Sunnova CEO tries to reassure rattled investors after stock plunged 26% in worst day since March 2020
John Berger, chairman and chief executive officer of Sunnova Energy Corp., speaks during the 2019 CERAWeek by IHS Markit conference in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Thursday, March 14, 2019.
Aaron M. Sprecher | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The residential solar company Sunnova Energy took a beating this week as investors dumped their shares after the announcement of a stock offering plan rattled confidence in the company.
Sunnova shares plummeted 26.7% Thursday after the residential solar company announced a $100 million at-the-market stock offering program. Sunnova’s market cap declined by $382 million in the worst day for the company since March 2020 and the second worst day since its initial public offering in 2019.
CEO John Berger tried to reassure investors that Sunnova’s finances are sound and the company does not intend to sell its stock to raise capital anytime soon.
“This is just an arrow in the quiver just in case and the ratings agencies like to see it,” Berger told CNBC in an interview Thursday. “We don’t need to deal with the ratings agencies anytime soon, but it’s a smart thing to have — but we don’t need it.”
“I’m going to focus on generating our own cash rather than tapping into an equity, particularly something that’s now 25% discounted,” Berger said. Sunnova had a total of $494 million in cash as of Dec. 31, 2023, according to its quarterly report.
The announcement came after Sunnova posted a net loss that deepened to $234 million in the fourth quarter, compared to $62 million in the year ago period. Residential solar companies have struggled in the face of high interest rates that have made installations more costly to households.
Berger and Sunnova CFO Robert Lane described the stock offering as “good housekeeping.” Sunnova does not see a need to raise capital through 2026, Lane told analysts during the company’s earnings call Thursday.
Berger said in retrospect he would have waited on the stock offering plan: “Good housekeeping sure was expensive,” the CEO told CNBC after Thursday’s selloff.
Sunnova is also exploring asset sales and slashing costs using automation and artificial intelligence to keep the company’s headcount from growing, Berger said on the company’s conference call.
Solar under pressure
Sunnova is just the latest residential solar company to take a beating after its quarterly report. Its competitor Sunrun is down 22% this week after company posted another quarterly loss. SolarEdge has tumbled nearly 18% this week after issuing weak guidance for the first quarter.
Sunnova shares over the past year
The solar market faces an uncertain outlook this year. Investors had hoped aggressive interest rate cuts would act as a catalyst for the sector but that now seem less likely. Federal Reserve officials have made clear they are in no hurry to cut rates, with the market expecting the first reduction in June at the earliest rather than previous forecasts of March or May.
Berger does not see interest rates affecting Sunnova this year. He said the major utilities, which are also rate sensitive, are charging their customers more, which has allowed Sunnova to increase its prices without impacting demand.
“We have pricing power I’ve never seen this strong,” Berger said.
The CEO also addressed a December report that consumers have filed complaints in Texas alleging predatory sales tactics against the elderly. Two Republican members of Congress sent a letter on Dec. 7 to the Department of Energy calling for more scrutiny of Sunnova’s business practices. Sunnova’s stock dropped 16% after the lawmakers sent the letter.
“Whether our dealers did something or not, we typically have gone through and made sure that we’ve made good with the customer. In some of these cases, it’s difficult to find injury,” Berger said. The CEO said it is illegal to decline to sell to someone because of their age.
“There’s a lot of alternative facts that have been put forth in those cases, but it doesn’t excuse us from continuing to try to do better and we’re going to continue to do that,” Berger said.
— CNBC’s Pippa Stevens and Chris Hayes contributed to this report.
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No matter how badly a fleet wants to electrify their operations and take advantage of reduced fuel costs and TCO, the fact remains that there are substantial up-front obstacles to commercial EV adoption … or are there? We’ve got fleet financing expert Guy O’Brien here to help walk us through it on today’s fiscally responsible episode of Quick Charge!
This conversation was motivated by the recent uncertainty surrounding EVs and EV infrastructure at the Federal level, and how that turmoil is leading some to believe they should wait to electrify. The truth? There’s never been a better time to make the switch!
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Vermont’s EV adoption has surged by an impressive 41% over the past year, with nearly 18,000 EVs now registered statewide.
According to data from Drive Electric Vermont and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, 17,939 EVs were registered as of January 2025, increasing by 5,185 vehicles. Notably, over 12% of all new cars registered last year in Vermont had a plug. Additionally, used EVs are gaining popularity, accounting for about 15% of new EV registrations.
To put it in perspective, Vermont took six years to register its first 5,000 EVs – and the last 5,000 were added in just the previous year.
Rapid growth, expanding infrastructure
In just two years, Vermont has doubled its fleet of EVs, underscoring residents’ enthusiasm for electric driving. To support this surge, the state now boasts 459 public EV chargers, including 92 DC fast chargers.
The EV mix in Vermont is leaning increasingly toward BEVs, which represent 60% of the state’s EV fleet. The remaining 40% consists of PHEVs, offering flexible fuel options for drivers.
Top EV models in Vermont
Vermont’s favorite EVs in late 2024 included the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Nissan Ariya, Toyota RAV4 Prime PHEV, Tesla Model Y, and the Ford F-150 Lightning. These vehicles have appealed to Vermont drivers looking for reliability, performance, and practical features that work well in Vermont’s climate.
Leading the US in reducing emissions
This strong adoption of EVs earned Vermont the top ranking from the Natural Resources Defense Council for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in transportation in 2023. “It’s only getting easier for Vermonters to drive electric,” noted Michele Boomhower, Vermont’s Department of Transportation director. She emphasized the growing variety of EV models, including electric trucks and SUVs with essential features like all-wheel drive, crucial for Vermont’s climate and terrain.
Local dealerships boost EV accessibility
Nucar Automall, an auto dealer in St. Albans, is a great example of local support driving this trend. With help from Efficiency Vermont’s EV dealer incentives – receiving $25,000 through the EV Readiness Incentive program – it recently installed 15 EV chargers for new buyers and existing drivers to use.
“Having these chargers on the lot makes it easier for customers to see just how simple charging an EV can be,” said Ryan Ortiz, general manager at Nucar Automall. Ortiz also pointed out the growing affordability of EVs, thanks to more models becoming available and an increase in pre-owned EVs coming off leases.
Read more: Vermont becomes the first US state to pass a law requiring Big Oil to pay for climate damage
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Elon Musk said Tesla’s self-driving will start contributing to the company’s profits… wait for it… “next year” with “millions of Tesla robotaxis in operation during the second half of the year.”
The claim has become a running joke, as he has made it for the last decade.
During Tesla’s conference call following the release of its Q1 2025 financial results, Musk updated shareholders about Tesla’s self-driving plans, which he again presented as critical to the company’s future.
He made a series of claims, mainly updating timelines about Tesla’s self-driving efforts.
Here are the main comments:
- The CEO reiterated that Tesla will launch its paid autonomous ride-sharing service in Austin in June.
- He did clarify that the fleet will consist of Model Y vehicles and not the new Cybercab.
- Musk also confirmed that Tesla is currently training a fleet specifically for Austin.
- As we previously reported, this internal ride-hailing fleet operating in a geo-fenced with teleoperation assist is a big change from Tesla’s approach.
- Musk said “10 to 20 vehicles” on day one.
- Musk said that Tesla’s self-driving will start contributing positively to the company financially in the middle of next year, and “There will be millions of Teslas operating autonomously in the second half of next year.”
- Musk has literally said something similar every year for the past decade and therefore, it’s hard to take him seriously.
- The CEO claimed that Tesla would get “a 90-something percentage market share” in the autonomous market.
- Musk again claimed that no one else is getting close to Tesla’s capacity, and he criticized Waymo for being too expensive.
- Musk is “confident” that the first Model Y will drive itself from the factory to a customer’s home later this year.
- The CEO said that he is confident that Tesla will deliver “unsupervised full self-driving” in consumer vehicles by the end of the year.
Despite Tesla missing earnings expectations by a wide margin, the company’s stock rose 4% in after-hours trading following Musk’s comments, indicating that shareholders still believe Musk’s self-driving predictions, despite his predictions having been incorrect for almost a decade.
Electrek’s Take
The first point I believe will happen. Tesla needs it to happen. It badly needs a win on the self-driving front.
However, as we previously explained, while Tesla will claim a win in June, it will be with a limited geo-fenced and teleoperation-assisted system that won’t scale to customer vehicles, which is what has been promised for years.
Tesla was even asked how it plans to launch this in Austin in June, when FSD in consumer vehicles currently requires frequent interventions from drivers, and Ashok, Tesla’s head of autonomous driving, admitted his team is currently focused on solving the intervention specifically related to driving in Austin.
With training on specific Austin routes and using teleoperations, Tesla can make that happen, but the road between that and unsupervised self-driving in consumer vehicles and “million of Tesla robotaxis” in the second of next year is a long one.
Basically, other than the first point, I believe Tesla will not achieve any of the other on anything close to the timelines announced by Musk today.
I’m willing to take bets on that.
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