SunPower Q1 Results Top Estimates; Boosts 2014 Outlook

(RTTNews) - Solar power products company SunPower Corp. (SPWR) reported Thursday a profit for the first quarter compared to a loss last year, primarily reflecting significantly improved gross margins and revenue growth.

Both adjusted earnings per share and quarterly revenues topped analysts' expectations. The company also provided adjusted earnings and revenue forecast for the second quarter and raised outlook for the full-year 2014.

"SunPower once again posted strong quarterly results, reflecting the power of our full value chain integration and diversified market footprint. We benefited from strong demand in our distributed generation channels as well as solid execution in our global power plant business," President and CEO Tom Werner said in a statement.

The San Jose, California-based solar panel maker posted net income of $65.04 million or $0.42 per share for the first quarter, compared to a net loss of 54.70 million or $0.46 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted net income for the quarter was $75.35 million or $0.49 per share, compared to $27.22 million or $0.22 per share in the year-ago quarter.

On average, 15 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.32 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimate typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter increased to $692.42 million from $635.43 million in the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, adjusted revenue of $683.71 million came in above ten Wall Street analysts' consensus estimates of $679.51 million.

Americas revenues declined to $471.02 million from $484.12 million, while EMEA revenues surged to $126.26 million from $68.65 million last year. APAC revenues grew to $95.14 million from $82.66 million a year ago.

Total operating expenses for the quarter increased to $90.21 million from $82.93 million in the prior-year quarter. Gross margin sharply expanded 14.2 percentage points to to 23.5 percent, while adjusted gross margin contracted 70 basis points to 22.0 percent from last year.

Looking ahead to the second quarter, the company expects adjusted earnings in a range of $0.15 to $0.35 per share, on projected adjusted revenues between $575 million and $625 million. Analysts currently expect the company to report second-quarter earnings of $0.30 per share, on quarterly revenues of $628.32 million.

For fiscal 2014, the company raised guidance for adjusted earnings to a range of $1.10 to $1.40 per share, on projected adjusted revenues between $2.50 billion and $2.65 billion, from the prior forecast for earnings in the range of $1.00 to $1.30 per share, on projected adjusted revenues between $2.4 billion and $2.6 billion. Street is currently looking for full-year 2014 earnings of $1.21 per share on annual revenues of $2.55 billion.

"Solar is now competitive with traditional generation in many markets. We are well-positioned to lead future industry growth because of our unique strategy, differentiated products, 7.5 gigawatt (GW) global pipeline and a decade of experience in both distributed generation and power plant applications," Werner added.

The company noted that the construction of its new 350-megawatt (MW) solar cell manufacturing facility (Fab 4) is on track with first silicon expected early next year.

SPWR closed Thursday's regular trading at $32.02, up $0.54 or 1.72% on a volume of 4.43 million shares. The stock gained a further $1.37 or 4.28% in after-hours trading.