Maxeon Solar’s Financial Results for 2021

• Maxeon Solar's annual revenues in 2021 declined by more than 7% to $783.3 million
• Shipments of 577 MW in Q4/2021 were led by Performance Line modules followed by IBC solar panels
• Management has guided for Q1/2022 shipments to range between 475 MW to 495 MW, with revenues of $210 to $220 million

Singapore headquartered solar module producer Maxeon Solar Technologies shipped 577 MW modules in Q4/2021, dropping over 11% on annual basis and contribute to 1.95 GW to 2021 shipments, that declined more than 8%.

Its gross net loss went up by 78% for the year and its annual revenues dropped by over 7% from $844.8 million in 2020 to $783.3 million in the reporting year.

The distributed generation (DG) segment continues to be the revenue generator for Maxeon as in Q4/2021, it earned $184 million for the company. The large scale projects segment brought in $38 million with EMEA being its largest market followed by APC and the Americas. Among shipments in Q4/2021, it sold 363 MW Performance Line modules and 214 MW IBC panels.

Management called the spread of Omicron an unexpected development in 2021 along with supply chain costs and related challenges. CEO Jeff Waters said the company is actively mitigating supply chain cost inflation and renegotiating customer contracts where possible.

Philip Shen of Roth Capital Partners believes demand will remain strong given the company's exposure to the EU DG market, which management cited as a strong growth driver in its Q1'22 guide. He added, "Additionally, we believe the new agreement with SunPower sets the company up for higher ASPs and margin expansion. We believe the company is well positioned to pursue a ~3GW capacity expansion in the US if the Solar Energy Manufacturing Act (SEMA) passes, but note that it could opt for a GW-scale expansion in Mexico if SEMA fails to materialize."

Guidance

Moving forward, the management guides for its Q1/2022 shipments to range within 475 MW to 495 MW with revenues of $210 to $220 million. It expects to report adjusted EBITDA in the negative range of $-28 to $-34 million. Gross loss is guided as $-7 to $-13 million.

"Utility-Scale sales momentum in US market remains a bright spot, with another 700MW of Performance line module bookings added so far in 2022 along with over $70 million of contracted prepayments which brings our backlog to over 2 GW," said Waters. This should include 400 MW from Origis Energy and 315 MW from Cypress Creek Renewables (see North America PV News Snippets).