The Bear Raid on SolarEdge
SolarEdge is getting clobbered today by a bearish story published by The Street Sweeper, a Web-based free research service. The basic premise of the story is that SolarEdge is suffering due to price cuts by rival Enphase. As an active short seller in my previous life, I take these stories seriously, but this article doesn’t have any teeth. Take advantage of this bear raid to add to your positions.
First of all, Enphase has been cutting prices for at least a year in a frantic move to regain much of the business it lost to SolarEdge’s better technology. This is not new news. In fact, the reason we initially recommended SolarEdge was its ability to introduce lower-priced products that generate higher profits because of that technology.
Enphase’s revenue was DOWN 26% in the last quarter and declined 33% in the last six months. The company has always lost money, but losses ballooned to $34 million in the last 12 months, down from a $4 million loss in 2014. Cash is disappearing fast as unpaid bills and losses pile up. Enphase’s stock, which traded as high as $17 before its technology was trumped by SolarEdge, now bumps along at $2.
SolarEdge’s revenue, on the other hand, grew 61% in the first nine months of the year. The company has earned $1.48 per share so far this year and is on track to earn $1.72 per share for the year ending June, up from 77 cents last year.
The numbers don’t lie. SolarEdge is beating the pants off of Enphase.
As far as that new battery product goes that Enphase is introducing, I would first argue that Enphase’s products have been losing market share and a battery product will work only with the company’s old and declining base of customers.
Second, I would point investors to the Intersolar Award just presented to SolarEdge for its newest HD Wave inverter product. The company is introducing its own battery product this year. I have spoken with many solar installers who rave about SolarEdge’s product and have moved all of their inverter orders over to SolarEdge from Enphase.
Stock Talk
C. Fisher
Thank you for the update on street sweeper short attack.(mostly innuendo I am guessing) I was curious about the drop in price.
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