ReneSola shares surge as 1Q profit nearly triples

ReneSola also said it signed a six-year 525 megawatt wafer supply agreement with Gintech Energy Corp. American depositary shares of ReneSola jumped $2.12, or 9.8 percent, to $23.79 in morning trading, after hitting a 52-week high of $24.50 shortly after the opening bell.

The company earned $17.7 million, or 28 cents per ADS for the three months ended March 31, compared with $6.8 million, or 14 cents per ADS, in the year-ago quarter.

ReneSola had about 124.5 million shares outstanding in the 2008 quarter , versus 100.8 million in the same period in 2007.

Revenue leaped to $123 million, from $35.9 million a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, were expecting revenue of $105.9 million, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

The company said quarterly production soared to 66.5 megawatts, compared with 15.3 megawatts in the first quarter of 2007.

ReneSola expects wafer production capacity to increase to 1,000 megawatts by the end of 2009.