Success in solar often comes back to product procurement — and the long-term viability of the company standing behind those products. In our upcoming Q2 edition of Solar Builder magazine, we have an exclusive look at quarterly financial rankings produced by Sinovoltaics, a quality assurance, ESG & traceability firm for the solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) industries.
These new quarterly financial reports from Sinovoltaics rank the financial stability of publicly listed PV module, energy storage, and inverter manufacturers in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Solar developers may utilize Sinovoltaics’ ranking reports as an objective tool to evaluate a manufacturer’s financial stability and procurement decisions.
“Sinovoltaics is pleased to offer these ranking reports, along with our supply chain maps, to complement our primary quality assurance service,” says Dricus de Rooij, cofounder and CEO of Sinovoltaics. “Because these first reports for 2024 are based on data from June 2020 to December 2023, they provide detailed insights on how the financial strength of each manufacturer has evolved over the past three years. That gives developers useful information for sourcing components for their projects,” he adds.
Since 2016, the Sinovoltaics team has gathered publicly available financial data and ranked each module, energy storage, and inverter company by applying the Altman Z-Score, a well-established financial evaluation tool widely used in the finance sector to assess the financial health of various manufacturing industries.
Here is the Sinovoltaics PV Inverter Manufacturer Ranking from the 1/2024 edition.
Methodology
The Altman Z-Score assesses a company’s financial strength through a credit-strength test based on profitability, leverage, liquidity, solvency, and activity ratios.
Altman Z-Score = 1.2A + 1.4B + 3.3C + 0.6D + 1.0E
- A. Working Capital / Total Assets: measures liquid assets in relation to the size of the company
- B. Retained earnings / Total Assets: measures profitability that reflects the company’s age and earning power.
- C. Earnings Before Interest & Tax/Total Assets: measures pp[erating efficiency apart from tax and leveraging factors. It recognizes operative earnings as being important to long-term viability.
- D. Market Value of Equity/Total Liabilities. Adds market dimension that can show up security price fluctuation as a possible red flag.
- E. Sales/Total Assets: a standard measure for total asset turnover.
The scores are categorized into 3 zones: Safe Zone (green), Grey zone, and Distress Zone (red). A score that is 1.1 or lower indicates a higher probability of bankruptcy within the next two years, while a score of 2.6 or greater indicates a solid financial position.
The Sinovoltaics report notes that, ideally a manufacturer is in the Safe Zone, but some manufacturers have been in the Grey Zone or lower for years and continue to be in business. However, based on the Altman Z-Score formula and studies about its accuracy, the bankruptcy risk is significant.
— Solar Builder magazine
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