FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ: FCEL) stock jumped during intraday trading Monday after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results.
FuelCell has just released its second-quarter fiscal 2024 results. The company reported a year-over-year revenue decline of 42% to $22.42 million. Despite the decline, this figure surpassed the consensus estimate of $21.35 million.
The drop in total revenue primarily resulted from a significant reduction in service agreements revenue, which plummeted to $1.4 million from $26.2 million in the same period last year. Service agreements revenue plunged due to the absence of module exchanges during the quarter.
FuelCell stated that module exchanges at Korea Southern Power Company plants heavily influenced the service agreements revenue in the previous year. However, these exchanges did not happen in the current quarter.
Despite the overall revenue decline, the company saw positive trends in specific segments. Generation revenue rose 67% to $14.11 million, driven by a collaborative project with Toyota (NYSE: TM) and the inauguration of a new fuel cell site in Derby, Connecticut.
Advanced contract revenue also surged 86% to $6.9 million, bolstered by a $3.3 million rise in revenue from government contracts and other agreements, offsetting a minor decrease in joint development income from ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM).
Financial Performance and Operational Metrics
FuelCell (NASDAQ: FCEL) reported an EPS loss of $0.07, surpassing the consensus loss of $0.08. However, the company disclosed a gross loss of $7.1 million, widening from the previous year’s $6.1 million, primarily due to high costs and unfavorable margins in generation projects.
Operating expenses rose to $34.3 million, attributed to increased research and development (R&D) spending of $16.6 million on advanced power generation and carbon recovery technologies.
Adjusted EBITDA loss slightly narrowed to $26.5 million from $26.0 million in the previous year. FuelCell closed the quarter with total unrestricted cash, restricted cash, and short-term investments amounting to $313.2 million.
As of April-end, the company’s backlog saw a 3.8% increase to $1.06 billion, up from $1.02 billion a year earlier. This growth was primarily due to new service agreements with Noeul Green Energy and additional contracts with Esso and EMTEC.
In addition, FuelCell added a post-quarter agreement with GGE for $159.6 million to the backlog. The contract involves supplying upgraded fuel cell modules for a plant in Korea.
FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ: FCEL) Stock Price Action
On Monday, FCEL stock surged 12.64%, closing at $0.9791, marking a 2.03% decrease for the week. The trading volume was 62,827,344 shares, significantly higher than the average daily volume of 35.67 million.
