Shares in Sacramento-based SPI Energy Co. Ltd. rose 9.2% Monday following the company's earnings release and following a more than two-hour investor presentation after the close of trading on Friday.
The company's presentation included reports from all of its varied units, which includes its solar panel manufacturing operation in Sacramento; its new silicon wafer operation in the Southeast, and its majority-owned operations that include electric vehicle maker Phoenix Motorcars and solar companies Orange Power and SolarJuice Australia.
SPI Energy saw sales of $47.9 million in the first quarter this year, up 24% from the previous year.
"We are pleased to report strong results for the first quarter of 2023, with total revenues up 24.4% compared to the same period last year," said SPI Energy CEO Xiaofeng "Denton" Peng. "This continuing growth reflects our strategy of expanding our position as a global renewable energy provider, and we are confident in our outlook for the remainder of 2023."
SPI shares closed Monday at $1.30, up 11 cents, or 9.24% from Friday's close. The shares traded up another 1 cent on Tuesday.
The company had a net loss attributable to shareholders of $9.4 million in the first quarter, compared to a loss of $6.8 million the previous year period.
The company's earnings in the first quarter don't include a federal tax incentive of 7 cents per watt of solar power under the Inflation Reduction Act as the company is awaiting clarity related to how it should account for the benefit.
Peng said SPI is anticipating many future benefits from the Inflation Reduction Act, including a 10% tax credit for manufacturing with domestic content, the 7-cents-per-watt manufacturing incentive for American-made solar photovoltaic modules and other tax credits.
During the first quarter, "we continued to move forward and build upon the strong foundation we have established in key areas of the renewables sector, including American solar manufacturing, battery storage and electric vehicles, which positions us extremely well to capitalize on a wealth of opportunities to expand our project pipelines, grow consistent cash flows from our operating assets, and increase our gross margin and profitability in the quarters ahead as we continue to drive SPI Energy's long-term success," Peng said in a news release.
In April, SPI subsidiary SEM Wafertech Inc. announced it would invest $66 million in Sumter, South Carolina, to build out a silicon wafer slicing facility and an additional line of photovoltaic panels.
The company leased an existing building and plans to stand up manufacturing by the end of this year. That operation is expected to create about 300 jobs. The silicon wafers produced at that plant will be used at its new panel line in Sumter and at SPI's solar panel lines in Sacramento.
SPI's McClellan factory has a year-old production line capable of producing 150 megawatts of electricity annually. The company recently installed a new larger line, which when it reaches full production, will be able to produce 550 megawatts of annual capacity. Another 550-megawatt manufacturing line is in planning stages for the existing building in Sacramento. When that third line starts, it will make SPI's Sacramento operation the largest domestic solar panel manufacturing plant, said Hoong Khoeng "HK" Cheong, SPI's chief operating officer. SPI makes solar panels in Sacramento under the name Solar4America.
SPI is the majority share owner of Anaheim-based Phoenix Motor Inc. (Nasdaq: PEV), which also has a pickup truck subsidiary in Livermore called EdisonFuture.
In August last year, Phoenix bought the fuel cell manufacturing assets of Altergy Systems in Folsom. Altergy started in 2001 to make hydrogen fuel cell generators as backup power for the telecom industry. Phoenix said it wanted the Folsom manufacturing line to design and produce hydrogen fuel cells for use in forklifts, buses, vans and trucks.
SPI's Orange Power unit develops commercial and utility-scale solar arrays.
