Amid the gloom, 5N Plus still shining
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009Who knows what the next quarter will bring, but so far Montreal-based solar materials supplier 5N Plus Inc. is weathering the economic storm quite well. The company, a major supplier to First Solar, announced its second-quarter ended Nov. 30 results today and the record growth continues. 5N reported a net income of $5.8 million for the period, a 377 per cent increase compared to the previous year. Revenues jumped 167 per cent to $18.14 million. More than that, the 12-month order backlog sits at $54.7 million, a record level.
Nice to see some positive news for a change. The stock jumped 8 per cent today and is up 71 per cent since reaching its low in the fall. Still, it’s off by more than 50 per cent since July so there could be some good upside. No wonder the company has cleared the way to repurchase its own shares.

Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.