As of this writing, shares of SolarCity had dipped by 4.73% to $54.40 per share after tonight’s earnings report
SolarCity released its latest earnings report after closing bell tonight, posting losses of $1.33 per share, excluding items, and basic and diluted losses of 4 cents per share on $71.8 million in revenue for the December quarter. Analysts had been expecting the solar panel system installer to post losses of $1.27 per share on $71.8 million in revenue for the fourth quarter.
In the same quarter a year ago, SolarCity reported basic earnings of 31 cents per share, diluted earnings of 28 cents per share and revenue of $47.3 million.
Key metrics from SolarCity’s earnings report
SolarCity deployed a total of 176 megawatts—a 70% increase year over year—and booked 206 megawatts—a 103% year over year increase—during the fourth quarter. That includes 147 megawatts of residential solar power systems, which is a 110% increase year over year.
At the end of the quarter, the company had 190,000 solar customers and $2.8 billion worth of solar power systems capitalized on its balance sheet. SolarCity reported $5 billion left in Estimated Contracted Payments Remaining. The company added 21,318 new customers during the quarter. Average cost per watt rose 9% year over year to $2.86.
The company said its energy production approached 1 terawatt-hour in all of 2014, thus driving greater long term value. As of the end of the year, SolarCity had a cumulative 1,069 megawatts deployed and a retained value forecast of $2.423 billion.
SolarCity also reported a solid start to its solar loan offering, MyPower. The loans made up almost 30% of the company’s total residential bookings during the quarter.
SolarCity issues guidance
Management expects to deploy between 920 and 1,000 megawatts of solar panels this year. They said SolarCity started off the year with enough of a backlog to cover most of the expected installations for the first half of this year. The company intends to ramp up its installation capacity pas 1 gigawatt by the end of this year.
For the first quarter of this year, management expects to install 145 megawatts of solar panels. They project GAAP revenue of between $47 million and $52 million in revenue from operating leases and solar energy systems incentives. Revenue from solar energy system and component sales is projected to be between $6 million and $8 million.
SolarCity management expects non-GAAP losses per share of between $1.65 and $1.75 per share for the first quarter.
