“In the second quarter, ChargePoint showed strong growth. Our $150 million in revenue represents a 39 percent year-over-year increase despite a sluggish economy,” CEO Pascual Pat Romano said in a news release.
Strong expansion, but below Wall Street expectations. Analysts had been looking for a loss of 13 cents on sales of $153.2 million.
The manual is below the road consensus. Looking ahead, ChargePoint expects to generate between $150 million and $165 million in third quarter sales. Wall Street projected about $178 million. For the full year, the company expects sales to come in between $605 million and $630 million. Wall Street had projected about $667 million.
Shares were down 10.6% at $6.31 in premarket trading, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures were down 0.3% and 0.6%, respectively.
“As we wait for the latest headwinds….ChargePoint’s [guides] They were below our revised expectations,” JP Morgan analyst Bill Peterson wrote in a Thursday report. “Growth is still constrained by reduced demand spending in some markets, fleet growth as well as a lack of vehicle supply.”
ChargePoint still rated the stock a buy, calling it the North American EV charging leader, but cut its price target to $10 from $13. Stifel analyst Stephen Gengaro also buys the stock. He maintained his price target at $17.
“The lower guidance is due to recent macro headwinds, and while we remain confident in ChargePoint’s business strategy, we expect the shares to be weaker following the results and outlook,” Gengaro said Wednesday evening. “Positively, the long history appears intact.”
Management plans to return to positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, in the fourth quarter of 2024, a little over a year away, indicating that the overall business is healthy.
In the year As of July 31, 2023, the company has $263.9 million of cash on its books. Wall Street projects ChargePoint will spend about $110 million on its operations in the final two quarters of fiscal 2024.
Coming into Thursday’s trading, ChargePoint stock is down about 26% since Jan. 1 and is down 56% over the past 12 months. Rising interest rates and a slowing economy have dampened investor enthusiasm for stocks in start-up companies.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]
