SolarCity Delays Earnings Release and Investors React

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By Paul Ausick Updated Published
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SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) reported some preliminary fourth quarter 2013 results after the markets closed on Monday, but the solar PV installer delayed until next week its full earnings results. The company said the delay is the “result of the accounting related to recent acquisitions as well as a change in overhead allocation owing to an increase in the volume of MW deployed.” SolarCity now says it will release earnings on Monday, March 3rd.

Fourth quarter revenue came in at $47.3 million. The company was expected to post a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) loss of $0.55 on revenues of $43.07 million. For the full year the consensus estimates call for an EPS loss of $1.79 on revenues of $159.69 million.

In its announcement on Monday SolarCity said it deployed 103 megawatts of new systems, which was above its estimate of 101 megawatts made at the end of the third quarter. Operating lease revenue came in at $22.4 million, slightly above the company’s estimated range of of $18 to $22 million.

For the current quarter SolarCity expects to deploy 78 to 82 megawatts. The company reaffirmed its full-year deployment guidance of 475 to 525 megawatts. SolarCity also said it expects to generate positive cash flow in 2014, and said it will provide detailed guidance next week.

The numbers that SolarCity published today are not bad, but holding the full report for a week due to accounting issues is never a good sign for investors.

Shares have not sunk as far as one might expect, down about 3.5% at $75.78 in after-hours trading. The stock’s 52-week range is $15.88 to $79.99.

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About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

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