Company Notes


October 17, 2024

Tesla Q3 Preview – We See a -18.3% Adj.-EPS Miss on Deck & a Hypothetical Fair Value of ~$60/shr (Even When Giving E. Musk Credit for His Perpetually Delayed Robotaxi “Promise”)

By Gordon L. Johnson II

We See a Significant Q3 Adj.-EPS Miss on Deck, as Well as Q3 Free Cash Flow of -$18mn vs. the Current Cons. Est. of +$1.635bn. Based on the analysis herein, we believe TSLA is slated…

Read More >>

October 8, 2024

What if the Cavalry (i.e., the “Magical Rebound” Wall Street Typically Predicts for Fallen Solar Stars) Isn’t Coming? Is SolarEdge Still a Good/Great Short Following its Recent Acute Slide?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

SolarEdge Still Boasts 4 BUYS, 28 HOLDS, w/ just 5 SELLS (despite collapsing -78.2% YTD vs. +19.4% for the S&P 500 YTD), and an Avg. Forward 12-Month Price Target of $32.45 (i.e., +58.9% upside from…

Read More >>

September 24, 2024

We See Tesla’s Q3 Deliveries Coming in Below Consensus’ 461.5K Est. & the Buyside’s >470K “Whispher”; Our Work Points to 456.6K in Q3, Up +2.9% QoQ

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Things Would Be Even Worse Without TSLA’s 1.99% 6yr APR Financing Offer in U.S./Canada. Based on the latest China data from early this morning (discussed below), updates from the 6 countries that report daily sales…

Read More >>

September 24, 2024

We See Tesla’s Q3 Deliveries Coming in Below Consensus’ 461.5K Est. & the Buyside’s >470K “Whispher”; Our Work Points to 456.6K in Q3, Up +2.9% QoQ

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Things Would Be Even Worse Without TSLA’s 1.99% 6yr APR Financing Offer in U.S./Canada. Based on the latest China data from early this morning (discussed below), updates from the 6 countries that report daily sales…

Read More >>

September 20, 2024

Iron Ore Price Downside Risk + Pending CAPEX Step-Up = Keep us Cautious on N-Term Outlook/Fundamentals; SELL

By Gordon L. Johnson II

So, Where Do We Stand on Fortescue and How Did its FY24 Results Impact our Outlook? Our SELL rating on FMG has been predicated on our negative 2024E-25E outlook for iron ore prices, as well…

Read More >>

September 12, 2024

Are Attendees at the RE+ Renewable Energy Conference in Anaheim, CA Correct to Say the European Solar Market is a “Mess” – Fireside Chat w/ Head of European Sales for Huawei

By Gordon L. Johnson II

What Are Our European “On-the-Ground” Contacts Saying About the State of Solar Demand in Europe? Following comments from our meetings at RE+ in Anaheim, CA this week (link), we had the opportunity to catch up…

Read More >>

September 10, 2024

While We Acknowledge Enphase Has Entered the Recovery Phase, at its Current 26.9x NTM P/E Multiple, is it All More Than “Priced in”, Suggesting the Valuation Remains Far Too Rich?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

We Acknowledge Enphase has Entered its Recovery Phase… But Does that Make it a BUY? Enphase reported 2Q24 sales of $303.5mn, missing Consensus’ est. of $309.9mn, but guided 3Q24E to $390mn (at the mid-point), suggesting…

Read More >>

September 9, 2024

Applying a Sum-of-the-Parts Valuation Approach (Which Values the Company With or Without Nippon M&A) We See Sig. N-Term Upside; Upgrade to BUY w/ $38.57/shr PT

By Gordon L. Johnson II

U.S. Steel’s Stock Price has Come Down a Lot, but Does that Create a Buying Opportunity? Since peaking at $49.59/shr 12/18/23, U.S. Steel’s (X; BUY) shares have fell -36.9% vs. the S&P 500 being up…

Read More >>

September 6, 2024

Is The State of California “Brewing” Up a Threat that Could Prove Existential for the Residential Rooftop Solar Industry… Unbeknownst to Solar Stock/ABS Investors?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

California is Considering Retroactively Cutting NEM 1.0 and 2.0 Benefits… But Why? As seen here, California is currently considering shifting NEM 1.0 and 2.0 customers, who pay ~2c/kWh for power, to the less advantageous NEM…

Read More >>

August 14, 2024

Is Another “Uranium Bull Run” Fated… Sooner, Even, Than Many Realize?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Is it Time to “Re-Up” the Nuclear Bull Thesis? In this note, we analyze the seasonality associated with the monthly purchase of U3O8 (in both volume and number of transactions, in our attempt to address…

Read More >>

August 8, 2024

The “Unveiling” of the Sunrun & Sunnova O&M Fraud & Why Sunpower’s Bankruptcy (Potentially) Poses an Existential Threat the Resi Solar Space

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Does the Recent Sale of Resi Solar Loans Suggest NOVA is “Hiding” an Imminent ~$1.6bn Impairment Charge, Does SPWR’s Bankruptcy Pose an Existential Threat to RUN/NOVA, & Why Have 3 U.S. Gov’t Agencies Opened an…

Read More >>

July 30, 2024

After Recalibrating Our Bottom-Up CSIQ Revenue-Driver Model, Our 2024E Yr-End Price Target Adjusts Higher to $12.28/shr From $9.10/shr Prior; Are Consensus’ 2024E CSIQ Estimates “Stale”? Maintain SELL

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Our Checks Suggests Investors Remain Excited About Canadian Solar’s Ability to Sell its Utility-Scale Solar Pipeline. In recent discussions with solar investors, we’ve learned that many feel CSIQ’s 5.0GW of Recurrent Energy solar project development…

Read More >>

July 23, 2024

Tesla 2Q24E Earnings Preview – Numerous Puts/Takes this Quarter (Rate Buy Downs + Restructuring Costs + Stronger Energy Profit + Less Chinese Exports + etc.) Make It Hard, But We Expect a “Modest” Earnings Miss

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Admittedly, 2Q24E is Not an Easy Quarter to Model for Tesla. In the below, we consider various moving parts in TSLA’s 2Q24E model, including: (a) 57.146K more cars sold in 2Q24E QoQ (a positive), (b)…

Read More >>

July 17, 2024

It Looks Like the Sun is Setting on SunPower

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Wow… That Can’t be Good. Below, in Ex. 1, we provide a letter sent by SunPower (SPWR; SELL) to its customers around 1:39pm EST today. In what follows, we provide our take. SunPower is No…

Read More >>

July 15, 2024

SunPower Issues What We See as Among the Most “Shockingly Bad” 8-K Disclosures We’ve Seen in our ~22yrs Analyzing Stocks (yet, it seems, NO ONE CARES [for now])

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Hold On… Come Again? Last Friday, unbeknownst to many (it seems), SPWR (link) filed an amendment to its July 3rd 8-K, which provided additional information, this time from Ernst & Young (“EY”). more specifically, in…

Read More >>