The California-based solar company SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR), which is majority owned by the French oil major Total S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT), has released its quarterly results. The business was one of the first firms to start focusing on downstream operations. The company’s CEO Tom Werner said, “We’ve gone from selling hardware to selling energy.” Since most of its revenues are now coming from lease and power purchase agreements, the company believes that it doesn’t compete directly with the Chinese solar panel manufacturers.
SunPower’s revenues dropped by 6.4% sequentially, but increased by 28.6% from the same quarter last year to $635.4M. The sales were significantly more than its forecast of $450M to $525M. Commenting on the average selling prices (ASPs), the company’s CFO Charles D. Boynton said, “Global ASPs for our turns businesses were down on average, 8%. We expect ASPs to stabilize in Q2.”
SunPower’s gross margin has now improved to 9.3% from 6.9% in the previous quarter and 9.2% in the year-ago quarter. The positive margins should be very encouraging for investors, as according to Bloomberg’s data, average gross margin of SunPower’s rivals is negative 3.2%. The business’s GAAP operating losses in the quarter shrank to $23.6M from $112.3M in the previous quarter and $50.7M in Q1-2012. This translated into a loss per share of $0.46, significantly lower than the loss per share of $1.22 in the previous quarter and $0.67 in the same quarter last year. Excluding one-off items, the business reported a profit per share of $0.22, which is above analysts’ estimate of $0.06 per share according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
SunPower’s total shipments during Q1-2013 were 173MW, falling from 225MW in Q4-2012 and from 196MW in Q1-2012. The Americas region has traditionally been the biggest revenue source for the second-largest American solar firm, but shipments to the Americas have been falling while shipments to Asian markets have been rising. Total Americas shipments stood at 72MW, showing a decline of 41.5% and 24.2% from Q4-2012 and Q1-2012, respectively. On the other hand, shipments to Asia Pacific were 58MW, which rose 34.9% and 114.8% from Q4-2012 and Q1-2012, respectively. Japan has emerged as one of the key Asian markets and the business reported record shipment levels to the country in Q1-2013. Almost 25% of its first-quarter shipments went to the Japanese electronic equipment manufacturers Toshiba and Sharp.
In North America’s rooftop market, the company has signed more than 16,200 leases so far, which represents more than $540 million in total contracted payments. About a week ago, SunPower also announced a 5MW project agreement with Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ). The business also had some good news for its European market, which it believes will become profitable by the end of 2013. In the meantime, the company is also partnering with its parent and a leading Saudi university KAUST, to increase its exposure in the Middle East.
SunPower will provide guidance for the current quarter and full year on 15th May.
