SolarCity Posts Big Loss, Forecasts Bigger Loss Next Quarter

For the third quarter of 2014 the company expects lease and incentive revenues to total $80 to $86 million and gross margins to be between 46% and 50%. Operating expenses are pegged at $210 to $225 million and the non-GAAP per share loss is expected to be in the range of $2.05 to $2.15.

The analysts’ consensus estimates for the third quarter call for an EPS loss of $1.59 on revenues of $116.52 million. The company’s own estimate for a larger loss will hit the shares in after-hours trading Thursday and carry over into Friday.

SolarCity expects to install a record 260 megawatts of solar energy systems in the third quarter and 920 to 1,000 megawatts for the full 2015 fiscal year. The full-year 2015 estimate calls for 920 to 1,000 megawatts of installed systems, an upward revision to a prior figure of 920 to 1,000 megawatts deployed. SolarCity added 44,900 new customers during the quarter and now claims a cumulative total of about 262,500 customers.

SolarCity’s shares traded up about 1% in after-hours trading, at $58.70 in a 52-week range of $45.91 to $79.40. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $82.25 before today’s results were announced.

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