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It was rather unsatisfying to listen to the most profitable company in the solar industry, Canadian Solar, (NASDAQ:CSIQ), talk about its yield plans during its first ever investors' day.

The conservative approach and the choice of how to present certain values muted most of the details. I guess many expected the investors' day to reveal everything about the Yieldco. In light of the actual delivery, it was hard not to be disappointed having this expectation, but we learned few new things.

In the matter of the timeline, we were told the end of 2015 and early 2016. Considering project completion timelines, the total of 228.1MW emerged as the potential material eligible for yield at the end of 2015. This meant 155MW in the UK, consisting of the newly announced 115MW plus 40MW already in operation.

The 45MW came from Japan, a bit more than half of the 80MW originally slotted for completion during 2015. When reviewing Japan, only 605MW were shown in the total pipeline. This was lower than the 720MW of projects reported during the first quarter conference a week earlier. At first, it looked like a case of a slide not being updated. I found out later that 115MW were moved back to early stage due to concerns in obtaining permits.

• CAFD- Canadian Solar CAFD- Canadian Solar
• Project Roster-Canadian Solar Project Roster-Canadian Solar
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In news releases the company has provided to date, all projects in Canada were sold to third parties. However, based on the narrative from the presentation, a couple of them could be added, using double the average, as much as 28MW. CAFD shown for 2015 was about $15M, but 228MW of projects would most likely produce $25M. Next, Mr. Potter, Canadian's CFO, suggested that the Yieldco would need at least $50M of CAFD. There was a reference to additional acquisitions, but there were no details.

On page 26 of the presentation the company laid out project potential for the next three years. In 2016, the company would have 275MW in Japan and 1,021MW in the US. In 2017, 300MW was identified in Japan plus 114MW in Brazil, accompanied by a wide section of 1.1GW of mid-stage projects becoming late-stage projects at this point.

I think right there, between project sets from page 26 and estimates of CAFD on page 47, was the tipping point where the misunderstanding hit the highest notes and the market lost patience. Judging from the questions asked during Q&A session, analysts seemed to have a trouble to understand the relationship between those two sets of numbers. Propitiously, the disclaimer and Mr. Potter hinted that not all available CAFD was applied; but, unfortunately, no indication was made as to the amount of MW the shown CAFDs represented. Mr. Potter referred to his presentation scenarios as a result of a serious trimming of CAFD, driven by conservative views. He conveyed that the company expected to have better numbers, but without motivation for caution, figures appeared low and left too much room for assumptions. That is exactly how the market looked at it, radiating irritation with the company, despite CFO's requests for patience.

It's unclear why the relationship of CAFD per 100MW was not used with conservative and realistic (or even full portfolio) estimates. I think it would allow for a better picture of what the company has. For most analysts, calculating CAFD would not be difficult, knowing the location, MW, and FiT or PPA programs, but it's an impossible task for a general population of investors.

In one of his answers, Mr. Potter revealed that the holding company did not have a domicile established, and that made the Yieldco process look like it was still in the design stage. The UK incorporation came unexpectedly, but with the slide showing different market capitalizations emphasizing huge benefits in Asia, it was enough to speculate that the IPO could take place outside of the US. It was made clear that partnerships for the IPO are considered, but Canadian would consolidate the Yieldco reporting structure.

Finally, the matter of equity sale or secondary depending on the timeline of the yield IPO startled many. The surprise came not from the need for money, but from talking about secondary even if it was not needed.

While the investors' day could have been a complete success, for me, it was a miss on Yieldco and the market showed it was displeased with the same. Furthermore, whether secondary comes or not, the price setting is already taking place no matter what. As a fact, I would love to see secondary. It would spur Canadian growth faster than just internal cash flow. Still, one should have been announced, rather than hinted at.

The best investments are the ones offering controlled growth and stability based on a high percentage of probability. Investors in the company now seem to long for it once again. While some analysts raised, and others upheld their price targets after the meeting, the stock's price drifted away. The fundamental story did not change, but with the allegedly injured predictability, the market's perception of it took the shift, for the time being, creating another buying opportunity.