This morning ATS Automation (ATA.TO) reported financial results that far exceeded my expectations. Overall, my feeling is still that ATA.TO remains undervalued and the stock price should increase significantly as more investors recognize that the company’s turnaround is progressing smoothly and the future outlook for the business is exceptional given the strength in solar and other alternative energy markets.

In this post, I’ll take a look at ATS Automation (ATA.TO or ATSAF.PK ), a Canadian company that primarily specializes in providing automated manufacturing systems to various sectors, including the fast-growing alternative energy industry. In addition, the company also owns PhotoWatt France, a provider of photovoltaic solar energy cells and modules and is a leader in the manufacture of UMGSi silicon, a lower grade of silicon that can be acquired more readily than polysilicon.

ATS Automation has been in restructuring mode since September 2007, when a group of shareholders successfully ousted past management and installed a whole new leadership team. Recently, the company’s fourth quarter fiscal 2008 financial results demonstrated significant financial improvements and a strong outlook for fiscal 2009, prompting me to take a closer look at the company. Although the stock has appreciated dramatically from its low earlier this year, I still believe that ATS Automation (ATA.TO), has significant upside (100%) in the next one to three years.