What We Will Be Talking About Wedneday -- SunEdison Shares Plunge -- November 17, 2015

Media-ite is reporting:

For First Time Ever, Both Fox News and FBN Rank in Top 5 of All Cable TV Last Week. 

FBN hosted the GOP presidential debate earlier in the week, and all networks covered the Islamic terrorist attack in Paris. Unlike CNBC, FBN was given very, very marks for the way they "managed" the debate.

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What We Will Be Talking About Wednesday

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Barron's is reporting:

Shares of solar installation firm SunEdison are down $1.51, or 33%, at $3.05, continuing to feel the after-effects of a disappointing Q3 report on November 10th, that has been followed by stock sales by prominent hedge funds.

Today’s news brings some potentially troubling findings about the company’s debt position, and some worrying signs from Vivint Solar, the residential installation firm that SunEdison is acquiring for $2.2 billion.

Yesterday afternoon, Vivint reported Q3 revenue that topped analysts’ expectations, and profit that was short by a couple pennies. The stock today is down $1.16, or 12%, at $8.42.

The results “severely call into question the health of the Vivint Solar organization (especially in the context of strong results from Sunrun and SolarCity)” writes Credit Suisse’s Patrick Jobin, who has a Neutral rating on the shares.

In particular, installations of only 61 megawatts in the quarter, and a 7% decline in megawatts booked, suggest that “For the company to still achieve prior 2015 guidance of 290-310 MW, Q4 installations would have to be 118-138 MW (+95-128% sequential), a very long putt in our view.”

Jobin thinks the poor showing implies the acquisition itself may be hurting operations, and also that SunEdison investors should be concerned about what the company is likely to be acquiring at this point.

This was from just a few days ago (November 10, 2015): SunEdison Tanks --

Despite revenues increasing more than expected, shares tank. Business Insider is reporting:

SunEdison shares dropped by more than 22% in trading on Tuesday. 

The renewable-energy firm reported third-quarter results before the market open, and posted a wider-than expected loss (excluding some items) of $0.92, versus the estimate for $0.65, according to Bloomberg.

Revenues of $476 million beat the consensus forecast for $452.6 million.

Data points:

• at $5.59/share; lowest in more than two years
• announced last month to lay off 15% of its workforce 
• major investor: hedge fund, Greenlight Capital
• Greenlight Capital recorded its worst monthly performance since October, 2008, most due to SunEdison
• shares popped by as much as 6% on October 30, 2015, on rumors that another hedge fund billionaire had bought a position in SunEdison

For more on Vivant and Solar City (both with similar business models), see this dismal outlook as reported by Motley Fool. 

Long term, I think it's becoming clear that leases and power purchase agreements won't be the dominant financing option for homeowners. SolarCity may already be playing from behind with these market changes.