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Earnings Preview: FuelCell Energy

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After markets closed on Wednesday, American Eagle Outfitters beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines. The company also raised fiscal 2024 revenue and operating income guidance. Shares traded down about 0.9% in the first half hour of trading on Thursday.

ChargePoint missed consensus estimates on both the top and bottom lines. The loss per share was well more than double the expected loss, and revenue, though up 39% year over year, was about 2% lower than expected. Downside revenue guidance for the current quarter and the full fiscal year made matters worse. Shares traded down more than 26%.

C3.ai beat consensus earnings per share (EPS) and revenue estimates. The company posted a per-share loss of less than half the consensus and a year-over-year revenue jump of nearly 11%. The stock traded down 17%.

GameStop beat both top-line and bottom-line estimates. GameStop’s loss per share was much lower than expected, but it was still a loss. Revenue was up about 2.4% year over year. Investors did not think the results were good enough, and the stock traded down 1.7%.

UiPath also beat earnings and revenue estimates but issued downside revenue guidance for the current quarter. Upside revenue guidance for the full fiscal year helped offset the disappointing third-quarter guidance. Shares traded up nearly 7% early Thursday.

DocuSign, Kroger and Smith & Wesson are on deck to report quarterly results either Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.

Here is a preview of what analysts expect when FuelCell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) reports results before markets open on Monday.

This hydrogen fuel cell maker has seen its share price decline by nearly 65% over the past 12 months, including a plunge of more than 50% since the beginning of 2023. Major players like Shell and Air Products & Chemicals are building green hydrogen plants in Europe because the EU has stricter and more strictly enforced carbon emissions targets than other countries. Can smaller outfits like FuelCell Energy hang on long enough to keep going on their own or be acquired? And how green is green (or blue) hydrogen anyway?

Earlier this week, Credit Suisse announced that it had boosted its stake in FuelCell Energy by nearly 45% in the first quarter of this year. That brings the total value of the bank’s stake in the company to around $2.64 million in a portfolio valued at more than $3 trillion.

Of nine analysts covering the stock, none has a Buy or Strong Buy rating, and three have a Sell or Strong Sell rating. Shares trade at around $1.30, implying an upside of 92.3% based on the median price target of $2.50. At the high price target of $3.00, the implied gain is about 131%.

Consensus estimates call for fiscal third-quarter revenue of $28.4 million, which would be down 25.7% sequentially and by 33.9% year over year. The company is expected to post a per-share loss of $0.08, better than the prior quarter’s loss per share of $0.09 and flat year over year. For the full 2023 fiscal year that ends in October, analysts expect a loss per share of $0.29, slightly better than last year’s loss of $0.32 per share, on sales of $132.85 million, up 1.8%.

FuelCell Energy is not expected to post a profit in 2023, 2024 or 2025. The stock trades at a 2023 enterprise value to sales multiple of 3.4. The estimated multiple for 2024 is 2.4, based on sales of $186.66 million, and for 2025, the estimated multiple is 1.6 on sales of $280.4 million. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $1.31 to $4.49. The company does not pay a dividend, and the total shareholder return for the past year was negative 65.06%.

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