have any effect on our internal targets or projections. In fact, LDK Solar’s total orders represent less than 20 percent of our current backlog. Moreover, LDK’s furnace orders represent less than eight percent of our current backlog…Additionally, GT Solar has and will continue to diversify its customer base. LDK Solar remains an important customer, and we continue to negotiate with them for future equipment needs related to multicrystalline furnaces and silicon reactors.”
Perhaps the quick PR response did a small bit of damage control. GT Solar’s shares rebounded somewhat from their intraday low to end the session at $12.59.
