Tag Archives: vslr

Could Blistered SunEdison Yieldco TerraForm Power Face Delisting?

SunEdison ( SUNE ) yield company TerraForm Power ( TERP ) slipped from Nasdaq compliance Wednesday, when SunEd’s constrained finances forced the duo to miss a March 15 deadline to submit their already delayed 10-K year-end financial statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In midday trading on the stock market today , SunEdison stock was down 6% and TerraForm Power stock down 5%. Shares were down a respective 59% and 16% for the year as of Tuesday’s close. TerraForm Power now has until May 16 to either submit the 10-K or a plan to regain compliance, and until Sept. 12 to become compliant or face delisting. The SunEd yieldco blamed its parent for the holdup. “Due to our management services arrangement with SunEdison . . . our financial reporting and control processes rely to a significant extent on SunEdison systems and personnel,” TerraForm Power said in a press release. If there are inefficiencies in SunEdison’s reporting system “it is necessary for us to assess whether those deficiencies could affect our financial reporting,” TerraForm Power wrote. On Feb. 29, SunEdison delayed its 10-K as it finalizes an audit into its liquidity standing. Late last year, former SunEdison executives alleged the firm lied about its liquidity stance. SunEd shook up its executive staff in November 2015, terminating former Executive Vice President Carlos Domenech. At the time, Domenech was also CEO for TerraForm Power and another SunEd yieldco,  TerraForm Global ( GLBL ). SunEdison Chief Financial Officer Brian Wuebbels was immediately tapped to head up the yieldcos. But Wuebbels recently opted to leave his SunEd role to focus entirely on the TerraForm pair. Ilan Daskal will succeed Wuebbels on April 4, SunEdison said. It’s only the most recent in a series of SunEdison shake-ups. Last week, residential installer Vivint Solar ( VSLR ) backed out of a deal to be acquired by SunEdison, saying that, despite cutting its bid in December, SunEd still couldn’t afford to buy it. This month, rumors rumbled that banks financing the M&A had pulled their funding after SunEdison first delayed its 10-K. On Wednesday, SunEdison blamed the twice-delayed 10-K on “material weaknesses in its internal controls over financial reporting,” saying its newly implemented IT systems are deficient. But no material mistakes have been found in the audit thus far, SunEd said.

Vivint Solar Burned On Widening Q4, 2015 Losses In SunEdison’s Wake

Vivint Solar ( VSLR ) stock combusted Tuesday after the No. 3 residential installer reported mixed Q4 earnings results, underperforming an equally blended Q4 for Chinese solar panel-maker JA Solar ( JASO ). Vivint Solar’s late Monday report comes a week after the company scrapped its sale to   SunEdison ( SUNE ), which, according to a Vivint 8K filing, likely couldn’t afford to close the deal as it faces an ongoing liquidity investigation. In midday trading on the stock market today , Vivint Solar stock was down 12%, near 3.50 and touching an all-time low for the fourth straight trading day. JA Solar stock, meanwhile, was down 4%, near 8.75. JA Solar reported before the open Tuesday. SunEdison stock also fell, sitting down nearly 3% midday Tuesday. Collectively, IBD’s 21-company Energy-Solar industry group was down 1.5%. The group ranks No. 48 out of 197 groups tracked. Vivint Reports Widening Losses For Q4, Vivint Solar reported a 132% year-over-year sales jump to $16 million. But losses per share ex items deepened to 50 cents vs. 36 cents in the year-earlier quarter. Two analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a 71-cent loss per share and $19.3 million in sales. Vivint Solar booked 80 megawatts and installed 59 MW during Q4, up a respective 56% and 17% vs. the year-earlier quarter. Cumulative installations reached 68,527, including a 23% year-over-year bump to 8,411 during the quarter. For the year, Vivint Solar’s $64.2 million in sales and a $2.39 per-share loss ex items missed the consensus expectations for $68.2 million and a loss of $1.83, respectively. Sales grew 154%, but losses deepened from $1.99. The company didn’t provide current-quarter guidance. Analysts are expecting $16.3 million and a 66-cent per-share loss ex items. Sales would grow 71%, but losses would widen from 57 cents in the year-earlier quarter. JA Solar Guides Shipments Up Before the open Tuesday, JA Solar reported $709.3 million (RMB 4.6 billion) in sales and 49 cents (RMB 3.14) earnings per American Depositary Share ex items, up 28.5% and 81.5%, respectively, on a year-over-year basis. Sales topped the consensus of the two analysts for $683.3 million (RMB 4.5 billion) and JA Solar’s earlier views for $680 million to $710 million (RMB 4.4 billion to RMB 4.6 billion). But EPS missed Wall Street’s expectation for 68 cents. JA Solar topped its earlier guide to 1.32 gigawatts to 1.35 GW shipped, with 1.366 GW shipped during Q4. For the year, JA Solar shipped 4 GW, up 29% and topping guidance for 3.92 GW to 3.95 GW. JA Solar guided to 1 GW to 1.1 GW in current-quarter shipments, which would be up 54% at the midpoint. For the year, JA Solar sees 5.2 GW to 5.5 GW in shipments, up 30%-37.5% vs. 2015. The company doesn’t provide financial guidance. The consensus expects $421.7 million (RMB 2.75 billion) in sales and 20 cents (RMB 1.30) earnings per ADS ex items for the current quarter, up 9% and 53%, respectively. For the year, analysts model $1.65 (RMB 10.74) earnings per ADS minus items on $2.26 billion (RMB 14.68) in sales, both up 8%.

Vivint Solar Junks Sale To SunEdison Amid Liquidity Questions

Vivint Solar ( VSLR ) junked its sale to  SunEdison ( SUNE ) early Tuesday, only four days after SunEd settled with Latin America Power shareholders for $28.5 million, having terminated the acquisition of that company in October. SunEd shareholders had been leery of the deal, and SunEdison stock rocketed 10% as of early afternoon trading on the stock market today , though it was still holding just barely above 2. The stock is nearly 95% off its 2015 high of 33.45, achieved July 20 — the day the company announced its bid to acquire installer Vivint Solar. Under that agreement, SunEdison had until Feb. 26 to close the deal, and the company had ignored a pair of Vivint Solar notices stating as much, according to an 8-K filed by Vivint Solar early Tuesday. The deal would have been vacated March 18. Legal Overhang Preferred? SunEdison’s financials are seemingly too constrained to close the deal, Vivint Solar wrote. Last week, SunEdison delayed its 10-K filing , citing an ongoing investigation into its liquidity, and suspended a dividend program. Also last week, rumors surfaced that banks backing the Vivint Solar acquisition might pull their funding amid SunEdison’s tenuous financial position. SunEdison representatives declined to comment on Monday and didn’t immediately return an email Tuesday. In its filing, Vivint Solar said, “SunEdison’s representatives subsequently have informed the company that SunEdison is unable to the cause the closing to occur in the foreseeable future.” The company plans to seek all “legal remedies available to it in respect of such willful breach.” The legal overhang is preferable to acquiring Vivint Solar, S&P Global Market Intelligence analyst Angelo Zino told IBD on Monday, before the deal was terminated. Under the original deal, SunEdison is required to pay Vivint Solar a $34 million breakup fee. “I think investors would rather see the deal not close and handle an undisclosed legal settlement fee at some point in the future,” Zino said. But he said it doesn’t behoove Vivint Solar to force SunEdison into a bankruptcy. Hyper-Growth Plan Backfired Like SunEdison shares, Vivint Solar stock has plunged since July 20. Shares jumped 45% that day, but they then fell more than 65% through Monday’s close. Vivint Solar’s fall on Wall Street, and pressure from SunEd activist investor Appaloosa Management, forced SunEdison to cut its bid on Vivint Solar in December. In midday trading Tuesday, Vivint Solar stock was down 21%, just above 4. Vivint has been the No. 2 U.S. residential solar installer, behind SolarCity ( SCTY ). SolarCity stock was up 2% early Tuesday afternoon. “Vivint Solar fundamentals have been deteriorating,” Zino said on Monday. Appaloosa owns 9.5% of SunEd yield company TerraForm Power ( TERP ). SunEdison planned to tap TerraForm Power and fellow yieldco TerraForm Global ( GLBL ) to fund its plan for hyper-growth via acquisitions, Zino said. TerraForm Global filed its IPO less than two weeks after the Vivint Solar bid was announced. Investor sentiment quickly soured on the yieldco model, taking SunEdison stock down with it. “SunEdison had a growth type of mentality, looking to aggressively spend on acquisitions and fund it via these yieldco vehicles,” Zino said. “So once that Vivint Solar transaction was announced, some investors got concerned they were maybe doing too much.” The Vivint Solar purchase was sold to SunEdison investors as a way to complete SunEd’s portfolio, he said. SunEdison planned to drop Vivint Solar’s 922-megawatt rooftop portfolio down to TerraForm Power. Appaloosa tried to prevent that, noting the rooftop assets were embroiled in debt. A judge tossed Appaloosa’s injunction last week — now a moot point, Credit Suisse analyst Patrick Jobin wrote in a research report Tuesday. TerraForm Power stock shot up as much as 15% Tuesday, on the failed Vivint Solar transaction, and was up more than 4%, near 10.65, in early afternoon trading. Before Tuesday, its shares had fallen nearly 70% since July 20. SunEdison Liquidity Questioned The vacated Vivint Solar bid frees SunEdison’s near-term liquidity by $206 million, Jobin wrote. But it also highlights how precarious SunEdison’s liquidity actually is. “Lest we forget, SunEdison has an ongoing board investigation into allegations from former executives that the company misrepresented their liquidity position, and has delayed filing their 10-K,” he wrote. Jobin maintained his neutral position and 3 price target on SunEdison stock. Zino reiterated his hold rating on SunEdison stock. Financially, it no longer makes sense to drop assets down to TerraForm Power and TerraForm Global, Zino told IBD. Like No. 1 and No. 2 solar companies  First Solar ( FSLR ) and SunPower ( SPWR ), SunEdison ought to be selling assets to third-party project developers — the “lifeblood” of the solar industry. “The fact SunEdison hasn’t been able to sell projects here in recent months, it raises a lot of questions for us,” he said. “What does the market actually look like for SunEdison’s projects?” Project developers like Dominion ( D ) buy solar assets, providing up-front capital financing. SunEdison can’t afford to keep large-scale projects on its already tight balance sheet. But the third-party market could be sour on SunEdison’s assets, Zino said. “The third-party market looks good for SunPower and First Solar,” he said. “We haven’t seen any problems on their end selling projects and generating cash. But the pricing environment for SunEdison may not be the same as it is for their competitors.”