SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) CFO Bob Kelly is exiting the company after serving for two and a half years. Brad Buss, an ex-employee of Cypress Semiconductor, will be in charge after Kelly leaves. It is always disheartening to see senior executive leaving a company, however the step in no way signifies a major transition in the strategy of SolarCity, states analyst Josh Baribeau at Canaccord Genuity, in a report dated 4 August 2014.
No major change in strategy for SolarCity
Kelly’s substantial input in taking the company public and helping in the monetization of the company’s third-party ownership TPO model alongside industry’s first solar asset-backed notes will be remembered. The ability of SolarCity to source tax equity of other forms of structure finance will not be impacted after the exit of Kelly.
Buss has deep insight in the semiconductor manufacturing, which will be significant in resolving the company’s shortcomings previously pointed out by the analyst, when the “the company embarks on building its own solar cell/module factor.” Canaccord analyst is not very fond of this “commercially unproven technology and probable distraction to the company,” and believes Buss’s experience in the field would bring down some operational risks.
[drizzle]Buss is a director in sister company Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), which again is a strategic advantage strengthening the position of the SolarCity in Solar energy storage technologies in the future, as well.
Canaccord Genuity has assigned Buy rating to SolarCity with a price target of $94.00
What to expect in 2Q results?
SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) is expected to release its second-quarter results on Thursday, where analysts are expecting it to post a loss. On an average analyst are expecting the company to post a loss of $73.3 million, or 99 cents per share compared to a loss of 31 cents per share in the previous year.
Sales are expected to come in at $63.2 million, compared to $37.9 million in the second-quarter of 2013. SolarCity shares gained 68% in the past 12 months and 23% so far this year. In last three months, the company has gained 30%.
Key areas that analysts are focusing this quarter are updates on the reduced cost or any plans for the same. Also, the company is expected to talk about its targets for Silevo and probable timing of the planned Solar panel plant, which will be set up in the New York.
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