MEMC lowers its 3Q earnings estimate

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. dropped its third-quarter earnings estimate to about $520 million to $540 million because raw materials delivery decreased after Hurricane Ike, the O’Fallon, Mo.-based company said today.

Although Ike did not do any major damage to MEMC’s plant in Pasadena, Texas, it did prevent some regional suppliers from delivering large amounts of raw materials to the Houston suburb plant. MEMC makes silicon wafers for electronic applications and solar cells.

MEMC said today that the plant was running at “very low utilization levels” through the start of this week and didn’t expect the storm to impact that many days of production. The company lowered the earnings estimate it has been forecasting since late July. It was projecting third-quarter revenue of $560 million to $620 million.

But MEMC said it did not expect any long-term impact from Ike-related delays.

Shares of the stock rose to $31.82 this morning and then slipped to $30.93 in afternoon trading. That’s up 7 percent from Tuesday’s close.