Bloom Energy Falls 9.2% as Cash Burn Overshadows Q3 Beat and Raised Guidance
BE has more than doubled off its 52-week low of $75.7.
Summary
Bloom Energy beat Q3 expectations and raised full-year guidance, yet shares fell 9.2% early Friday as investors focused on cash generation. Q3 revenue more than doubled to $1.24B from $519M, and the company swung to a $250.3M profit, or $0.78 a share, from a $23.1M loss a year earlier. The problem is the cash line: Q3 operating cash outflow was $27M and free cash flow was negative $181M, reversing Q2's $226M operating inflow and $175M FCF as working capital and manufacturing investment absorbed cash. Oppenheimer's Colin Rusch flagged $430M of growth in customer assets as a likely overhang until deployment cash cycles are confirmed, while Citi called it a 'good quarter, crowded trade, tough reaction.' Full-year guidance rose to adjusted EPS of $3.10-$3.40 on revenue of $4.4B-$4.6B, but gross margin guidance stayed at ~34%, which Morgan Stanley's David Arcaro called conservative.
At the time of this announcement, BE was trading at $197.63 on NYSE in the Energy & Transportation sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $58.2B. The 52-week trading range was $75.70 to $351.28. This news item was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10. Source: Seeking Alpha.