Company Notes


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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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)…

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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…

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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…

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July 15, 2024

How Does Our Bridge to Both Tesla’s 2Q24E EPS and Free-Cash-Flow Compare to the Current Consensus Estimates?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

What Does Our Bridge to Tesla’s 2Q24E EPS and Free-Cash-Flow Say vs. the Current Consensus Estimates? In the below, we provide our bridge to TSLA’s 2Q24E GAAP/non-GAAP EPS and free-cash-flow (“FCF”) when considering: (a) TSLA’s…

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July 11, 2024

Is Cleveland-Cliffs Offering HRC Steel for Under $600/ton to Fill its Order Books… Setting the Stage for a N-Term Price Hike Announcement?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Our Checks Suggest Cleveland Cliffs May be Trying to Stop the Bleeding of Hot-Rolled-Coil Prices Falling. In checks we conducted yesterday, we were informed that CLF is alleged to be offering a significant baseload of…

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July 8, 2024

SunPower’s “Surreptitious” 8-K Released at 5pm EST After the Markets Closed on July 3rd Confirms our Worst Fears; Reiterate SELL & Subdued Outlook

By Gordon L. Johnson II

SunPower Releases “Horror Show” of an 8-K, After the Markets Closed July 3rd at 5pm EST (almost as if to “sneak” it by investors ahead of a national U.S. holiday). In short, another day, another…

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July 1, 2024

We Expect Tesla’s 2Q24E Deliveries to Come in at 416.027K (i.e., -10.8% YoY), Marking the Worst-Ever Delivery Growth for the Company in Terms of Quarterly Annual %-Change

By Gordon L. Johnson II

As Has Become Custom, Ahead of Fundamentally Bad News, Tesla’s Stock Rallies. Despite what we expect to be a sizeable 2Q24E delivery miss when TSLA reports numbers tomorrow (i.e., 416.027K [Europe – 70.463K; U.S. –…

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