On Thursday, Wells Fargo kept its Equal Weight rating on Bloom Energy Corp . (NYSE:BE) with a steady price target of $14.00. The firm adjusted its quarterly forecasts for the company, redistributing expected revenues from the third quarter to the fourth quarter to better align with historical seasonal patterns while keeping its full-year projections for 2024 unchanged.
In a recent update call with Bloom Energy's new head of Investor Relations, Michael Tierney, Wells Fargo shifted its third-quarter revenue estimate to $377 million from $417 million, which is below the consensus of $392 million. The third-quarter EBITDA forecast was also reduced to $35.6 million from $44.1 million.
This adjustment is based on the pattern observed over the past five years, where the third quarter typically accounts for approximately 25% of Bloom Energy's total annual revenues.
For the fourth quarter of 2024, Wells Fargo increased its revenue forecast to $547 million, up from the previous $507 million. The EBITDA expectation for the same quarter has been raised to $102.9 million from $94.5 million. These adjustments reflect the analyst's anticipation of stronger performance toward the end of the year.
Despite these quarterly shifts, the firm's overall outlook for Bloom Energy remains unchanged for the full year 2024. Wells Fargo continues to project annual revenues of $1.5 billion and EBITDA of $130.6 million. These figures are in line with the firm's expectations before the update call and reflect the company's financial position and market performance.
In other recent news, Bloom Energy's Chief Commercial Officer, Aman Joshi, was granted performance-based stock options for the purchase of a target of 180,000 shares of Class A common stock. Despite an outflow of $175.5 million due to an increase in receivables, Bloom Energy ended the quarter with a strong cash position of $637.8 million.
BMO Capital maintained its Market Perform rating on Bloom Energy, acknowledging its recent business development, including a $79.8 million follow-on order from Quanta Computer Inc. However, the firm expressed a cautious stance on Bloom Energy's revenue growth prospects for 2025.
Jefferies downgraded Bloom Energy's stock from Buy to Hold, adjusting the price target to $11.00 and reducing revenue estimates for 2025 and 2026 to be 15% and 25% below consensus estimates, respectively.
RBC Capital, on the other hand, maintained its Outperform rating on Bloom Energy's shares, with a steady price target of $15.00.
Other recent developments include Bloom Energy's ongoing partnership with SK ecoplant Co., Ltd., with an agreement in place for SK to purchase 500MW of Bloom's solid oxide fuel cells between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2027.
This partnership underscores the company's commitment to the Korean market, which is seen as a critical region for Bloom's global strategy. The company expects to maintain its shipment volumes to Korea over the next few years at levels consistent with recent years.
InvestingPro Insights
Recent InvestingPro data provides additional context to Wells Fargo's analysis of Bloom Energy Corp. (NYSE:BE). The company's market capitalization stands at $2.41 billion, with a price-to-book ratio of 5.69 as of the last twelve months ending Q2 2024. This high P/B multiple aligns with one of the InvestingPro Tips, which notes that BE is "Trading at a high Price / Book multiple."
Despite Wells Fargo's maintained Equal Weight rating, InvestingPro Tips highlight some challenges for Bloom Energy. The company is "Quickly burning through cash" and "May have trouble making interest payments on debt," which could explain the analysts' cautious stance. However, there's a positive outlook as "Net income is expected to grow this year," and "Analysts predict the company will be profitable this year," potentially supporting Wells Fargo's unchanged full-year 2024 projections.
It's worth noting that BE's revenue for the last twelve months ending Q2 2024 was $1.33 billion, with a quarterly revenue growth of 11.52% in Q2 2024. This growth trajectory could support Wells Fargo's expectation of stronger performance in the fourth quarter.
For investors seeking a more comprehensive analysis, InvestingPro offers 12 additional tips for Bloom Energy, providing a deeper understanding of the company's financial health and market position.
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