Enphase's (ENPH) Product Demand Augments in South Carolina
Enphase Energy, Inc. ENPH recently announced that its Enphase Energy Systems, powered by IQ8 Microinverters, are witnessing increased deployments in South Carolina. This entails the strong demand for Enphase products in the region, which should boost the company’s revenue generation prospects.
Enphase’s Prospects in the United States
The recent Inflation Reduction Act by the White House has extended the investment tax credit and has a provision for 11 cents per AC watt production-based tax credit for the domestic manufacturing of microinverters. Considering this, Enphase is actively looking at expanding manufacturing capacity in the United States.
The company has begun the shipments of Enphase microinverters from its contract manufacturer, Flex, in Romania in the first quarter of 2023. In July, ENPH started the shipments of microinverters manufactured by Flex in Columbia, SC.
The company is also on track to begin shipping with the third contract manufacturer in the third quarter. It expects to ship approximately 600,000 microinverters to customers in the third quarter from its U.S. manufacturing facilities.
Enphase is also planning to open six manufacturing lines by the end of 2023, adding a quarterly capacity of 4.5 million microinverters, thus bringing its total quarterly capacity to more than 10 million microinverters by the end of 2024. Such capacity maximization should boost the stock’s shipment count, thereby significantly bolstering its future revenues.
Peer Prospects
Per the report from the Energy Information Administration, the United States is projected to witness a solar capacity addition of nearly 43% or 32 gigawatts (GW) in 2023, the largest increase since 2016. The report further expects solar generation capacity to increase by a further 30% or 31 GW in 2024.
This bodes well for companies like Enphase Energy with widening business prospects in the United States. Other companies that may also benefit from the expanding solar market are as follows:
First Solar FSLR: It is the largest U.S. solar module manufacturer. First Solar recently announced its fifth manufacturing capacity in Louisiana, which, together with other planned facilities, will assist the company in growing its manufacturing footprint to approximately 14 GW in the United States.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 sales suggests a growth rate of 34.4% from the prior-year reported figure. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 earnings has been revised upward by 1.4% in the past 60 days.
SolarEdge SEDG: The company is currently planning to establish manufacturing capabilities in the United States by using contract manufacturers and establishing its manufacturing facility. SEDG expects to ramp up the shipments of inverters from a contract manufacturer's U.S. manufacturing site toward the end of 2023.
The long-term earnings growth rate of SolarEdge is 30.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2023 sales suggests a growth rate of 24.5% from the prior-year reported figure.
Canadian Solar CSIQ: The company announced in June 2023 that it is building its first manufacturing facility in the United States for producing solar photovoltaic modules. The company has picked up Mesquite, TX, as the location for its first-ever manufacturing base in the nation.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Canadian Solar’s 2023 earnings calls for a growth rate of 67.4% from the prior-year reported figure. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CSIQ’s 2023 sales implies a growth rate of 24.4% from the prior-year reported figure.
Price Movement
In the past month, shares of Enphase Energy have dropped 25.3% compared with the industry’s decline of 14.4%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Zacks Rank
Enphase Energy currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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First Solar, Inc. (FSLR): Free Stock Analysis Report
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