Sunrun Inc. (RUN)


August 15, 2025

US Treasury Guidance on President Trump’s Executive Order Essentially Excludes Resi Solar from Sig. Harm; Upgrade to HOLD as N-Term, we No Longer See a SELL Rating as Fitting

By Gordon L. Johnson II

The US Treasury Has Issued Guidance… and it Couldn’t Be Better News for the Residential Solar Space. While many thought President Trump’s Treasury department was going to kill the loophole that allowed residential solar companies…

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August 8, 2025

Sunrun Seems to Be Betting the IRS Is Too Dumb to Notice a Definition Change Worth Billions in Tax Credits

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Is Sunrun Counting on the IRS to Be as Inept with Safe Harboring as It Has Been with the Recursive ITC? Earlier this week, we highlighted Sunrun’s own guidance that its inventory will balloon from…

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August 7, 2025

SunRun’s Safe Harbor Guidance Suggests a “Beavis and Butt-Head Bank” Exists, and is Chomping at the Bit to Incinerate $1bn in Cash

By Gordon L. Johnson II

So, Despite: Reporting 2Q25A Op. Cash Flow of -$293mn (Cons. -$142mn), 2Q25A Free-Cash-Flow of -$985mn (Cons. -$565mn), The Trump Administration’s Ongoing Attempts to Shut Down the U.S. Solar Industry, Seeing All its Peers Recently Go…

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July 16, 2025

How’s Demand for SunRun’s Most Recent Asset-Backed-Security Solar Bond (SUNRN 2025-2 Solar Lease/PPA ABS) “Faring”?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

So… What’s the Update on SunRun’s SUNRN 2025-2 Solar Lease/PPA ABS Bond? In our attempt to keep tabs on the state of affairs in the solar Asset-Backed-Security (“ABS”) space, below we provide visibility into what…

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June 17, 2025

Our Analysis of Sunnova’s Hidden “Second Set of Books” + US Senate’s Tax-and-Spend Bill Language = We Downgrade Sunrun from HOLD to SELL; Our Year-End ’25 PT is Now $0.01/shr (-99% Downside)

By Gordon L. Johnson II

In the Infamous Words of Famed Children’s Character Porky Pig… “T-T-T-That’s all folks”! In this note, via math and an extremely (simplified) explanation, we detail why, barring SunRun’s ability to (in our opinion) inflate the…

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May 30, 2025

We Upgrade Sunrun to HOLD from SELL on: (a) Recent Collapse in Share Price + (b) Risk that Senate Budget Bill Language Favors Resi Solar = Risk of N-Term/Swift Move Higher in Shares; L-Term, we Still See Core Business as Structurally Flawed (due to RUN understating the O&M expenses associated with its SPVs)

By Gordon L. Johnson II

We are Upgrading Sunrun to HOLD from SELL as the “Solar Friendly” Senate is Set to Return from Adjournment Jun. 2nd (i.e., Monday). While we continue to see RUN’s business as structurally flawed (given our…

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November 6, 2024

We Believe Donald Trump’s New IRS Commissioner Will Reduce SunRun’s Ability, Via Section 1603, to Inflate the Value of its Systems 78.8%-to-213.0% for US Tax Credit Purposes; Downgrade to SELL; 2024E PT $7.78/shr

By Gordon L. Johnson II

We Downgrade SunRun to SELL on Donald Trump’s U.S. Presidential Victory. With a new IRS Commissioner imminent, we move our rating on SunRun to SELL and re-introduce our 2024E year-end price target of $7.78/shr, or…

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October 31, 2024

Our Trading Call on Sunnova Falls Flat – NOVA Reports “Nightmarish” 3Q24 Figures

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Cash Incinerating “Science Project” Company Sunnova Exhibits What it Does Best… Burn a Heap Load of Free-Cash-Flow (“FCF”). Yesterday, after the close, cash-incinerating third-party solar EPC/financing science-project company NOVA reported 3Q24 rev/adj.-EPS/FCF of $235mn/-$0.98/-$559.0mn vs….

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October 28, 2024

Upgrade to HOLD on Risk Into Earnings; Long-Term Stance on Core Business Being a Cash-Incinerator Unchanged

By Gordon L. Johnson II

Sunrun Reports Earnings Next Week on Thursday. Ahead of RUN’s 3Q24E results next Thursday, in this note, we detail why we believe being short the stock (into earnings) carries with it quite a bit of…

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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 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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February 29, 2024

If We Told You Sunrun’s Recent Convertible Bond Cost ~15.4% (or 8.14% for the Debt Portion Alone), Funds Which it is Investing into “Assets” that Generate ~3.7% Returns… Would that Make it More Compelling as a Short?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

The Cost of Sunrun’s Recent $475mn Convertible Bond Issue May Surprise You (link). As a reminder to those who don’t have a doctorate in “bond math”, when an investor buys a convertible bond they are…

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February 1, 2024

Are Residential Solar Companies Targeting “Low-Income”/Poor Folks w/ Predatory Loans, Actually Increasing the Financial Burden on America’s Most Vulnerable?

By Gordon L. Johnson II

We Have Constructed a Model Based on a 7.5kW and 3.5kW Residential Rooftop Solar Home System Financed via a Loan in Greenwich, CT, Using NREL’s PVWatts Calculator; Our Findings were Rather Surprising Given the US…

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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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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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