* Says turned profitable on sales of power plants
* Third-quarter profit $0.56/share vs loss $1.01/share year ago
* Expects full-year panel shipments at high-end of outlook
* Shares up nearly 6 pct before the bell
(Adds details on results, outlook, share price)
Nov 13 (Reuters) - Canadian Solar Inc
The Guelph, Ontario-based company, most of whose manufacturing operations are in China, was the first among its rivals to shift its focus to building power plants, from just selling solar panels and other products.
Canadian Solar's U.S.-listed shares were up 6.3 percent at $30.00 before the bell.
The stock, which started the year at $3.50, has risen eight-fold since then, making it the best performer in the solar industry.
The company's total solutions business, which covers everything from the making of solar cells to the installation of plants, contributed about 41 percent of total revenue in the third quarter, up from 21.5 percent a year earlier.
Canadian Solar said it had increased its project pipeline to 1,015 megawatts (MW) by the close of the quarter ended Sept. 30, from 971 MW at the end of the second quarter.
The third-quarter profit would help the company return to profitability on a full-year basis, Chief Executive Shawn Qu said in a statement on Wednesday.
Canadian Solar, which also said Chief Financial Officer Michael Potter had resigned, last posted an annual profit in 2010. In the eight quarters prior to the latest quarter it had racked up cumulative losses of about $316 million.
Solar companies are only now beginning to see signs of a recovery in panel prices after a four-year slump due to excess manufacturing in China and loss of European subsidies.
"Clearly, the industry is emerging from a very challenging period, with improved pricing power and growing demand," Qu said.
PROJECT PIPELINE
Canadian Solar said it expects its full-year panel shipments to be between 1.75 gigawatts (GW) and 1.77 GW, near the top end of its prior forecast of 1.6-1.8 GW.
The company expects to ship about 480-500 MW of panels in the fourth quarter, driven by demand from China and Japan. It shipped 478 MW in the third quarter.
Gross margin for the fourth quarter is expected to be 13-15 percent, lower than the 20.4 percent in the third quarter.
Canadian Solar said its shipment and margin outlook excluded potential project sales in the current quarter.
In the third quarter the company sold two solar power plants to TransCanada Corp
Canadian Solar said its backlog of utility-scale projects in Canada totaled 499 MW of direct current at the quarter-end, with an estimated resale value of more than C$1.7 billion once the projects were functional.
The company has a utility-scale project pipeline of about 278 MW in Japan and expects to begin construction of its first Japanese solar power project early next year.
Net income attributable to Canadian Solar was $27.7 million, or 56 cents per share, in the third quarter, compared with net loss of $43.7 million, or $1.01 per share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose 51 percent to $490.9 million.
($1 = 1.0493 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Swetha Gopinath in Bangalore; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
((swetha.gopinath@thomsonreuters.com)(within U.S. +1 646 223 8780, outside U.S. +91 80 6749 1130)(Reuters Messaging: swetha.gopinath.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: CANADIANSOLAR RESULTS/
