Photo: Asurnipal / CC BY-SA 4.0 (archive photo)
SolarEdge shares fell more than 8% before Wednesday’s opening bell after the solar-equipment maker forecast fourth-quarter revenue well below Wall Street expectations, overshadowing a smaller third-quarter loss.
The shares traded at $30.1709, down 8.24%, in Nasdaq’s quote stamped 8:12 a.m. Eastern on November 4. That is a premarket snapshot, not a regular-session closing price.
SolarEdge expects revenue of $245 million to $275 million in the quarter ending December 31, according to its earnings release. Analysts had expected about $318 million, Globes reported. Even the top of the company’s range is below that estimate.
The margin comparison needs a tariff qualifier
The company forecast an adjusted gross margin of 17% to 21% for the fourth quarter, compared with 34.7% in the third quarter. But those numbers are not a clean measure of the change in underlying operations: third-quarter results included a $36 million benefit related to IEEPA tariff matters, while the fourth-quarter outlook excludes potential IEEPA refunds.
That distinction matters to investors weighing whether the last quarter’s profitability can be repeated. A benefit tied to tariffs is different from revenue earned by selling more equipment, and SolarEdge is warning of softer near-term demand.
A smaller loss, but weaker sales
Third-quarter revenue was $326.1 million, down 4.1% from a year earlier and 5.8% from the previous quarter. The company reported a net loss under standard accounting rules of $8.4 million, or 14 cents a diluted share, compared with a $50.1 million loss a year earlier.
On its adjusted basis, SolarEdge earned $21.1 million, or 29 cents a diluted share, compared with an $18.3 million adjusted loss a year earlier. Adjusted earnings exclude certain items and should be read alongside the standard-accounting loss, not treated as a replacement for it.
Cash from operations was $20.4 million, and free cash flow was $7.8 million, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of positive free cash flow. That gives a different view of the business from the share-price decline, but it does not remove the weaker sales outlook.
Cost cuts and an AI push
Chief Executive Shuki Nir said the company is taking steps to reduce costs and narrow its focus as near-term market uncertainty persists. Globes had previously reported about 200 job cuts. Those cuts are earlier reporting, not a newly announced layoff round in Wednesday’s earnings release.
Nir also said SolarEdge is accelerating work on power infrastructure for AI data centers. Demonstrations of its solid-state transformer technology are drawing interest from potential partners and customers, according to the company. Interest and demonstrations are not the same as signed contracts or booked revenue; the release did not announce a new customer contract for that effort.
For solar installers and distributors, the practical signal is the weaker sales outlook and the company’s response on costs. For investors, the next test is whether demand and margins stabilize without relying on tariff-related benefits. The AI work offers a possible additional market, but it does not yet replace the near-term outlook for the solar business.
JBizNews Desk | Wall Street
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