FTC Solar Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
November 12, 2024

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: The company reported that over 70% of current bookings are for its new 1P tracker products, opening up around 85% of the market and marking a key inflection in its product portfolio.
  • Positive Sentiment: FTC Solar entered into a binding term sheet to issue a $15 million five-year promissory note and also received a $4.7 million earn-out, boosting liquidity and capital stability.
  • Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue of $10.1 million declined 11.3% sequentially and 66.8% year-over-year, with a non-GAAP gross loss of $3.9 million and a GAAP net loss of $15.4 million, highlighting continued operating losses.
  • Positive Sentiment: The firm secured multi-year supply agreements including 500 MW with Strata Clean Energy, 1 GW with Dundee Energy, and additional 1 GW with Sand Hills Energy, supporting future delivery growth in H2 2025.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management expects to achieve quarterly profitability in 2025, citing a low breakeven revenue point of $50–60 million and strong product margins to drive margin expansion.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
FTC Solar Q3 2024
00:00 / 00:00

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

Thank you for standing by. My name is Louella, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the FTC Solar Third Quarter 20 24 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session.

Operator

Thank you. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Bill Michalek, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go

Speaker 1

ahead. Thank you, and welcome, everyone, to SEC Solar's Q3 2024 earnings conference call. Before today's call, you may have reviewed our earnings release and supplemental financial information, which we posted earlier today. If you've not yet reviewed these documents, they're available on the Investor Relations section of our website at ftcsolar.com. I'm joined today by Jan Brandt, the company's President and Chief Executive Officer Kathy Behnan, the company's Chief Financial Officer and Patrick Cook, the company's Head of Capital Markets and Business Development.

Speaker 1

Before we begin, I remind everyone that today's discussion contains forward looking statements based on our assumptions and beliefs in the current environment and speaks only as of the current date. As such, these forward looking statements include risks and uncertainties, and actual results and events could differ materially from our current expectations. Please refer to our press release and other SEC filings for more information on the specific risk factors. We assume no obligation to update such information except as required by law. As we expect, we'll discuss both GAAP and non GAAP financial measures today.

Speaker 1

Please note that the earnings release issued this morning includes a full reconciliation of each non GAAP financial measures to the nearest applicable GAAP measure. With that, I'll turn the call over to Yong.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Bill, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to speak with you all today on my first official earnings call as CEO. I'll focus my comments on the state of FPC Solar and my observations overall, as well as a few updates and then turn it over to Kathy to review the financials. Throughout my career, which has taken me across the solar and storage industries, people seem to primarily only remember how things end up and the successes we realize, not necessarily how they start. In the case of FCC Solar, I see my tenure starting with a company with a solid foundation made up of a great team and complete portfolio of tracker products and the potential to be enormously successful.

Speaker 2

While revenue is at an inflection point with gaps to be filled in with customer additions, both individual and portfolio projects. I believe the company is in an enviable position in many respects. This includes having a product set with features that customers love, a business they enjoy working with and a cost structure poised to enable strong margin growth and profitability. In addition, the company now has a compelling and expanded product set in the 1T or 1 panel and portrait market that opens up the vast majority of the market that wasn't available to the company in the past. In aggregate, I believe the company is in a strong position as it relates to some of the most critical aspects of the business and has had some recent business successes.

Speaker 2

Here at about the 90 day mark of my tenure at FCC Solar, I've met with dozens of customers, prospective investors and of course employees. I want to thank all of those constituencies as well as the Board of Directors for the fantastic welcome and the candid feedback and advice I've received, which I can tell you has been heard and very much appreciated. All of those conversations and my work before and during my time here have led to a few observations. But before I share these observations, I want to share an exciting update, which is that FCC has entered into a binding agreement to add additional liquidity to our balance sheet. This capital will be valuable improvement to our capital structure that was a missing link to some commercial opportunities in the past.

Speaker 2

This capital, in addition to the ability to convert inventory into cash, strengthens FTC and provides additional comfort that we're a tractor supplier that our customers can continue to rely on. Now turning to the observations. 1st, I believe FTC is now at an inflection point, thanks to the enormous traction in our 1P positioning and sales efforts. Over 70% of our bookings are now 1P Pioneer product. That compares to 1P revenues of only 16% 30% respectively in Q2 and Q3.

Speaker 2

It's well documented by now that the company has been out of position in the marketplace by not having a complete product portfolio inclusive of a single row 1P tracker available to the market, underscoring the importance of having innovative product market fit. While it has taken some time for the company to bring a compelling 1P solution to the market, introduce it to customers, get several projects in the ground, expand the offering and build a pipeline, the company has now done just that and is poised to prosper and expand in 2025. In fact, we now have our most complete 1P product portfolio, which is quite robust. Since our initial launch of the 1P, we have introduced high wind offerings that now extend up to 150 miles per hour, compatibility for all module types including ultra large format and Series 7 with the ability for the contractor and asset owner to make changes to module specifications late in the design process, and multiple features to reduce cut and fill, which would fall into the terrain following category, including a dual row option to name a few. We have spent most of this year working with customers to ensure we can support diverse sets of site conditions, including the various wind, module and terrain conditions customers may need.

Speaker 2

I believe we can now address the vast majority of the 1P market and importantly address all of those projects that asset owners are looking to invest in. We have transitioned from a 2P only company to one that is balanced with compelling 1P and 2P solution and can provide the optimal solution for each customer site, significantly increasing our total addressable market in the U. S. And key global solar markets. Think about it, we essentially opened up roughly 85% of the market by aggressively expanding into 1P.

Speaker 2

I believe the company's 2P product has always been top tier and we're the clear market leader in that segment now more than ever. In fact, 70% of our current purchase orders are now 1P and more than 80% of our outgoing proposals are 1P. I'm convinced that this compelling product line will enable us to gain real market share in several of the market segments and geographies in relatively short order. The second observation is that many customers find us amongst the easiest with which to do business. They value the relationships and experience working with our team.

Speaker 2

These relationships rooted in collaboration and decades of experience in the solar industry aligned with a deep understanding of what it takes to get a solar project built and operating for the long term. Customers do not want to duopoly. They want a healthy, robust and competitive tracker market, which supports competitive pricing, improves customer service experience and continued innovation gives them more options. Several customers have shared examples with me where the FCC team has gone above and beyond in one way or another, engaging with customers in ways that our competitors either can't, don't or perhaps no longer do. Lead times and support times matter, but it's more than that.

Speaker 2

FCC is a brand reputation much bigger than its current footprint and well regarded products and service. In my opinion, there's nothing stopping us from being one of the clear leaders in this industry. 3rd, our current quarterly revenue levels are also at an inflection point. While the company has had good amount of contracted business overall and is winning new business, the near term revenue run rate has been low. Even though we are poised to grow much faster than the market, getting from purchase order to the start of deliveries is a process that takes time.

Speaker 2

We are beginning to see 1P revenue make its way into our financial performance, but it is the start of the turn from this inflection point. We have many projects in flight and are working to increase our contracted backlog actively to enhance the volume of throughput. This low run rate means we're also currently not absorbing our fixed costs. We must give our team more overall volume to work with. Our cost structure is good and the breakeven revenue level is relatively low.

Speaker 2

So there's not a large ramp needed to get to profitability, but we're not there yet. As for capital, being new to the business, I have had a wide aperture that relates to what options to consider, from traditional fundraising to perhaps something more strategic. As I mentioned, today we announced we have entered into a binding term sheet with an investor group for the company to issue a 5 year promissory note in the principal amount of $15,000,000 This transaction is expected to close by the end of this month. As Kathy will discuss, we also received an additional $4,700,000 in cash after the end of the quarter from an earn out on a prior investment. These items along with the cash on the balance sheet, inventory and $65,000,000 remaining on the ATM puts FCC in an improved capital position going forward, providing the bankability that our customers want to see from us.

Speaker 2

4th, our solutions are widely viewed as easier, safer and faster to install, driven by significant innovations and key product features. Many of you may have seen our customer comments recently in press releases or social media referencing us having one of the fastest and easiest trackers to install. These are comments I continue to hear from our customers and prospects. For some, it's a matter of cost and labor efficiency. For example, a leading EPC shared that the mechanical installation of our tracker in their view is much faster than our competitors and results in significant savings.

Speaker 2

Safety is a significant factor of importance for all of our partners. Our features focus on safety by minimizing activities that can cause injuries and removing dangerous pinch points throughout the system. I'm sure many of you may have seen our videos on the LinkedIn page or YouTube showing how quickly and easily one can hang modules on our tracker. The crew just laid that panels down, draping them like a picture frame. This is our slide and glide technology.

Speaker 2

Folks on the other side are quickly securing them with a rubber mallet made possible by our cinch clips as opposed to having people hold the modules and threading and securing bolts. When taken in aggregate, the ease of module hanging, less work at height, pure connection points, no specialty tools and less torquing, for example, are found by customers to be easier, faster and safer for their crews. This can result in less time training new employees, more projects that can be completed in a year, doing our part as a key vendor to improve safety and worker injuries on solar projects. Easier, faster and safer impacts the entire life cycle from training to project completion and safe costs throughout, making projects more profitable and possibly higher cost projects economical. One final observation I wanted to share is that we are poised to achieve quarterly profitability in 2025.

Speaker 2

We have an excellent product cost structure that enables strong margins. I know the company has discussed in the past all the work that is done as part of the design to value and design manufacturing process. So I won't rehash that, but the work is now paying dividends to set the company up very well for the future. The direct margins on projects are healthy and will enable strong gross margin improvement at the top line scales driven by recognizing our already signed bookings as well as new book we will continue to add. We also have an efficient OpEx structure that doesn't sacrifice service to customers.

Speaker 2

The timing of the profitability depends on our growth in 1P and customer project timing. I'm going to resist putting out specific timing for the moment and I'll avoid throwing out aggressive targets. But I'm confident in our positioning and that we can see strong improvement in our results as we move forward. Before I turn it over to Kathy, I want to highlight some of our recent successes and momentum. 1st, towards the end of the quarter, we signed a multi year supply agreement with Stradex Clean Energy, a development EPC and O and M leader in the solar industry.

Speaker 2

The agreement is for at least 500 megawatts of 2P trackers and could expand to more than a gigawatt. They have said great things about our trackers and service, and we are honored to have their endorsement and continued business. 2nd, after the end of the quarter, we signed a 1 gigawatt supply agreement with Dunley Energy. The first project under that agreement is a 500 megawatt project under development in Nebraska with tracker deliveries expected to begin in the second half of twenty twenty five. Suddenly, it's a new customer and we are excited to work with them.

Speaker 2

3rd, we were recently able to share additional project details on the existing 1 gigawatt agreement with Sand Hills Energy. We have previously announced a 2 25 Megawatt project in Butler County, Nebraska, and we're able to share that we'll also be supplying nearby projects of 320 and 448 Megawatts, respectively. Tracker delivery on those projects is expected to begin in the second half of twenty twenty five. And finally, after the end of the quarter, we entered into a binding term sheet for the $15,000,000 note placement I mentioned, and we received $4,700,000 cash earn out from our previous investment in Dimension Energy. Dimension is a community solar developer in which the company invested $4,000,000 in 2018.

Speaker 2

FCC subsequently sold its stake in 2021 for $22,000,000 and has received earn outs of an additional $9,000,000 since then, including the $4,700,000 received in October. So not a bad result so far earning $31,000,000 on a $4,000,000 investment and we're eligible to receive up to another $5,000,000 based on their performance through the end of this year, which would be paid out in Q1. So in summary, as I take stock of our position as a company, I believe that we're in an incredibly fortunate situation in many respects and in one of the most critical aspects of the business. So yes, our revenue is at an inflection point and we need to fill gaps in project timing. But I also see us having an enviable position as it relates to having products that customers love, a business they love to work with, a cost structure that will enable strong margin growth and profitability and now a complete 1P product set that opens up essentially 85% of the market that wasn't available to us before.

Speaker 2

That's a pretty awesome position. Our stock price isn't yet reflecting this position or our potential. But as I said at the outset, people often forget where we start and only remember the successes we have from here. We'll see how it plays out this time around, but I'm optimistic about our future. With that, I'll turn it over to Kathy.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Jan, and good morning, everyone. I'll provide some additional color on our Q3 performance and our outlook. Beginning with a discussion of the Q3, revenue came in at $10,100,000 which was just above the midpoint of our target range. This revenue level represents a decrease of 11.3% compared to the prior quarter and a decrease of 66.8% compared to the year earlier quarter due to lower product volumes. GAAP gross loss was $4,300,000 or 42.5 percent of revenue compared to gross loss of $2,300,000 or 20.5 percent of revenue in the prior quarter.

Speaker 3

Non GAAP gross loss was $3,900,000 or 38.3 percent of revenue, which was within our target range, although a bit below the midpoint in part due to a product and service mix. The result for this quarter compares to a non GAAP gross loss of $1,900,000 in the prior quarter. GAAP operating expenses were $10,700,000 On a non GAAP basis, excluding stock based compensation and certain other costs, operating expenses were $8,100,000 down from $13,200,000 in the same quarter last year. This represents the lowest level in more than 3 years as we have found efficiencies across the company while continuing to invest to support growth. This result compares to non GAAP operating expenses of $8,300,000 in the prior quarter.

Speaker 3

GAAP net loss was $15,400,000 or $0.12 per diluted share compared to a loss of $12,200,000 or $0.10 per diluted share in the prior quarter and a net loss of $16,900,000 or $0.14 per diluted share in the year ago quarter. Adjusted EBITDA loss, which excludes an approximate $3,200,000 net loss from stock based compensation expenses and other non cash items, was $12,200,000 which was better than the midpoint of our guidance range. This compares to losses of $10,500,000 in the prior quarter and $9,700,000 in the year ago quarter. Finally, regarding liquidity. We ended the quarter with $8,300,000 in cash on the balance sheet.

Speaker 3

Subsequent to quarter end, we received $4,700,000 cash earn out relating to our investment in Dimension Energy. And as Jan mentioned, we entered into a binding term sheet for the company to issue a 5 year interest bearing promissory note in the principal amount of $15,000,000 The note bears interest at a rate of 11% per annum, payable semiannually if paid in cash or at our option a rate of 13% per annum if paid in kind. In connection with the agreement, the company intends to issue warrants with a 10 year term to purchase 17,500,000 shares of common stock. The transaction is expected to close by November 30 subject to customary closing conditions and the preparation of definitive documents. So we reduced our cash burn in the quarter and with these items expect to end Q4 with higher cash levels.

Speaker 3

We also continue to have about $65,000,000 remaining under the ATM program at the end of the quarter. With that, let us turn our focus to the outlook. Our targets for the Q4 call for the following: revenue between $10,000,000 $14,000,000 which would be approximately flat to up nearly 40% relative to the 3rd quarter. Along with this revenue level, we expect non GAAP gross loss between $4,200,000 $1,500,000 or between negative 42.2 percent and 10.7 percent of revenue. As you might expect, the percentage ranges vary more greatly at these lower revenue levels.

Speaker 3

Non GAAP operating expenses between $8,200,000 $9,000,000 and finally adjusted EBITDA loss between $13,700,000 $9,900,000 For the Q1, we expect continued improvement in revenue, margin and adjusted EBITDA and we continue to expect to achieve adjusted EBITDA breakeven on a quarterly basis in 2025. With that, we conclude our prepared remarks, and I will turn it over to the operator for any questions. Operator?

Operator

Your first question comes from the line of Sameer Joshi with H. C. Wainwright. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Yes, good morning. Thanks for taking my call. Yam, Kathy, that's it. Just a quick question on the 1P revenues. What proportion of the backlog or the current backlog is coming from that?

Speaker 4

And then just in terms of feedback from customers, just like 2P, are you getting feedback about the ease and safety of installation as well for 1P products?

Speaker 2

Sure. Thanks for the question. This is Jan. About 70% of our signed purchase orders today are in the 1P category. So we're going to start seeing revenues come in from the 1P category, as I mentioned in the prepared remarks.

Speaker 2

It's part of the inflection point that we're starting to see. About 16% 18% in Q2 and Q3 came from the 1P category, and that's going to continue to grow over time as those projects get to the start of construction. The feedback on the 1P has been excellent. As I mentioned, I've been visiting with a lot of the EPCs, the contractors that have to install it as well as the investors that are going to own the projects. There's some key features that make the system easier and faster to install as well as safer.

Speaker 2

It's an advantage of being the last 1P product to the market is that our team was able to build innovations on top of the products that were in the market, working hand in hand with potential customers to drive those innovations. The category that's interesting about FTC's 1P product is that it's not just a monolithic piece. I mentioned we have the high wind solutions all the way up to 150 mile an hour, especially with growth in solar in the Southeast and obviously the expansion of where hurricanes are heading. We have some trade following features. So it's not just the individual aspects of the product, but also how wide the product portfolio can span, which allows us to increase our share of wallet with customers regardless of where they're investing.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Jan, for that. I was going to go there in terms of the geographic diversity you mentioned. Can you just like qualitatively describe how your projects and your new projects are distributed geographically?

Speaker 2

Yes, our geography is pretty diverse. Obviously, we have a strong focus on the U. S, but also in some international markets. But in the U. S, we're seeing strong growth in the Northeast, which has its own challenges with terrain, the value of land, so density is really important.

Speaker 2

Let's focus on wind and hail, for example. But the strong markets continue to be the Southwest and Texas, but we're seeing strong growth in Northeast as well as now with the high wind product, we see a good opportunity in the Southeast.

Speaker 4

Got it. And then just in terms of the macro environment, not the interest rate environment, but the political environment, do you expect to see any headwinds, any tailwinds based on what happened last week in the election?

Speaker 2

Yes. I mean, look, we don't solar is going to continue to be strong. Politically speaking, solar continues to thrive. And I want to remind everyone, from 2017 to 2020, solar had nearly 100% growth, right, growing from about 11 gigawatts up to 20 gigawatts in 20 20. We've seen tariffs and ITC extension, tax credit extension when both parties were in power.

Speaker 2

So solar has headwinds and tailwinds regardless of who's in the White House and who has control of Congress. There's obviously a lot of utilization of the solar tax credit as well as the storage tax credits that enable more projects to get done. 85% of the domestic manufacturing in the U. S. Is in Republican Congressional Districts.

Speaker 2

So and now we have, Siya put out numbers about 45 gigawatts of domestic supply being built here in the U. S. So with the data center growth and what the utilities are saying the base load growth rate is, the energy is going to have to come from somewhere and solar is the easiest, fastest, cheapest choice as well as being the cleanest and has one of the largest development pipelines out there.

Speaker 4

Yes, no, yes, makes sense. We agree. One last question on the outlook for 4Q. It seems based on the outlook for the non GAAP gross profit number relative to the revenue outlook, the margin seems to be pretty healthy. Is it because of product mix or some other like pricing or something is at play here?

Speaker 2

Yes. Let me have Kathy chime in

Speaker 3

here. Yes. Thanks, Sameer. This Kathy. Yes, it's really driven by the product mix that we have in Q4.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thanks. I'll take my other questions offline. Thanks.

Speaker 3

Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Graham Price with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I guess first one for me. In the past, you talked about kind of a breakeven revenue range of around $50,000,000 to $60,000,000 And you brought up kind of a breakeven point briefly in the comments. Just wondering if that's still a decent rule of thumb and how that might have changed with the heightened shift towards 1?

Speaker 2

Sure. Kathy?

Speaker 3

I'm sorry, Grant, could you repeat your question? I was getting a breakup.

Speaker 5

Sure, sure. No problem. I was just asking, in the past, you've discussed a breakeven revenue range of around $50,000,000 to $60,000,000 We're just wondering if that still holds, especially given the shift to 1P?

Speaker 3

Okay. Thanks, Grant. Yes, that still holds. We are still looking at $50,000,000 to $60,000,000 as our breakeven point. We experienced really pretty similar margins on 1P and 2P, and it really has more to do with the with product mix in terms of timing of the projects throughout the quarter.

Speaker 3

But yes, 50 to 60 is still our breakeven point.

Speaker 5

Okay, got it. Perfect. And then maybe one quick one on the guidance. I understand that you're not providing $0.25 revenue guidance here, but just wanted to get a general sense of the cadence. I assume it's likely to be more back end loaded than this year?

Speaker 2

Yes. Graham, good question. I mean, look, we have a pretty strong time purchase order backlog that we're walking into 2025 in addition to the commercial traction that we're seeing that will add to it. Our expectation is about 60% of the signed backlog is going to start recognizing revenue in 2025. Even though we're in the middle of the annual operating plan process, we do see strong growth potential in 2025, not just on that time backlog, but the expansion of that and the commercial opportunities we're seeing with the our existing customers and new ones that we're adding to the roster.

Speaker 5

Got it. Thanks. And then last one from my end, just wanted to check on the Strata supply agreement. I wanted to verify that those are only 2P deliveries. And just wondering if there could be any future opportunity for 1P on that project.

Speaker 5

And then maybe more broadly, just your thoughts on opportunity to cross sell between 1P and 2P?

Speaker 2

Yes, absolutely. So the MSA currently is on 2P. Strata has been a long time user and a big fan of the feature set. And a lot of that is driven by the fact that FTC didn't have a 1P product available to the market until recently, particularly with the same feature set that makes it easier and faster and safer to install. So I think we're going to have more and more opportunities as people look at their product mix and their supplier base for their projects, especially the larger EPCs, they plan out more than 3, 4 quarters at a time.

Speaker 2

We're having opportunities to bid many of these projects. Just to give you a sense, in Q3 of this year, our average proposal, 80% of which was 1P, the average project size was 160 megawatts. So we're seeing the inclusion of FTC in that product mix. I think it makes us an obvious top 4 player here in the U. S.

Speaker 2

Tracker landscape, especially with having access to domestic content, etcetera. So we have strong 2P customers. It's still the majority of our revenue today. But the inflection point is driving clear signals that our 1P is gaining adoption, not just we're definitely working on Strata, but many others as well. And 1P and 2P are really product solutions for different project types, right?

Speaker 2

So the more expensive land cost and density becomes an important factor for consideration. 2P is a really good choice. We're a very clear market leader in the 2P category, not a lot of our peers have a 2P solution. And we obviously have one of the largest track records in the market with our 2P. With you add that to the 1P catalog, provides a technical solution for almost every project in an investor's portfolio.

Speaker 5

Understood. Thank you very much. I'll jump back in the queue.

Speaker 2

You bet.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, seeing Ladies and gentlemen, seeing as there are no further questions, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

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