Scalper1 News
No. 1 residential installer SolarCity ( SCTY ) lagged rivals Sunrun ( RUN ) and Vivint Solar ( VSLR ), as March solar applications in California declined year over year, while the entire segment trailed triple-digit commercial growth, a Credit Suisse analyst said Thursday. Credit Suisse analyst Patrick Jobin’s report follows SolarCity’s Q1 earnings, released late Monday. SolarCity stock was blistered this week on Q2 guidance that missed views, while its 2016 installation outlook was cut on Q1 bookings that fell 150 megawatts flat. Sunrun is slated to report its Q1 earnings late Thursday. In midday trading on the stock market today , SolarCity stock was down 1.5%, after its shares dove 21% on Tuesday in reaction to the company’s earnings report. Sunrun and Vivint stocks were down 3% and 1%, respectively, midday Thursday. SolarCity’s “horrendous” bookings and weak guidance appear to be self-inflicted, Jobin wrote in a research report. “We do see modest growth decelerating in California but note that all growth is not gone,” he wrote. “Sunrun, who reports this afternoon, appears to have fared better in Q1.” For Q1, Sunrun is expected to report $87.7 million in sales, down 12% quarter over quarter, and a 48-cent per-share loss minus items, widening from a 15-cent loss in the previous quarter. SolarCity and Vivint each reported March-quarter losses this week. Excluding Nevada — which accounted for 12 MW in Sunrun’s backlog — Q1 deployments are expected to be flat sequentially. SolarCity and Sunrun exited Nevada in December when regulators cut net-metering payments to solar customers. In March, SolarCity’s residential applications fell 8% year over year vs. 17% and 23% growth from Sunrun and Vivint, respectively, Jobin wrote. Total residential applications for 73 MW of solar to utility companies grew 14.5% vs. last year. The commercial segment was the main driver in March, where 41 MW in total applications were up 136% year over year. Third-party ownership also picked up in March, reaching 62% of all residential applications vs. the 60% average for the second half of 2015. Scalper1 News
Scalper1 News