Press Releases

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) today announced financial results for its fiscal 2014 third quarter.

¹Information about SunPower's use of non-GAAP financial information is provided under "Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" below.

"Our third-quarter results reflect another strong quarter of execution, driven by significant demand for both distributed generation and power plant systems," said Tom Werner, SunPower president and CEO.  "Solar power is increasingly competitive with traditional energy sources in a number of markets, and we are well positioned to capitalize on this large opportunity by virtue of our industry-leading technology, competitive cost structure, substantial project pipeline, and ongoing manufacturing capacity expansion.

"Regionally, North America was once again the biggest contributor.  Construction of the 579-megawatt (MW) ac Solar Star Projects for MidAmerican Solar is on plan with 309-MW now connected to the grid.  Construction of our 135-MW Quinto project is proceeding and we recently closed financing for the project, consistent with our holdco strategy.  We also continue to see strong demand in the commercial sector as we booked more than 20-MW of power purchase agreements (PPA); including a 16-MW ground mounted solar project for the University of California at Davis.  When complete, our UC Davis system will be the largest solar power plant on any U.S. university or college campus.  These commercial system PPAs are also structured in a way that is consistent with our holdco strategy.  We also added both new and repeat cash customers to our commercial backlog including a 10-MW expansion agreement with Verizon.  In the residential channel, third quarter bookings were up more than 50 percent sequentially as customers continued to choose SunPower for their solutions to take advantage of our quality, performance and flexible financing options. 

"In EMEA, we saw stable pricing against the backdrop of an evolving distributed generation market environment and continue to adapt our go-to-market plans accordingly.  In the power plant channel, we were awarded a four project, 41-MW supply agreement for Compagnie du Vent, a subsidiary of French utility GDF SUEZ in connection with the recent French national tender program.  With this supply agreement and our booked power plant projects, including the construction start of our 85-MW project in South Africa this quarter, we are confident in achieving our goals for this region," continued Werner.

"Japan remained the key driver of our Asia Pacific business, accounting for 28 percent of total shipments in the third quarter.  The very strong demand we see from Japan is a testament to the competitive advantage of our high efficiency technology in area-constrained sites and rooftops.  In China, we continued to expand our activities through our SunPower® C7 Tracker (C7) joint venture and expect to install more than 30-MW of C7 power plant systems by the end of the year.  With strong positions in both Japan and China, we expect Asia Pacific to continue to be a major market for SunPower going forward.     

"Finally, on the operations side, we achieved a major milestone during the quarter as we produced our one billionth solar cell, representing a cumulative output of more than three gigawatts.  We also continued to improve and scale our industry-leading solar panel technology.  With the ramp of our next generation solar cell technology in Fab 4 starting next year, we expect to further reduce our competitive cost structure while adding capacity to meet the increasing demand for our high efficiency solar systems," Werner concluded.  

"Strong execution enabled us to meet or exceed our financial targets for the quarter as we continued to see increased demand for our technology across all markets," said Chuck Boynton, SunPower CFO.  "We exited the third quarter with total liquidity of $1.2 billion while successfully managing our working capital as inventory declined 15 percent sequentially.  With our strong balance sheet, we have the resources needed to continue to strategically develop our holdco project portfolio while funding the ramp of Fab 4.   We remain committed to optimizing our cash flow and further investing in our next generation research and development."

Third-quarter fiscal 2014 non-GAAP results include net adjustments that, in the aggregate, increase net income by $14.4 million, including a ($0.7) million gross margin adjustment related to the timing of revenue recognition from utility and power plant projects, $13.7 million in stock-based compensation expense, $5.5 million in non-cash interest expense, $6.1 million of other adjustments and ($10.2) million in tax effect.

Fourth Quarter 2014 Financial Outlook
The company's fourth quarter 2014 consolidated non-GAAP guidance is as follows: revenue of $575 million to $625 million, gross margin of 19 percent to 21 percent, net income per diluted share of $0.15 to $0.30 and megawatts recognized in the range of 300 megawatts to 340 megawatts.  On a GAAP basis, the company expects revenue of $675 million to $725 million, gross margin of 22 percent to 24 percent and net income per diluted share of $0.20 to $0.35.

For fiscal year 2014, the company's expectations are as follows:  non-GAAP revenue of $2.58 billion to $2.63 billion, gross margin of 19 percent to 20 percent, net income per diluted share of $1.25 to $1.40, capital expenditures of $150 million to $170 million and gigawatts recognized in the range of 1.26 gigawatts to 1.3 gigawatts.  On a GAAP basis, the company expects revenue of $2.535 billion to $2.585 billion, gross margin of 20 percent to 21 percent and net income per diluted share of $0.95 to $1.10. 

Fourth quarter and fiscal year 2014 GAAP guidance excludes a potential timing benefit of approximately $450 million in revenue and $0.90 in earnings per share related to the real estate accounting treatment of our 579-MW Solar Star projects.  This benefit may occur in the fourth quarter but was not included in the company's current fourth quarter GAAP guidance due to the timing uncertainty of this benefit.

SunPower will provide the company's fiscal year 2015 outlook at its Analyst Day to be held on November 13, 2014 in New York City starting at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.  Please note that the entire event will be webcast and relevant materials will be posted to the company's website prior to the commencement of the event.  To listen to the webcast, investors are encouraged to visit the company's Events and Presentations section of the SunPower Investor Relations page at http://investors.sunpower.com/events.cfm to register.

The company will host a conference call for investors this morning to discuss its third-quarter 2014 performance at 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time.  The call will be webcast and can be accessed from SunPower's website at http://investors.sunpower.com/events.cfm.

This press release contains both GAAP and non-GAAP financial information.  Non-GAAP historical figures are reconciled to the closest GAAP equivalent categories in the financial attachment of this press release.  Please note that the company has posted supplemental information and slides related to its third-quarter 2014 performance on the Events and Presentations section of the SunPower Investor Relations page at http://investors.sunpower.com/events.cfm.  The capacity of power plants in this release is described in approximate megawatts on a direct current (dc) basis unless otherwise noted.

About SunPower Corp.
SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) designs, manufactures and delivers the highest efficiency, highest reliability solar panels and systems available today. Residential, business, government and utility customers rely on the company's quarter century of experience and guaranteed performance to provide maximum return on investment throughout the life of the solar system. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., SunPower has offices in North America, Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia. For more information, visit www.sunpower.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding:  (a) expanding our manufacturing capacity, including our Fab 4 ramp up; (b) anticipated construction timelines and milestones for our major projects; (c) growing demand in our North America commercial business as well as in residential leasing, and financing arrangements and capacity relating to our residential lease program; (d) financing strategies for our solar power systems, including any holdco strategies; (e) growing demand in Asia, particularly in Japan; (f) our growing international project pipeline; (g) expansion of our joint venture initiatives in China; (h) our efforts to reduce panel manufacturing costs and improve our competitive cost structure; (i) our positioning for long-term profitability; (j) strategically managing cash; (k) guidance for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2014, including non-GAAP revenue, gross margin, net income per diluted share and MW recognized and GAAP revenue, gross margin and net income per diluted share; (l) guidance for fiscal year 2014, including non-GAAP revenue, gross margin, net income per diluted share and GW recognized and GAAP revenue, gross margin and net income per diluted share; (m) reducing operating expenses; (n) generating free cash flow; (o) additional leasing capacity; and (p) optimization of our cost and capital structure.  These forward-looking statements are based on our current assumptions, expectations and beliefs and involve substantial risks and uncertainties that may cause results, performance or achievement to materially differ from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: (1) competition in the industry and downward pressure on average selling prices; (2) our liquidity, substantial indebtedness, and our ability to obtain additional financing for our projects and our customers; (3) risks relating to our residential lease business, including risks of customer default, challenges securing lease financing, and declining conventional electricity prices; (4) our ability to meet our cost reduction targets; (5) regulatory changes and the availability of economic incentives promoting use of solar energy; (6) challenges inherent in constructing and maintaining certain of our large projects, such as the Solar Star projects; (7) the success of our ongoing research and development efforts and commercialization of new products and services; (8) fluctuations in our operating results; (9) maintaining or increasing our manufacturing capacity, containing manufacturing costs, and other manufacturing difficulties that could arise; and (10) challenges managing our joint ventures. A detailed discussion of these factors and other risks that affect our business is included in filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from time to time, including our most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, particularly under the heading "Risk Factors." Copies of these filings are available online from the SEC or on the SEC Filings section of our Investor Relations website at investors.sunpower.com. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information currently available to us, and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events.

SunPower is a registered trademark of SunPower Corp. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement its consolidated financial results presented in accordance with GAAP, the company uses non-GAAP measures that are adjusted for certain items from the most directly comparable GAAP measures, as described below. Management adjusts for these items because it does not consider such items when evaluating the core operational activities of the company. The specific non-GAAP measures listed below are revenue, gross margin, net income, net income per diluted share, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), and free cash flow. Management believes that each of these non-GAAP measures is useful to investors, enabling them to better assess changes in each of these key elements of the company's results of operations across different reporting periods on a consistent basis, independent of certain items as described below. Thus, each of these non-GAAP financial measures provides investors with another method to assess the company's operating results in a manner that is focused on its ongoing, core operating performance, absent the effects of these items. Management uses these non-GAAP measures internally to assess the business, its financial performance, current and historical results, as well as for strategic decision-making and forecasting future results. Many of the analysts covering the company also use these non-GAAP measures in their analyses. Given management's use of these non-GAAP measures, the company believes these measures are important to investors in understanding the company's operating results as seen through the eyes of management. These non-GAAP measures are not prepared in accordance with GAAP or intended to be a replacement for GAAP financial data; the non-GAAP measures should be reviewed together with the GAAP measures and are not intended to serve as a substitute for results under GAAP, and may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies.

Non-GAAP revenue includes adjustments relating to utility and power plant projects as described below. Non-GAAP gross margin includes adjustments relating to utility and power plant projects, gain on contract termination, stock-based compensation, non-cash interest expense, and other items as described below. In addition to those same adjustments, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share are adjusted for the tax effect of these non-GAAP adjustments as described below. In addition to the same adjustments as non-GAAP gross margin, EBITDA includes adjustments relating to cash interest expense (net of interest income), provision for (benefit from) income taxes, and depreciation. Free cash flow includes adjustments relating to investing cash flows and lease financings as described below.

Non-GAAP Adjustments

• Utility and power plant projects. The company includes adjustments related to the revenue recognition of utility and power plant projects based on the separately-identifiable components of transactions in order to reflect the substance of the transactions. This treatment is consistent with accounting rules relating to such projects under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). On a GAAP basis, such projects are accounted for under U.S. GAAP real estate accounting guidance. Management calculates separate revenue and cost of revenue amounts each fiscal period in accordance with the two treatments above and the aggregate difference for the company's affected projects is included in the relevant reconciliation tables below. Over the life of each project, cumulative revenue and gross margin will be equivalent under the two treatments; however, revenue and gross margin will generally be recognized earlier under the company's non-GAAP treatment than under the company's GAAP treatment. Among other factors, this is due to the attribution of non-GAAP revenue and margin to the company's project development efforts at the time of initial project sale as required under IFRS accounting rules, whereas no separate attribution to this element occurs under U.S. GAAP real estate accounting guidance. Within each project, the relationship between the adjustments to revenue and gross margins is generally consistent. However, as the company may have multiple utility and power plant projects in progress at any given time, the relationship in the aggregate will occasionally appear otherwise. Management believes that this adjustment for utility and power plant projects enables investors to evaluate the company's revenue generation performance relative to the direct costs of revenue of its core businesses.
• Gain on contract termination. During the third quarter of fiscal 2013, the company agreed to terminate a contract with one of its suppliers. As a result, the company recorded a gain associated with the non-cash forfeiture of a previously recorded advance from the supplier. As this gain is nonrecurring in nature, excluding this data provides investors with a basis to evaluate the company's performance, including compared with the performance of other companies, without similar impacts.
• Stock-based compensation. Stock-based compensation relates primarily to the company's equity incentive awards. Stock-based compensation is a non-cash expense that varies from period to period and is dependent on market forces that are difficult to predict. Due to this unpredictability, management excludes this item from its internal operating forecasts and models. Management believes that this adjustment for stock-based compensation provides investors with a basis to measure the company's core performance, including compared with the performance of other companies, without the period-to-period variability created by stock-based compensation.
• Non-cash interest expense. The company separately accounted for the fair value liabilities of the embedded cash conversion option and the over-allotment option on its 4.5% senior cash convertible debentures issued in 2010 as an original issue discount and a corresponding derivative conversion liability. As a result, the company incurs interest expense that is substantially higher than interest payable on its 4.5% senior cash convertible debentures. The company excludes non-cash interest expense because the expense does not reflect its financial results in the period incurred. In addition, in connection with the Liquidity Support Agreement with Total executed on February 28, 2012, the company issued warrants to Total to acquire 9,531,677 shares of its common stock. The fair value of the warrants was recorded as debt issuance costs and amortized over the expected life of the agreement. As a result, the Company incurred non-cash interest expense associated with the amortization of the warrants. Management believes that this adjustment for non-cash interest expense provides investors with a basis to evaluate the company's performance, including compared with the performance of other companies, without non-cash interest expense.
• Other. Beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2013, the company combined amounts previously disclosed under separate captions into "Other" when such amounts no longer have a significant impact on the current fiscal period. Management believes that these adjustments provide investors with a basis to evaluate the company's performance, including compared with the performance of other companies, without similar impacts.
  The adjustments recorded in "Other" for the third quarter of fiscal 2014 are primarily driven by adjustments which would have previously been disclosed under "Restructuring charges" and "Change in European government incentives."
• Tax effect. This amount is used to present each of the adjustments described above on an after-tax basis in connection with the presentation of non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share. The company's non-GAAP tax amount is based on estimated cash tax expense and reserves. The company forecasts its annual cash tax liability and allocates the tax to each quarter in proportion to earnings for that period. This approach is designed to enhance investors' ability to understand the impact of the company's tax expense on its current operations, provide improved modeling accuracy, and substantially reduce fluctuations caused by GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, which may not reflect actual cash tax expense.
• EBITDA adjustments. When calculating EBITDA, in addition to adjustments described above, the company excludes the impact during the period of the following items:
  • Cash interest expense, net of interest income
  • Provision for (benefit from) income taxes
  • Depreciation

Management presents this non-GAAP financial measure to enable investors with a basis to evaluate the company's performance, including compared with the performance of other companies.

• Free cash flow adjustments. When calculating free cash flow, the company includes the impact during the period of the following items:
  • Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities
  • Proceeds from issuance of non-recourse debt financing, net of issuance costs
  • Proceeds from residential lease financing
  • Repayment of residential lease financing
  • Proceeds from sale-leaseback financing
  • Repayment of sale-leaseback financing
  • Contributions from noncontrolling interests and redeemable noncontrolling interests
  • Distributions to noncontrolling interests and redeemable noncontrolling interests

Management presents this non-GAAP financial measure to enable investors with a basis to evaluate the company's performance, including compared with the performance of other companies.

For more information about these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the tables captioned "Reconciliations of GAAP Measures to Non-GAAP Measures" set forth at the end of this release, which should be read together with the preceding financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP.