This column is for investors willing to take more risk and potentially receive more reward.  The stocks mentioned in this column are not recommended to buy or sell.  They're brought to your attention so you can investigate them further to determine if they fit your risk profile.  Most of the stocks will have less than $1 billion of market capitalization, have more volatility than other stocks, and oftentimes no earnings.  And some will have tremendous stories.

January 21, 2010 - GT Solar International, Inc. (SOLR) is in the design and manufacture of manufacturing equipment; and provision of services for the production of photovoltaic (PV), wafer, cell and module, and polysilicon products worldwide.

In addition, it offers technology and engineering services for the commissioning, start-up, and optimization of its polysilicon equipment and technology; engineering packages and process licenses for the production and purification of trichlorosilane and silane; and hydrochlorination technology, which lowers power consumption of polysilicon production.

Further, the company provides replacement parts and consumables used in its DSS furnaces and other PV equipment; and a range of services in connection with the sale of equipment, including facility design, equipment installation and integration, technical training, and manufacturing process optimization. It sells to polysilicon producers; and solar wafer, cell, and module manufacturers through its direct sales force, as well as through sales representatives. GT Solar International was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Merrimack, New Hampshire.

Sales are ramping at GT Solar. They were $244.1 million in 2007, then $541 million, followed by $544 last year. This year, 11 analysts think they'll finish at $834.39 million, and in 2012, see $840.08 million. In 2011, the range for those analysts is between $812.50 million and $924.5 million. For 2012, it's $615.97 million to $964.6 million. (Fiscal year ends March 31.) Part of the reason is the continued strength in the European market, even after governments reduced incentives for solar energy and a general, global eocnomic slowdown. And the backlog continues to build.

One large market for GT is China (isn't it for everyone?) where it has a solid position established. China wants to reduce emissions in a meaningful way over the next few years. Solar energy will play a big role in that effort. Secondly, the quality of many earlier solar energy systems will require an upgrade in the next few years, a quality level that GT supplies.

Management is conservative. There is no debt on the books. And they recognize revenue in the most conservative way. This often makes profits uneven, quarter to quarter. Investors need to understand that the stock will most likely have some volatility due to earnings that won't necessarily show a continuous upward trend. To help with earnings per share, the company has a substantial buy-back program.

A couple of interesting facts about the company: when it went public, none of the proceeds of the IPO went to the treasury. It all went to existing shareholders. Directors and officers now own 78.3% of the stock. The top 5 customers account for 64% fo the revenues.

More numbers: Market Cap is $1.62 billion. Trailing P/E is 12.2. Forward P/E is only 8.7. Price to sales is 2.19 and Price to book is 5.77. Book value is 1.84. Operating margin for the last 12 months was 28.58% and Profit margin was 17.65%. Return on equity was 67.26%. Return on assets was 15.89%. There's $259.63 million in cash for $1.72 a share. There is no debt. Current ratio is 1.46. The stock is up 87.61% in the last 52 weeks. There are 150.49 million sharest outstanding with a Float of 139.58 million. Institutions have 94% of the Float. There is no divdidend.

Aggressive investors looking for stocks with good growth potential will like GT Solar. It has a lot of great elements to it. But when earnings are uneven, as this stock will surely have, investors sometimes lose sight of the longer term and sell on one quarter's results, creating more volatility than is comfortable. In 2008, the stock went from $17.00 to $1.60 kind of volatility. This one is only for more aggressive investors who can take that kind of ride.

- Company Web site: www.gtsolar.com

- Ted Allrich