Solar Industry Companies See Bright Future In 2020; Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk Pre-dicts That Tesla Energy’s Solar Will Be Growing Faster Than Its Electric Cars
Solar industry companies see a bright future for the solar industry in 2020. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), predicts that Tesla Energy would show “really crazy growth” with solar generating on a percentage basis the fastest growth in the company.
In a CNBC article, Musk told stock analysts on an earnings call that Tesla Energy would someday be equivalent in size to cars and that solar would be the fastest growing segment of the company because it was starting out on a smaller base. In fact, he said on the call that solar and energy storage products would someday grow faster than its electric cars, as the company focuses more heavily on its solar and storage business. Prior, the company diverted resources to its electric cars sector, he said.
To companies in the solar industry, his predictions of spectacular solar growth is no surprise. Some are projecting major guidance gains for Q4 2019 and FY 2020. Others are approving stock buybacks for shareholders. Some, like SinglePoint (OTCQB: SING ) and Solar Integrated Roofing Corp. (OTC PINK: SIRC), are growing in solar by acquisition and organic strategies.
Musk is quoting by CNBC saying, “I think both over time will grow faster than automotive,” referring to solar and energy storage. “They’re starting from a smaller base. I think, especially if you look at sort of — if you look at, like, year-over-year growth it will be absolutely incredible …over the course of, say, a year, gigantic increase.”
Tickers: Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA). Solar Integrated Roofing Corp. (OTC PINK: SIRC), SinglePoint (OTCQB: SING), Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ), SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ: SEDG), First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR), and SunPowerCorp. (NASDAQ: SPWR).
New York, NY, December 16, 2019 — Stock Market Press is a leading financial news company that delivers up to date news. News on the wires today includes how solar companies in a surging industry are making positive projections and guidance for solar in Q4 2019 and FY 2020. At least one solar company has announced stock buy backs from shareholders as awards for supporting their investments in solar.
In other news we also talk about Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), Solar Integrated Roofing Corp. (OTC PINK: SIRC), SunPowerCrop. (NASDAQ: SPWR), SinglePoint (OTCQB: SING), Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ), SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEDG) and First Solar (NASDAQ: FLSR).
Solar companies eye a bright solar financial future in Q4 2019 and FY 2020. Some are making significant guidance gains for solar for next year and one is approving $150 million in stock buybacks for shareholders based on their financial success due to solar activity.
At Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), Elon Musk, CEO, makes bold predictions for solar, and securities analysts estimate solar growth at 10-20% annually. Yet, Tesla’s Q3 2019 solar installations jumped by almost 50% over the previous quarter and energy storage deployments grew by some 15% in the same period. This year, the company aims to double to 2GWh of storage growth capacity worldwide. Tesla sells solar panels, solar roofing and battery storage packs.
Musk estimates that Tesla Energy, including solar, will represent roughly the same size as Tesla’s electric car or automotive business. On a smaller base, Musk says, solar and energy will grow even faster than electric cars in the future, Musk has laid out his vision of solar powered plants fulfilling all of the United State’s future energy needs. Tesla has already seen positive results from its partially complete solar driven virtual power plant in South Australia.
Tesla, Inc.’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) ambitious solar-driven virtual power plant in South Australia is far from completed, covering only some 900 homes now compared to a projected 50,000 when it is done. But it has already worked with its solar panels and Powerwall battery source of zero-emissions energy. According to Tesla, the plant contributed alongside other providers when a outage occurred from the Kogan Creek coal plant. The Tesla solar facility joined other providers to help when Australia’s largest single conventional plant went offline.
According to website inverse.com, Dan van Holst Pelleken, South Australia’s energy minister, said the Tesla plant has already demonstrated its value in the emergency. The solar virtual plant is designed to provide a quick response in such shortfalls while providing clean energy throughout a fixed area and reduce the chance of a single point of failure. At completion, the Tesla plant is expected to save the some 50,000 homes it will serve $180 million annually in electric bills. That represents about a 30% saving shared by all the homes in that area.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has since announced more virtual plants for Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Already in Vermont, a Tesla plant plugged the power gap during a July heat wave, the site reported. Eventually, the site speculated, Tesla’s virtual facilities and others like it could make conventional power plants obsolete. Solar panels and Powerwall batteries are important to Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Business Insider reported Musk as recently writing an email to employees that installing more solar products and delivering Tesla cars to customers were his top two priorities by the end of this year. The email quotes Musk as saying, “The first is making sure all cars are delivered to their customers before the end of year. The second, just as important, is that we immediately increase the rate of solar deployments by a significant degree.” The email was first released by site Electrek. Tesla, Inc. common stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) reached $359.00 in after-hours trading on Friday, December 13, 2019.
Acquisitions and organic growth are playing a significant role in solar growth. A series of acquisitions continues for California solar installer Solar Integrated Roofing Corp.(OTC PINK: SIRC). SIRC recently finalized terms and an acquisition agreement with Milholland Solar Electric and Roofing, a San Diego, California-based solar installation company. Dave Massey, CEO and founder of SIRC, said Milholland is expected to generate some $10 million in revenues for 2019.
Prior to the finalization of the Milholland acquisition agreement, Massey projected SIRC’s (OTC PINK: SIRC) annualized sales at $40 million in the February fiscal 2021. In October 2019, SIRC reported sales of $1.7 million and $4.9 sales in FY 2019. SIRC had expected before the latest takeover to triple company sales in 2020. Milhollland is a certified installer of Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) Tesla rooftop Powerwall solar products. Massey called Milholland, founded in 1990, as “one of the most respected and lauded solar/roofing companies in Southern California.
Milholland would be the most recent of SIRC’s (OTC PINK: SIRC) series of solar company takeovers this year. Prior it acquired: Secure Roofing and Solar, which has $5 million in trailing annual revenues; McKay Roofing, which has $5 million in trailing annual revenues; Montross, which has trailing annual sales of $2.5 million; and Narrate, Inc., a marketing firm which has a targeted goal of $3 million monthly by summer 2020, it said.
Massey said the Milholland acquisition agreement is part of his company’s growth plan. “We continue to execute on our business plan by finalizing our terms for acquiring Milholland, capping an incredible period of growth for SIRC in 2019,” Massey said. SIRC has shown organic growth and takeover expansion in the solar roofing market.
SinglePoint (OTCQB: SING) projects that solar is a solid growth market and will play an important role in its financial growth in 2020, according to company management. Citing its Q3 2019 success, SinglePoint said that its Direct Solar subsidiary is expected to continue to exceed its revenue growth targets and will be a formidable part of its 2020 financial increases. Greg Lambrecht, CEO of SinglePoint, said Direct Solar has originated contracts of $4,965,975 for installations in Q4 2019 and Q1 2020. He added that Direct Solar is now operating in three new states and launched a high school partnership program with 47 Texas-based high schools as part of its joint venture activities with SchollyMe.
Available financing for solar installations helped drive the growth of solar in 2020. SinglePoint (OTCQB:SING) reports that its Direct Solar Capital financing arm has been a key part of its successful closings of solar installations by acquired Direct Solar subsidiary to residential and commercial clients. It makes it easier for potential customers to put down less up front money for immediate solar installations.
In just six months of operations for SinglePoint (OTCQB: SING) has already generated revenue of more than $900,000, he said. The company reported $1,050,374 in sales for the three months ended September 30, 2019, a 176% rise from the $381,037 in 2018. SING management said Direct Solar continues to exceed its targets and has been pivotal in its improved performance. Its Direct Solar Capital subsidiary permits the company to close quickly on residential and commercial solar installations by financing solar projects by Direct Solar.
Canadian Solar Inc.’s (NASDAQ: CSIQ) board approved a $150 million buyback of its common stock. The repurchase, effective from December 9, 2019 through June 8, 2020, will be based by management on market conditions, CSIQ said.The company has been expanding its international footprint. CSIQ for Q4 2019 has set guidance range at $850 million-$880 million and gross margin at a range of 19-21%.
Considering its growth in 2019 and forecast for 2020, CSIQ (NASDAQ: CSIQ) is seeing a rise in its organic growth, it said. As a result, it is awarding its shareholders with a stock repurchase program. The company is focused on reducing its capital expenditures and strengthening its balance sheet. It attributes higher sales of its solar modules in surpassing past earnings estimates and says that trend is expected to continue in future quarters. It sees promising aspects for global solar energy development, based on industry research reports, it said. It sees other solar companies in the future also pursuing share buybacks and awarding customers, CSIQ wrote. Its stock closed at $20.31 Friday.
SunPowerCorp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) management, on an earnings call for Q3 2019, projected revenues in the range of $520 million-$570 million on a GAAP basis. It also projected it would achieve a net margin of 11-12% and report a net loss of $8 million-$28 million and an adjusted EBITDA of $74 million-$94 million. For fiscal year 2019, projections are for $1.8 billion-$2 billion on a GAAP basis. Fourth quarter and 2019 guidance includes approximately $20 million in gross margin attributable to legacy power plant projects, according to Tom Werner, CEO. He added that Q3 2019 represented a strong performance going into the end of the year.
SPWR (NASDAQ: SPWR) has closed its solar panel manufacturing plant to instead focus on the installation of solar rooftop systems. SPWR is closing the facility and spinning it off to a new company, Maxeon Solar. The company recently won the contract to install solar at the Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) studio lot in Culver City, California. SPWR stock closed at $7.67 on Friday, December 13, 2019.
SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ: SEDG) in its earnings call for Q3 2019 projected that Q4 2019 solar revenue would represent $388 million-$398 million out of a total company sales range of $410 million-$420 million. SolarEdge Technologies gross margins in the fourth quarter of 2019 would be in the range of 33-35%.The company’s management also discussed with securities analysts on the call the strengthening of its balance sheet in Q3 2019. As of September 30 2019, SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ: SEDG) had cash and equivalents totaling $432.9 million compared to $373.6 million on June 30, 2019. Some 51% of the company’s solar revenues came from the U.S., Europe generated 40% of the solar revenues at SEDG and the remaining 9% came from the rest of the world, management of SEDG said. For the first time, solar at SEDG passed the $1 billion mark for the fiscal year. SEDG stock reached $90.00 in after hours trading Friday December 13, 2019.
First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) has strengthened its executive team by naming Caroline Stockdale as its human resources and communications executive, overseeing 6,500 associates. She replaces the retiring Chris Beuter. Mark Widmar, CEO of First Solar, said Stockdale was CEO of First Perform, a human resources firm for Fortune 500 and cyber startups.
She will bring strategic thinking and problem-solving skills to the position from her experience working in disruptive industries in the past, Widmar noted. He said those skills would be valuable to First Solar in the quick-changing sustainable energy industry. FSLR, by expanding its manufacturing footprint in the U.S., has become the largest photovoltaic (PV) module solar manufacturer in America and the Western Hemisphere, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company engages in designing, manufacturing, marketing and distribution of photoelectric systems and solar modules. It manufactures the First Solar ‘Series 6’ module, which employs the company’s proprietary thin-film technology. It was developed in FSLR’s R&D centers in California and Ohio. Common stock closed at $ 54.98 on Friday, December 13, 2019.
Join Stock Market Press’ newsletter for the latest in IPO, market commentary and company profiles.
Stock Market Press is a financial news company that delivers up to date stock news, introduces private and public companies to a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public via social media and a rapidly expanding network.
Contact:
Stock Market Press
110 Wall St.
New York, NY 10005 info@stockmarketpress.com https://twitter.com/PressStock
Safe Harbor Statement:
Statements in this news release may be ”forward-looking statements.” Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that express our intentions, beliefs, expectations, strategies, predictions or any other statements relating to our future activities or other future events or conditions. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may, and are likely to, differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release and Stock Market Press undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this news release.
See Stock Market Press disclaimer: https://stockmarketpress.com/disclaimer/ SOURCE: Stock Market Press