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IBD’s 20-company Energy-Solar industry group hit a three-year low Tuesday after No. 1 residential installer SolarCity ( SCTY ) cut its 2016 guidance on slow Q1 bookings and rival Vivint Solar ( VSLR ) missed quarterly views on growing losses. Late Monday, Vivint Solar said it would participate in the bankruptcy case against ex-acquirer SunEdison “to maximize the recovery from claims against SunEdison.” Vivint scrapped the sale four months before SunEd filed for bankruptcy, an expected move. Midday on the stock market today , SolarCity stock crashed 25.2%, leading an industrywide 5.5% dip. Shares of top rivals Sunrun ( RUN ) and Vivint Solar trailed, down 7.4% and 6.7%, respectively. Yieldco TerraForm Power ( TERP ) stock slid 2.6%. SolarCity Q1 Booking Topple 33% For Q1, SolarCity reported $123 million in sales, up 82% vs. the year-earlier quarter, and topping the consensus for $108.4 million. But losses per-share minus items deepened to $2.56 vs. $1.53 in the year-ago period and analyst views for $2.31. Installations grew 40% year over year to 214 megawatts, topping guidance for 180 MW, but 160 MW in bookings fell 33% vs. the year-earlier quarter, SolarCity said Monday. For Q2, SolarCity expects 185 MW in installations, down 2% year over year. Current-quarter losses guidance for $2.70-$2.80 per-share ex items missed the consensus for $2.13 and would widen from $1.61 in the year-earlier quarter. SolarCity also cut its 2016 guidance to a range of 1 gigawatt to 1.1 GW in installations vs. earlier views for 1.25 GW, citing slow Q1 bookings related to Nevada’s decision to cut net-metering payments to solar customers. The Nevada decision spooked potential customers, SolarCity said. Vivint Solar Bookings Growth Tops SolarCity Credit Suisse analyst Patrick Jobin cut his price target on SolarCity stock to 38 from 62, but reiterated an outperform rating. SolarCity’s “alarmingly weak bookings (will) derail 40% growth outlook,” he wrote in a research report. “SolarCity seems to be faced with reproving the merits of their business model each quarter — facing either operational, regulatory, capital or competitive challenges — in addition to painfully, yet gradually, transitioning the strategy more toward value than growth,” he wrote. Jobin lowered his 2016 installation view to 16% MW growth. Also late Monday, Vivint Solar reported $16.6 million in Q1 sales on a 65-cent per-share loss minus items, missing Wall Street views for $17.6 million and a 61-cent loss. Sales grew 93% year over year, but losses deepened from 61 cents in the year-ago quarter. But, Vivint’s Q1 bookings grew 33% year over year to 66 MW, leading 19% growth in installations to 55 MW. Scalper1 News
Scalper1 News