Solar microinverter firm Enphase (Nasdaq:ENPH) announced strong second-quarter earnings in its second quarter as a public company on Tuesday afternoon.
In a bit of a shocker, just prior to its earnings call, Enphase announced the departure of its CFO Sanjeev Kumar. Like all abruptly departing CFOs, Kumar will be devoting more time to his family. Hopefully, Kumar does not deliver the same financial performance to Enphase that he did at both of his former employers, ECD and HelioVolt.
Enphase's first-quarter earnings call showed an improvement in revenue and margin and a Q2 guidance of $49 million to $52 million in revenues, with a gross margin in a range of 21.5 percent to 23.0 percent. Net loss for Q1 was $10.2 million.
And yesterday, Enphase announced that it beat its guidance with a $55.7 million second quarter and a 24.4 percent gross margin. The firm shipped 403,000 units this quarter, compared to 204,000 units in the second quarter of 2011.
But its second-quarter net loss widened to $11.4 million.
And the markets punished Enphase for that widening loss. Enphase stock price dropped 24 percent on Wednesday, hitting $5.07, close to its historical low. The firm’s market cap is now $206 million.
Jefferies Group has a “buy” rating on the stock and referred to Enphase as still the “best house on the worst block” and "growing in excess of industry growth with rising margins and operating leverage.”
Paul Nahi, the CEO of the firm, spoke of "robust demand" in the U.S. and the beginning of the shift from central to microinverters on residential rooftops in the U.S. and Europe. Nahi noted a good reception in France and the Benelux region. Nahi also sees potential in the commercial market as well.
Soon-to-be-former CFO Kumar commented in a release that year-over-year revenue growth was 88 percent and gross margins "improved by over 810 basis points from the year-ago quarter, and 250 basis points from the first quarter of 2012."
Enphase Energy expects net revenues for the third quarter of 2012 to be within a range of $59 million to $63 million, and for gross margin to be within a range of 23.5 percent to 25 percent.
Nahi repeated that he would comment on microinverter competitors as soon as the central inverter companies actually introduce a microinverter. Nahi acknowledged that Enphase was underrepresented in the third-party residential leasing sector but was improving its presence in that field and mentioned traction with many of the players in the third-party financing market. SolarCity was not included in the list of potential third-party customers.