JA Solar Holdings Co posted a second-quarter profit, meeting Wall Street estimates, and it raised its full-year sales forecast as demand topped its expectations..

Sales in Europe for the renewable energy systems has surged this year, although fears that declining subsidies will lead to an oversupply of solar modules in 2011 have kept shares of many companies under pressure.

Still, JA Solar said it expected the robust sales to continue into next year.

We are also seeing strong order visibility for 2011, with customers already placing orders and requesting volume commitments, Chief Executive Officer Peng Fang said in a statement.

The Shanghai, China-based company said net income was $28.9 million, or 18 cents per American Depositary share, versus a loss of $28.5 million, or 18 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding a charge for the company's investment in polysilicon maker Shunda Holdings, earnings per share of 23 cents were in line with analysts' average forecast, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue jumped fourfold to $351 million from a year earlier as shipments reached 311 megawatts, higher than its forecast of 275 MW.

JA Solar expects its full year sales to reach 1.35 gigawatts, up from its earlier forecast of 1.0 GW, as its cell production capacity rose to 1.8 GW by the end of 2010, compared with its previous forecast of 1.5 GW.

Module capacity is expected to reach 500 MW, and wafer capacity 300 MW by the end of the year.

The company's gross margins widened to 23.1 percent in the second quarter from 22.9 percent in the first quarter of.

Shares of JA Solar were slightly higher in premarket trade, gaining 2 cents to $6.59 per ADS.

(Reporting by Matt Daily; Editing by Derek Caney, Dave Zimmerman)

China Solar