Canadian Solar Inc. on May 30 reported a net loss attributable to the company of $17.2 million, or 29 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2019, compared to net income of $43.4 million, or 72 cents per share, in the prior-year period.

Net revenues were $484.7 million, a sharp drop from $1.42 billion in the first quarter of 2018, mainly due to the higher revenue contribution from project sales and higher solar module ASP in the prior period, the company said.

Solar module shipments totaled to 1,575 MW in the first quarter. Module shipment guidance for the period was 1.3 GW to 1.4 GW.

"After achieving close to 140% growth of net profit in 2018 from the 2017 level, we reasonably expected a healthy pause in the first quarter of 2019 due to the acceleration of some high-profit project sales from 2019 into 2018, the appreciation of the RMB, lost manufacturing days related to our ERP system upgrade and the impact of Chinese New Year on production and sales volumes," acting CEO Yan Zhuang said. CEO Shawn Qu is on medical leave of absence.

Looking ahead, Canadian Solar expects second-quarter 2019 revenue in the range of $970 million to $1.01 billion. Solar module shipments in the same period is expected to be in the range of approximately 1.95 GW to 2.05 GW.