FuelCell Energy tallied $62M loss
FuelCell Energy inched sales back upward in the final three months of its fiscal year, even as the Danbury company quietly put up as collateral its interests in a pair of power plants backed by the state, as part of a $100 million loan it secured in December.
FuelCell plants generate electricity through a chemical process the company likens to that of a battery. The state has subsidized the installation of FuelCell plants in Bridgeport, Hartford and elsewhere to make the total cost competitive with other electric generators, such as natural gas plants.
Under CEO Chip Bottone, FuelCell has its main manufacturing plant in Torrington where the company has been hiring as it readies to increase production by half to fulfill contracts, and where it is consolidating some production that has been performed at its Danbury headquarters.
On Thursday, FuelCell reported sales of $17.9 million in the fourth quarter, up from $12.1 million in the third quarter though well below the $47.9 million it took in a year ago.
Despite those deals and others — the company estimates its product and services order backlog at a record $2 billion — FuelCell generated a $62.2 million loss for its 2018 fiscal year ending in October, including $14.1 million in its fourth fiscal quarter not including additional amounts accrued by investors holding preferred stock.
On a conference call Thursday morning, Bottone said FuelCell’s actions in 2018 have “set the company up quite well,” in his words, to generate growth going forward, and maintained his opinion that investors are not adequately valuing the company’s shares which traded Thursday morning at 55 cents, less than a third of their value of a year ago.
“We recognize the need to deliver results,” Bottone said. “Relative to our ability to compete, I think we’ve done a very nice job with that.”
Last fall, FuelCell announced plans to acquire a 14-megawatt power plant in Bridgeport it had constructed for Dominion — a “showpiece facility” as Bottone described it Thursday — with the company telling investors it expects to generate $150 million in revenue from the plant. FuelCell is also completing a small plant on
Adding to the uncertainty is that investors will not be getting December’s monthly retail sales data next week from the Commerce Department if the government shutdown is still in effect, as most observers expect. Saunders said investors are also worried that a recovery among traditional stores like Macy’s is losing momentum, raising concerns that they might have to ramp up investments even more to increase sales.
Analysts say factors like a shift to online spending and consumer
preferences for experiences like spas and restaurants have hurt impulse spending that likely put a dent in December’s figures for Macy’s and Kohl’s.
Online sellers are relentlessly growing their share of retail sales. In November, e-commerce and catalog sales jumped 10.8 percent from a year earlier, according to Commerce Department data, more than double the overall sales increase of 4.2 percent. Department store sales slipped 0.2 percent during the same period.
And Marshal Cohen, chief industry advisor at NPD Group, estimates that as much as 40 percent of shoppers bought experiential gifts this holiday season, up from 25
percent just a few years ago.
Analysts also point to factors that hit Macy’s in particular. Some believe, for instance, the company may not have done enough to bring in consumers to make its merchandise and marketing compelling enough to compete against online players like Amazon.
Target, on the other hand, bucked the trend by posting strong online growth in November and December. Merchandise ordered online and picked up at stores surged 60 percent. Those sales are key to Target’s campaign to hold online retailers like Amazon at bay, particularly during the competitive holiday season, because shoppers can dodge shipping fees.
Target Corp. said Thursday that sales at stores open at least a year increased 5.7 percent in the period, up from 3.4 percent a year earlier. Comparable online sales climbed
29 percent.
The company still expects fullyear adjusted earnings in a range of $5.30 to $5.50 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet foresee
$5.39 per share. The maintained outlook may have disappointed investors.
Macy’s on Thursday lowered its fiscal 2018 earnings outlook to
$3.95 to $4 per share from its prior per-share earnings for $4.10 to
$4.30 per share. That’s well below the per-share projections of $4.23 from industry analysts.