Major PVEP (Photovoltaics Energy Provider) SunPower expects full-year 2015 GAAP revenue to be around 50% lower than in 2014, due to the impact of establishing its JV yieldco vehicle with First Solar.
After the IPO of 8point3 Energy Partners, SunPower has for the first time this year provided full-year guidance.
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The company guided 2015 GAAP revenue of US$1.50 billion to US$1.70 billion, down 50% at the low point of guidance, compared to 2014 GAAP revenue of US$3.027 billion, up from US$2.507 billion in 2013. Gross margin for the year was guided at between 10 to 12% and a net loss per diluted share of US$2.35 to US$2.05.
Capital expenditure was also lowered from previous guidance of US$300 million to US$350 million to a range between US$250 million to US$300 million in 2015.
Remaining capacity constrained, SunPower guided full-year module deployments of 1.25GW to 1.3GW for 2015, compared to PV Tech estimates of 1.3GW in 2014 and 1.03GW in 2012.
Second quarter GAAP revenue was below market expectations at US$381 million, compared to US$440.9 million in the first quarter of 2015. Gross margin (GAAP) dropped to 18.6%, down from 20.6% in the prior quarter.
SunPower noted in an earnings call that it remained at full production utilisation rates and expected the new Fab 4 to produce around 225MW of solar cells in 2016.
‘Meaningful megawatts’ from Fab 4 were said to be expected in the first quarter of 2016, compared to previous stated expectations of Fab 4 operating by mid-2015.
The fab was said to be coming online ‘later this year,’ according to management.
The company expects third quarter GAAP revenue to be in the range of US$400 million to US$450 million and have deployed between 300MW to 330MW.
The company said that it was raising its EBITDA guidance range for 2015, originally given at its Analyst Day event last November due to the positive impact of the yieldco.
SunPower expects EBITDA to be in the range of US$425 – US$475 million, compared to US$400 – US$450 million.
