Bloom Energy’s sales soar as tax break returns

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Bloom Energy photo of Newark plant.
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Bloom Energy’s   first earnings report as a public company showed the  fuel cell maker posting nearly $170 million in revenue in the second quarter, nearly double the figure from the same time a year ago.

Bloom reported a second quarter  loss of $44.7 million, compared to a loss of $63.5 million during the same period a year earlier.

 In spite of the red ink, Bloom shares have soared from the $15 stock offering price to $27.

The northern California company announced its public stock offering raised about $284 million. This came after federal tax credits were granted to the company, which lost the breaks in 2017.

Bloom operates a production plant in Delaware and has a system of fuel cells that feed power into the Delaware grid.

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“Electricity is the lifeblood of the digital economy. The strength of our results in the second quarter reflects the critical value and importance that customers place on the highly reliable, resilient, clean and cost-effective power that our solutions provide. The world needs better electricity, and that is what Bloom offers,” said KR Sridhar, CEO. “We are gratified by the response to our recent initial public offering and look forward to delivering significant value to our shareholders in the years to come.”

In a  letter to shareholders, the company reported installations that include 178  stores of The Home Depot. The installations allow the home improvement giant to operate, even during periods of power outages. Communications giant AT&T has installed 85 fuel cells.

The need for home improvement stores and communications systems to operate after severe storms is viewed as a  key factor in recovery efforts, especially after the lengthy outages that took place after Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast.

The company sees further potential in healthcare and data center markets while pointing to increasingly volatile weather and cybersecurity threats that can have the potential to hit the power grid.

It also took note of the previously announced deployment of Bloom fuel cells  in Brooklyn that helped reduce the utility ’s cost in dealing with a growing electricity demand coming from the turnaround of the  New York borough.

A major customer for Bloom is The Southern Co., a utility that is installing the fuel cells in its territory.

Bloom did not hold the traditional earnings call for analysts, citing the short period of time between the second quarter report and the stock offering. An earnings call will be held for the third quarter.

CEO Sridhar took some heat for claiming after the stock issue that the company was profitable. The company quickly corrected the statement.

Click here  for the  letter to shareholders

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