Array Technologies, Inc. Reports Financial Results for the Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020

by in Finance

Fourth Quarter 2020 Financial Highlights

  • Revenue of $180.6 million
  • Net Loss of ($9.8) million
  • Basic and Diluted Net Loss per share of ($0.08)
  • Adjusted EBITDA of $20.0 million(1)
  • Adjusted Basic and Diluted Net Income per share of $0.08(1)

Full Year 2020 Financial Highlights

  • Revenue of $872.7 million
  • Net Income of $59.1 million
  • Basic and Diluted Net Income per share of $0.49
  • Adjusted EBITDA of $160.5 million(1)
  • Adjusted Basic and Diluted Net Income per share of $0.93(1)

(1) A reconciliation of the GAAP to the most comparable Non-GAAP results is included below.

PVTIME – Array Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRY) has announced financial results for its fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2020.

“I am proud of what the Array team accomplished in 2020. We met the unique challenges posed by the pandemic and delivered strong financial performance while laying the groundwork for continued growth in 2021 and beyond. We exceeded the high end of our guidance with revenues and adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2020 increasing 35% and 32%, respectively, versus last year. Our results reflect strong demand for solar energy projects, share gains by trackers versus fixed tilt and customer recognition of the superior value that Array products deliver,” said Jim Fusaro, Chief Executive Officer of Array Technologies.

Mr. Fusaro continued, “In 2021, we remain focused on the three core growth strategies that we outlined on our third quarter conference call – continued market share gains in the U.S., international expansion and acquisitions of companies that provide complementary products, services or technology – and we are already making good progress.   In the U.S. market, we are continuing to grow our wallet share with existing customers as well as convert new customers to Array as demonstrated by our strong order book. Outside of the U.S., we are in the process of building the sales, supply chain and fulfillment infrastructure we need to service international customers. We expect to be able to accelerate the build-out later this year as travel restrictions and other challenges created by the pandemic abate. We also made a recent investment in a company with a unique technology that we believe could revolutionize the way utility-scale solar is installed.”

“Cutting across all three of our growth strategies will be product innovation. We are making significant investments in new product development with the goal of addressing common ‘pain points’ in utility-scale solar installation.   Installation is a growing portion of the total cost of a solar energy project and the availability of skilled labor can be a constraint on our customers’ growth. We have several new products, product features and installation methods in development this year that we believe could significantly reduce the cost and labor required to install our tracker system and further extend our technology lead over competitors.”

“We believe the tremendous tailwinds we have in solar today from government, businesses and consumers coupled with the innovations we are preparing to introduce to the market position us to deliver continued strong results for our shareholders,” concluded Mr. Fusaro.

Fourth Quarter 2020 Financial Results

Revenues decreased 20% to $180.6 million, compared to $224.7 million for the prior-year period driven by decreases in the number of tracker systems delivered as a result of customers taking delivery for most orders during the first and second quarters in order to preserve the 30% ITC rate for their projects, resulting in fewer shipments in the fourth quarter when compared to the prior year.

Gross profit decreased 41% to $35.5 million, compared to $60.6 million in the prior year period driven primarily by lower revenues. Gross margin decreased from 27% to 20% driven by less revenue to absorb fixed costs and project mix.

Operating expenses increased to $37.7 million compared to $20.1 million during the same period in the prior year primarily as a result of a $10.4 million expense related to the revaluation of contingent consideration mainly related to an earn-out obligation we have with our founder as well as higher costs associated with being a public company and an increase in headcount.

Loss from operations was $2.2 million, compared to income of $40.5 million during the same period in the prior year.

Net loss was $9.8 million, compared to net income of $26.8 million during the same period in the prior year and basic and diluted loss per share were $0.08, compared to basic and diluted earnings per share of $0.22 during the same period in the prior year.

Adjusted EBITDA decreased 60% to $20.0 million, compared to $49.9 million for the prior-year period.

Adjusted net income decreased 69% to $10.6 million, compared to $34.7 million during the same period in the prior year and adjusted basic and diluted adjusted net income per share was $0.08 compared to $0.29 during the same period in the prior year.

Full Year 2020 Financial Results

Revenues increased 35% to $872.7 million, compared to $647.9 million for the prior-year period driven by increases in the number of tracker systems delivered.

Gross profit increased 35% to $202.8 million, compared to $150.8 million in the prior year period driven primarily by higher revenues. Gross margin was flat versus the prior year period driven by reductions in the cost of purchased materials which offset higher logistics costs in the second half of the year caused by COVID-19 related freight increases.

Operating expenses increased to $107.6 million compared to $67.4 million during the same period in the prior year primarily as a result of a $26.4 million expense related to the revaluation of contingent consideration mainly related to an earn-out obligation we have with our founder. Additionally, in 2019 we recorded a $4.0 million benefit from the reversal of a bad debt expense for which we had no comparable benefit in 2020. Finally, in 2020 we had an increase in equity-based compensation of $4.0 million.

Income from operations increased 14% to $95.2 million, compared to $83.4 million during the same period in the prior year.

Net income increased 49% to $59.1 million, compared to $39.7 million during the same period in the prior year and basic and diluted income per share was $0.49 compared to $0.33 during the same period in the prior year.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 32% to $160.5 million, compared to $121.8 million for the prior-year period.

Adjusted net income increased 40% to $112.4 million, compared to $80.3 million during the same period in the prior year and adjusted basic and diluted adjusted net income per share was $0.93 compared to $0.67 during the same period in the prior year.

Executed Contracts and Awarded Orders

Total executed contracts and awarded orders at December 31, 2020 was $705.3 million of which we expect to recognize $654.2 million during the 12 months ending December 31, 2021.

Fourth Quarter 2020 Highlights and Recent Developments

  • During 2020, we added 38 new customers underscoring our ability to convert EPCs, developers to our tracker system which delivers superior functionality, reliability and total cost of ownership relative to competing products.
  • On November 10, 2020, we entered into an agreement to supply 1.4 GW of our DuraTrack HZ v3 trackers and SmartTrack Software to Lightsource bp, a global solar energy project developer, valued at over $100 million. Deliveries under the agreement will commence in the first quarter of 2021 and continue through 2022.
  • On November 27, 2020, we entered into a letter of intent to supply 1.0 GW of our DuraTrack HZ v3 trackers to RP Construction Services, a provider of design-build services for small and medium-sized ground mounted solar energy projects. Deliveries under the arrangement are expected to commence in 2021 and continue through 2022. The arrangement with RP Construction Services will increase our penetration of the small ground mount market which we believe is growing rapidly.
  • In the first quarter of 2021, we made an investment in a technology company that has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of installing trackers. The terms of the investment give us certain rights in connection with any future sale of the company that we believe will give us an opportunity to acquire the business at that time.
  • On February 23, 2021, we completed an amendment to our credit facility that reduced the drawn margin from LIBOR plus 400 basis points, with a floor of 5.0% to LIBOR plus 325 basis points, with a floor of 3.75%. The amendment is expected to reduce cash interest expense by approximately $5 million in 2021
  • Today we announced the opening of the Array Tech Research Center, a site dedicated to researching, developing and field testing advanced solar tracker technology. Located in Phoenix, AZ, the Array Tech Research Center will serve as a proving ground where customers can explore product prototypes that address common utility-scale solar challenges, including foundation costs, site grading requirements, large module compatibility and installation time. Array’s engineers will use the facility to demonstrate how developers and EPCs can overcome these challenges using new technology developed by the company.

Full Year 2021 Guidance

For the full year 2021 ending December 31, 2021, the Company expects:

  • Revenues to be in the range of $1,025 million to $1,125 million
  • Adjusted EBITDA(2) to be in the range of $164 million to $180 million
  • Adjusted net income per share(2) to be in the range of $0.82 to $0.92

“The midpoint of our revenue guidance represents a 23% year-over-year increase and reflects the strong demand we are seeing for our products. Businesses and consumers are increasingly focused on sustainability and solar energy is a cornerstone for global decarbonization,” said Nipul Patel, Chief Financial Officer of Array.

Mr. Patel continued “The two-year extension of the 26% investment tax credit (ITC) has significantly expanded the universe of viable projects in the U.S. which should lead to higher volumes as well as change how our customers time their orders. Prior to a year with an ITC step-down, we historically received most orders for the following year during the fourth quarter and shipped those orders during the first and second quarters which allowed our customers to preserve the higher ITC rate for their projects. The elimination of the ITC step-downs in 2021 and 2022 take away the incentive for customers to place their orders in Q4 and take delivery in the first half. As a result, we expect to see a more even distribution of our revenues throughout 2021 than we did in 2020, reflecting traditional construction seasonality with more of our revenue coming in the second and third quarters than the first and fourth quarters. Importantly, since our customers had no incentive to place orders in Q4, the size of our executed contracts and awarded orders at year end 2020 underscores the strength of the demand that we are seeing.”

“Commodity prices and freight costs have increased significantly over the past several months as business activity levels are increasing in response to the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine and capacity that was idled during the pandemic comes back online. While we currently expect commodity prices and shipping costs to normalize, the low end of our Adjusted EBITDA guidance range contemplates a delayed return to a normal pricing environment,” concluded Mr. Patel.

___________________________________

(2) A reconciliation of projected adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income per share, which are forward-looking measures that are not prepared in accordance with GAAP, to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, is not provided because we are unable to provide such reconciliation without unreasonable effort. The inability to provide a quantitative reconciliation is due to the uncertainty and inherent difficulty predicting the occurrence, the financial impact and the periods in which the components of the applicable GAAP measures and non-GAAP adjustments may be recognized. The GAAP measures may include the impact of such items as non-cash share-based compensation, revaluation of the fair-value of our contingent consideration, and the tax effect of such items, in addition to other items we have historically excluded from adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income per share. We expect to continue to exclude these items in future disclosures of these non-GAAP measures and may also exclude other similar items that may arise in the future (collectively, “non-GAAP adjustments”). The decisions and events that typically lead to the recognition of non-GAAP adjustments are inherently unpredictable as to if or when they may occur. As such, for our 2021 outlook, we have not included estimates for these items and are unable to address the probable significance of the unavailable information, which could be material to future results.

Share
Share