Leading microinverter firm, Enphase Energy, has produced a string of records in reporting fourth quarter 2013 and full-year results.
The company reported a record US$67.1 million in revenue on the back of a record 107MW of microinverter system shipments that resulted in a record 32% gross margin. Cumulative microinverter shipments have passed the 5 million mark and 1.2GW (DC).
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The company shipped around 485,000 microinverters in the fourth quarter, of which approximately 20% were its fourth generation system. Overseas revenue represented approximately 15% of total shipments.
Gross margin for the fourth quarter was also a company record coming in at 32.3%, the first time margins had exceeded the 30% threshold.
“We ended 2013 with a breakthrough fourth quarter,” said, Paul Nahi, CEO of Enphase. “We posted the highest revenue in our company's history, shipping over 100MW for the first time in any quarter, while our record gross margin marks the first time we have exceeded 30% in any quarter. Combined with our ongoing focus on expense management, we were able to post a non-GAAP operating profit for the first time in Enphase's history.”
The company posted its first quarterly non-GAAP operating profit in the fourth quarter of 2013, though net loss was lowered to US$2.8 million.
Enphase reported full-year 2013 revenue of US$232.8 million, up 7% compared to 2012. Excluding the US 1603 Cash-Grant Program that expired at the end of 2011, the company claimed revenue increased by around 23% year on year.
Regional sales
Enphase management noted that it believed its US residential market share was over 45% (by megawatts) and over 50% by revenue, while residential sales in the US had grown by 45% in 2013, compared to the previous year.
Although the US market continues to dominate sales, both the UK and Australian markets continue to gain traction.
Management claimed that in the fourth quarter of 2013, it held over 6% of the UK inverter market, emphasising that educating installers and providing training was a key reason behind the growth in the UK.
Competition concerns
Enphase management said that it was not currently experiencing any tangible competition from rivals such as SMA Solar, which just launched its next-generation microinverter product offering.
“Actually our main competition right now continues to be the standard string in central inverters,” noted, Nahi in the conference call to discuss financial results. “We are not seeing any significant or any meaningful contribution to the competitive landscape from either the DC optimisers or our competition microinverters. At this point, it becomes very clear, I think to all inverter companies that if they want to stay relevant in the global rooftop market, they are going to have to produce a microinverter, and several of them have. But once again, they are not really providing yet any meaningful competition. We expect that to change and we expect them to be very strong competitors over time, but not necessarily with their first-generation product.”
Guidance
Enphase said that it expected revenue for the first quarter to be in the range of US$54 million to US$57 million, due to seasonality, yet the company noted that at the midpoint of the revenue outlook range, revenue would be up 22% compared to the first quarter of 2013. Gross margins were expected to be in the range of 30% to 33%.
