Investing

Earnings Previews: Ballard Power, Blink and Rivian

Paul Ausick

Published: March 9, 2022 11:35 am

After markets closed Tuesday, online apparel retailer Stitch Fix reported better than expected quarterly results but issued downside guidance. In premarket trading Wednesday morning, the stock was down about 20%. Fashion retailer Express beat on both the top and bottom lines and guided 2023 revenues above estimates. Shares traded up nearly 10% early Wednesday.

Campbell Soup reported mixed results Wednesday morning and the stock traded up about 1%. Container shipping firm Zim beat quarterly revenue and earnings estimates and declared a dividend of $17 a share to shareholders of record on March 23. Shares traded up more than 10% in Wednesday’s premarket session.

We already have previewed reports due out after markets close Wednesday and before they open on Thursday: CrowdStrike, First Majestic Silver, JD.com and KE Holdings, as well as two tech companies set to share their results after Thursday’s closing bell: DocuSign and Oracle.

Here is a look at two other companies set to report results after markets close Thursday and one reporting after the close on Friday.

Ballard Power

Shares of hydrogen fuel-cell maker Ballard Power Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDP) rose by 75% in early February of 2021, only to lose about 72% in the 13 months following that peak. The company is scheduled to report December quarter earnings after markets close Friday.

This past month, the stock has added more than 30% to its share price since February 23, the day before Russia invaded Ukraine. The threat to global oil and natural gas supplies has pumped up solar and other alternative energy stocks: Bloom Energy (up 35.4%) and FuelCell Energy (up 34.8%) are doing even better. Hydrogen semi-truck makers Nikola and Hyzon are up 10.5% and 19.6%, respectively over the same two-week period.

Analysts are cautious on Ballard Power Systems. Thirteen of 24 brokerages have Hold ratings while nine have a Buy or Strong Buy rating. At a recent price of around $11.90 a share, the upside potential based on a median price target of $18.50 is 55.5%. At the high price target of $40.00, the upside potential is 236%.

Ballard Power is expected to report fourth-quarter revenue of $29.86 million, which would be up 18.5% sequentially and up 4.4% year over year. Analysts are forecasting a loss per share of $0.07, better than the prior-quarter loss of $0.10, but a penny worse than the loss in the year-ago quarter. For the 2021 fiscal year that ended in December, analysts are forecasting a loss per share of $0.31, worse than the $0.20 per-share loss last year, on sales of $97.34 million, down 6.3%.

The company is not expected to post a profit in either 2022 or 2023. The stock’s enterprise value to sales multiples for 2021, 2022 and 2023 are 23.2, 18.4 and 12.1, respectively. Ballard Power does not pay a dividend, and total shareholder return for the past 12 months is negative 50.8%.

Blink

Shares of electric vehicle charging station maker and distributor Blink Charging Co. (NASDAQ: BLNK) surged in late January of 2021 to a 12-month gain of more than 500%. Since then, the stock has tumbled by about 60%. Blink reports results after markets close Thursday.

The recent run-up in crude oil prices has boosted the stock by about 9.5% since the beginning of Putin’s war, less than a third of the boost enjoyed by rival ChargePoint. Shares hit a recent peak in mid-November and have dropped by 48% since then. A further threat to charging vendors like Blink is shaping up from startups that swap out batteries so drivers do not have to charge them.

Analysts remain mildly bullish on the stock. Only seven brokerages cover the company, and three rate the shares at Hold while four more have either a Buy or Strong Buy ratings. At a share price of around $24.30 a share, the upside potential based on a median price target of $39 is 60.5%. At the high target of $50, the potential upside is 106%.

Fourth-quarter revenue is forecast at $6.2 million, down 3.1% sequentially but up by 153% year over year. On a GAAP basis, the estimated loss per share is $0.39 for the quarter, worse than the loss of $0.36 per share in the prior quarter and worse than the year-ago loss of $0.24 per share. For the 2021 fiscal year, analysts expect Blink to post a loss per share of $1.25, compared to last year’s loss of $0.59 per share, on revenue of $19.18 million, up 208%.

Blink is not expected to post a profit in 2021, 2022 or 2023. The enterprise value to sales multiple is expected to be 43.9 in 2021, 27.3 in 2023 and 14.5 in 2024. The stock’s 52-week range is $17.93 to $49.00. Blink does not pay a dividend. Total shareholder return for the past year is negative 29.2%.

24/7 Wall St.
6 Inflation-Busting REITs to Buy That Pay 5% or Higher Distributions

Rivian

Since its initial public offering in early November of last year, shares of Rivian Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ: RIVN) soared to a gain of nearly 120% before pulling back to their current level of down about 55%. Rivian reports quarterly results after markets close Thursday.

Questions about the company’s ability to deliver its all-electric pickups have been underlined by last week’s now-withdrawn announcement of price increases of $10,000 to $20,000 for pre-ordered RT1 pickups. The announcement did not sit well with investors or customers, and founder and CEO RJ Scaringe backed off, saying, “Trust is hard to build and easy to break.”

Of 15 analysts covering the stock, 11 have given the stock a Buy or Strong Buy rating and the rest have  Hold ratings. At a share price of around $44.90, the upside potential based on a median price target of $130.00 is nearly 190%. At the high target of $148.00, the upside potential is almost 230%.

Analysts expect Rivian to report fiscal fourth-quarter sales of $60.03 million and an adjusted loss per share of $1.97. For full fiscal 2021 ending in December, analysts are forecasting an adjusted loss per share of $8.73 on sales of $60.74 million.

For 2022, analysts expect Rivian’s enterprise value to sales multiple to be 14.3. For 2023, the multiple is forecast at 5.7. Rivian does not pay a dividend.