ChargePoint Inc. had about 188,000 active charging ports at the end of the latest quarter.
Dania Maxwell/Bloomberg
The electric-vehicle charging-equipment company ChargePoint Holdings reported much better sales than even it expected for its first fiscal quarter of 2023, but supply-chain issues and inflation are weighing on the shares.
Tuesday evening, ChargePoint (ticker: CHPT) reported sales of $81.6 million. That was higher than the consensus call of $75.7 million among Wall Street analysts and exceeded the range of $72 million to $77 million that management had told investors to expect.
But gross profit came in at $12.1 million, while Wall Street expected $17.3 million. And ChargePoint generated $17.5 million in gross profit in its fiscal 2022 fourth quarter, which ended in January.
“Positive first quarter results, despite expected significant headwinds due to global supply constraints, are a testament to the strength of our business,” said CEO Pasquale Romano in the company’s news release. “Our investments in a comprehensive portfolio for all verticals we serve continue to set us apart when customers seek a charging solution.”
ChargePoint offers commercial, residential, and fleet charging solutions in North America and Europe.
Shares were down 2.4% at $12.48 in premarket trading Wednesday, while futures on the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively. Higher costs than expected appear to be the issue.
Stifel analyst Stephen Gengaro called the quarter mixed in a Tuesday research report. “Management noted that margins were adversely affected by 9 percentage points from supply chain issues,” noted Gengaro. “With higher costs accounting for 6 percentage points of margin impact and an unfavorable sales mix due to the supply chain hurting shipments being a 3 percentage point headwind.”
He rates the shares at Buy with a target of $32 for the price. J.P. Morgan analyst Bill Peterson also rates the shares at Buy, but his target for the price is $18 a share. Peterson called the quarter solid, despite headwinds, noting that the company’s backlog of orders was up 35% compared with the prior quarter.
Overall, 68% of analysts covering the company rates shares Buy, while the average price target is more than $24 a share, a bit less than double recent levels.
Despite the bullishness, the shares have lost ground in 2022. Coming into Wednesday trading, ChargePoint stock was down about 33% year to date and off about 65% from its June 2021 52-week high of almost $37 a share.
Rising interest rates and inflation have sapped investor enthusiasm for high-growth companies that don’t make money yet. ChargePoint lost $89.3 million in its fiscal first quarter.
The company maintained its forecast for sales for the current fiscal year, predicting a range of figures whose midpoint is $475 million. That would be up close to 100% compared with fiscal year 2022.
ChargePoint ended its fiscal first quarter with about 188,000 activated charging ports, including 57,000 in Europe. At the end of the previous quarter, it had about 174,000 ports, including 51,000 in Europe.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]
