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Vivint Solar ‘s ( VSLR ) SunEdison ( SUNE ) woes benefited competitors SolarCity ( SCTY ) and Sunrun ( RUN ) in January and February, as the pair swiped market share and drove pricing up 5%, a Credit Suisse analyst wrote Thursday. Intraday on the stock market today , Vivint Solar stock sank about 6%, heading toward a four-day losing streak. Shares are down 64% for the year, including a 20% single-day plunge on March 8 when it scrapped its sale to SunEdison . Wall Street gave 1.2% back to the solar name on March 9, when Vivint Solar announced its plan to sue SunEdison for “willful breach” of contract. SunEdison stock was down more than 1% Thursday afternoon, but SolarCity was up about 1.5%, and Sunrun trended up more than 3%. IBD’s 21-company Energy-Solar industry group was up more than 1%, and ranks 48 out of 197 groups tracked. Vivint Solar’s Q4 results reinforced uncertainty that began with SunEdison’s planned acquisition in July 20, Credit Suisse analyst Patrick Jobin wrote in a research report. Jobin retained his neutral rating on Vivint Solar stock but slashed his price target to 6 from 16.50. Shares hit a year-high July 21 and then plunged through December as SunEdison cut its bid on Vivint Solar, leading Vivint to question SunEd’s ability to pay. Analysts, meanwhile, said Vivint’s fundamentals had deteriorated on the shaky M&A ground. Headcount in Vivint’s operations and sales/marketing segments have declined 17% and 9%, respectively, since Q2 2015, “validating concerns of human capital loss during the drawn-out uncertainty of the company’s acquisition by SunEdison,” Jobin wrote. That uncertainty played out in Q4 when Vivint Solar reported 59 megawatts in installations, down 3% sequentially and below Jobin’s expectations for 60 MW. But bookings jumped 54% year over year, and 13% sequentially, to 80 MW. With only enough tax equity to fund 55 MW in current-quarter deployments, Vivint Solar needs to access more tax equity funding or seek aggregation facilities, Jobin wrote. As of Dec. 31, the company had fully drawn its working capital facility, but it still had $456 million in aggregation facilities and loans. But, Jobin noted, the most recent loan — a $200 million bridge financing loan — “appears to be at onerous terms.” The first $75 million will incur a 5.5% interest rate, according to Vivint Solar’s 10-K, filed March 14. The remaining $175 million will be at an 8% interest rate. Scalper1 News
Scalper1 News