Company Notes


January 17, 2024

What do Last Night’s Tesla European Price Cuts Mean to the “Bottom Line”?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

So… are Last Night’s Tesla Car Price Cuts a Big Deal? In this note, ahead of a full update to our bottom-up TSLA earnings driver model due out later this week, we use a back-of-the-envelope…

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January 16, 2024

Is the Sun Setting on SunPower… or Has it Already Set (And the Masses Just Don’t Know it Yet)?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

In this Note, in Addition to Updating our Extensive Bottom-Up SunPower Earnings Driver Model, We Update our Outlook on the Company. In the analysis that follows, following: (1) the Dec. 22nd, 2023 decision by Atlas…

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January 12, 2024

Midnight Valantine’s Day “China-Price-Cut” Massacre Spells Trouble for Tesla’s (Already) Sputtering Margins

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Did Tesla, with its Recent Model 3 “Highland” Refresh, which Pundits Predicted Would Reinvigorate Demand in China (link), Just Slash its China Car Prices Just 12 Days into 1Q24? In short, the answer, resoundingly, is…

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January 3, 2024

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly on Tesla’s Record 4Q23 Deliveries (GLJ’s Quick Take)

By Gordon L. Johnson II

So… Tesla’s Q4 Delivery Number Came in a Bit Ahead of our Est. (and mostly in line with Consensus); what’s our Quick Take? Yesterday, ahead of the market open, TSLA reported 4Q23 deliveries of 484.507K…

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December 19, 2023

Has the Cost of Capital for RUN/NOVA/SPWR Actually Come Down as Goldman/Piper Sandler Claimed in their Recent Upgrades, or Did they Ignore the Recent “Blowout” in Solar ABS Spreads in Their “Analysis”?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Is the Sell-Side Right in Their Recent Claims that the Cost-of-Capital for the Solar Residential Rooftop “Mortgage Companies” (i.e., RUN/NOVA/SPWR/etc.) Has Dropped Given US Treasury Yields are Down, or Does Their Analysis Ignore the Recent…

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December 8, 2023

Adjusting Our Bottom-Up Jinko Solar Model for the Recent Global Solar Module Price “Crash”, we Look to Address How Much Incremental Earnings Downside the Company Has?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

How’d Jinko Solar Fare in 3Q23? In 3Q23, JKS reported rev/GM%/non-GAAP EPS of $4.4bn/19.3%/$2.55 (Street $4.2bn/14.95%/$1.18). And, on those results 10/30/23, we’ll remind our readers that JKS’ share price surged +10.3% (while the lion’s share…

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December 5, 2023

Is the Recent Surge in US HRC Spot Prices the Biggest “Head Fake” Since, Well, This Time Last Yr (Setting US Steel Stocks up for a Big Early ’24 Fall), or is it the “Real Deal”?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

The Spread Between US HRC Spot Prices and Foreign HRC Spot Prices Has Exploded Higher Recently; is it Justified? As detailed below (Ex. 1), since 10/13/23, US HRC spot prices have surged +$335/s. ton, vs….

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December 1, 2023

Is Wall Street Being Too Generous Modeling SolarEdge’s 2024E-25E Ests., Meaning, Similar to the 3Q23 Earnings “Debacle”, Sharp Forward Earnings Revisions Lower Are Fated?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Houston, We Have a Problem. As a reminder, when SEDG reported 3Q23 results a few weeks back, despite negatively preannouncing days prior (due to order delays/cancellations as customers double/triple ordered in 2022, primarily in Europe),…

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November 8, 2023

Fireside Chat w/ Leading U.S. Solar Parts Distribution Company and U.S. MLPE Inverter Leader Provide Further Insights into SolarEdge’s/Enphase’s N-Term Outlook

By Gordon L. Johnson II

What’s Up? In this note, following, what we see as incremental discussions we held this week with: (a) the leading distributor of solar parts in the U.S., as well as (b) the world’s leading multi-platform…

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November 2, 2023

Do Sunrun’s Q3 Results Suggest, Similar to the Mortgage Lenders in 2Q08, the “Solar Lenders” Could be Entering the “Beginning Innings” of the End-Game?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

So, How did Sunrun Fare in Q3? In this note, we provide our quick thoughts on Sunrun’s 3Q23 results reported last night, where the company: (a) saw -$804.7mn in free-cash-flow burn, despite cutting its staff…

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November 2, 2023

If you Think SolarEdge is Bad Now… in the Famous Words of Canadian Rock Band Bachman… “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”

By Gordon L. Johnson II

SolarEdge Falls as it Guides to 4Q23E non-GAAP (which is BS as stock comp counts) Operating Income Loss of -$106.9mn (vs. Street’s $11.3mn GAAP Est.). As of the writing of this note (i.e., 3:17am EST),…

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October 19, 2023

Our Key Takeaways from Tesla’s 3Q23 Results Where Auto Gross Margins (ex. Credits) Came in at 16.3%, or -172bps Below Consensus, & E. Musk Said his Cars are Still “Too Expensive”

By Gordon L. Johnson II

So How Did Tesla’s 3Q23 Results Come in vs. the Street’s Drastically Reduced Estimates? Last night, TSLA reported auto revs/auto-gross-margins (excl. credits) of $19.6bn/16.3%, missing Cons.’ $20.9bn/18.02% ests. by -6.44% and -172bps, respectively (we focus…

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October 17, 2023

Q3 Earnings Preview: Our Updated Tesla “Bottoms-Up” Earnings Driver Model Points to Misses Across the Board Tomorrow (i.e., Revs/Margins/Non-GAAP EPS Likely Set to Disappoint)

By Gordon L. Johnson II

What’s Up? In this note, we provide updates on: (a) our bottoms-up earnings driver model for TSLA, to include our updated 3Q23E, 2023E, 2024E, and 2025E earnings estimates, (b) wait times for new TSLA orders…

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October 4, 2023

Fireside Chat w/ Inverter Market Expert: Is SolarEdge Looking at an Armageddon-Like Situation w/ Respect to its Future Sales/Margins & are Bulls “Asleep at the Wheel” as it Relates to the Potential Risk Here?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

What’s the Latest on the US Inverter Market? Last night, after waiting for weeks for a response, one of our oldest US solar inverter contacts (we’ve been in touch with this individual since 2008), who…

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October 2, 2023

Tesla and the “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” Q3 Delivery Result – and No, The Miss is Not the Result of Line “Upgrades”

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Tesla Reports Q3 Production/Deliveries of 430.488K/435.059K, Missing the Cons’ est. of 461.992K/456.722K by a Mile. In this note, we discuss our views on TSLA’s just-reported 3Q23 production/delivery ests., which we previewed 9/18/23 when we said…

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