Topic: How To Invest

Good morning Pat. What is your opinion on LDK Solar Co.?

Article Excerpt

LDK Solar Co., $7.29, symbol LDK on New York (Shares outstanding: 113.1 million; Market cap: $824.6 million), makes multicrystalline solar wafers, which are an important component of solar cells. LDK makes these wafers and sells them to solar-cell and solar-module makers around the world. (Solar modules, or a number of solar cells wired together, are commonly referred to as solar panels.) LDK Solar is based in Xinyu City, China. It first sold shares to the public at $27 each, and began trading on New York in May 2007. LDK has 6,200 employees. Making a solar-power system, either from multicrystalline ingots (the kind LDK uses) or monocrystalline ingots, involves four main steps: 1) Polysilicon is the essential raw material in producing solar cells. It is made by refining quartz or sand through a series of steps that result in rods or chunks of pure silicon. 2) Before polysilicon rods or chunks can be used in solar cells, they must be converted into ingots, which…