JinkoSolar Divests 50% Stake In Sweihan Power Station; Street Sees 42% Downside

JinkoSolar Holding Co. announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sweihan HK, will sell its 50% equity interest in Sweihan Solar Holding Company Limited (“Sweihan Holding”) to Jinko HK. Shares of the Chinese solar panel manufacturer closed 5.6% higher on Friday.

Since Sweihan Solar Holdings owns a 40% stake in the Abu Dhabi-based Sweihan power plant, the company said that the deal will indirectly give Jinko Power Company Ltd. a 20% stake in the Sweihan power plant.

JinkoSolar’s (JKS) CEO Kangping Chen said, “We are glad to have reached this agreement with JinkoPower. This divestiture will help JinkoSolar focus on its core business, enhance our strength and further sustain our long term growth in the global PV [photovoltaics] industry.”

Meanwhile, last week, the company announced the appointment of Jiun-Hua Allen Guo as the new Chief Operating Officer (COO). Guo replaced Zhiqun Xu, who resigned from the position to pursue other opportunities. (See JKS stock analysis on TipRanks).

Commenting on the COO’s replacement, GLJ Research analyst Gordon Johnson said in an email to investors, “While we have no actual insight into the reasoning behind this move, it comes as an odd time given [Jinko] has been mentioned, along with Daqo (DQ), as a possible beneficiary of slave labor.” He, however, maintained his Sell rating on JinkoSolar stock on Nov. 24.

Meanwhile, most of the Street is sidelined on the stock. The Hold analyst consensus is based on 3 Buys and 2 Sells. The average price target stands at $42.25 and implies downside potential of about 41.6% to current levels. Shares are up 221.8% year-to-date.

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