SolarEdge Technologies
stock dived in early trading Thursday as investors digested its weak revenue outlook and some analysts downgraded the shares.
While reporting earnings Wednesday, SolarEdge (ticker: SEDG) forecast fourth-quarter revenue between $300 million and $350 million, widely missing Wall Street estimates of $638 million.
The Israel-headquartered solar equipment maker’s third-quarter earnings also came in short of expectations, with a per-share loss of 55 cents, when analysts had projected earnings of 26 cents a share. Revenue of $725 million was slightly above estimates of $724 million.
CEO Zvi Lando said on the call discussing earnings said the company saw “significant unexpected cancellations ” from European distributors while market dynamics in the U.S. remain challenging. Lando also said the business remains unaffected by the Israel-Hamas war since most manufacturing and business operations are outside of the region.
SolarEdge had forewarned investors about the slump in demand in October. Still, the stock plummeted more than 10% in premarket trading Thursday and opened 4.5% lower.
Shares have fallen 73% this year through Wednesday’s close. Other solar companies
Enphase Energy
(ENPH) and
Sunrun
(RUN) have seen their stocks fall around 71% and 61% this year, respectively.
The industry overall has been going through a tough time. Starting in April, California—the largest solar market in the U.S.—slashed incentives for homeowners installing rooftop solar systems, which cut into demand. Higher interest rates globally have left consumers with less income for solar installations at home.
Guggenheim’s Joseph Osha and team on Thursday wrote “we are giving up on our positive stance on” Solar Edge as the downturn has gone on for longer than expected. They downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy—a rating they had on the shares since January 2022—and removed the price target.
Truist’s Jordan Levy admitted his firm should have taken SolarEdge’s prior warning and Enphase’s weaker-than-expected fourth quarter forecast “as more indicative of what was to come.” Levy downgraded SolarEdge to Hold from Buy for the first time in almost three years. His target price is $70 now, down from $120.
Barclays and Oppenheimer have also dropped their bullish stance on SolarEdge in recent weeks, downgrading the stock to Neutral.
Write to Karishma Vanjani at [email protected].
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