Capstone Turbine's Huge Backlog Appears Understated (CPST)

We have already covered Capstone Turbine Corporation (NASDAQ: CPST) on the raw earnings news last night along with its huge backlog being more important than earnings.  Shares slid off a tad in after-hours last night but shares are actually trading up this morning.  This is on the heels of a 200% rise in the last 7 months or so.

Despite this being our own top pick for our alternative energy stock in our "10 Stocks Under $10" weekly subscriber newsletter, analyst Sanjay Shrestha at Lazard Capital is out with a key call this morning that shows the company’s huge backlog was not only stellar.  That backlog may actually be understated as far as the analyst is concerned.

Shrestha noted, "The company posted stellar backlog of $27.9 million (428 units), reflecting a 113% increase sequentially and 458% year/year. The reported backlog number does not include the services and components backlog, which adds about $10 million…. We are raising our FY09 revenue estimates again, to $58 million from $50 million, reflecting the current backlog trend."

We noted that last night’s reported backlog is actually more than all of 2007 revenues combined, but this new data may actually make that prior huge number seem tiny.  So far we have seen more than 224,000 shares trade hands in pre-market trading with just over an hour to go before the market opens.  Shares closed at $3.41 last night and the last trade seen was at $3.69.

Jon C. Ogg
June 13, 2008