All metrics point upwards as SolarEdge posts strong 2017 financials

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SolarEdge, the Israel-headquartered producer of solar inverters and DC power optimizer systems, has published this week its fourth quarter (Q4) and full year 2017 financial results that reveal the company to be in rude health.

The MLPE leader ended 2017 having generated record revenues of $607 million, which represented a 24% increase on 2016. Over the course of the year, SolarEdge shipped 2.5 GW (ac) of its inverter systems, and posted a non-GAAP net income of $115 million, which was a 46% increase on the previous year.

The firm’s operating income also rose, by 28%, to hit $91.1 million for the year. The fourth and final quarter of 2017 saw SolarEdge end the year on a high, posting a record Q4 revenue of $189 million and increasing its gross margin to 37.5% – which was both a quarterly increase and an increase year-on-year.

Shaping this success was SolarEdge’s continued ability to meet the demands of its key geographical markets – something the firm achieved while keeping its ASP stable, maintaining its cost reduction activities and upping its R&D investment, the firm’s CEO and chairman, Guy Sella said.

“We overcame a challenging year in terms of industry-wide component availability and growing our manufacturing capacity to support the growing demand for our products,” Sella added.

In the previous quarter, SolarEdge drew close to 50% of its sales from outside of the U.S., and the signs thus far in 2018 are that the company will continue to pursue wider global expansion.

In January, the company entered into a partnership with Japanese inverter specialist, Omron to introduce its three-phase, DC-optimized inverter solution into the competitive Japanese solar market.

Looking ahead to this year, SolarEdge expects Q1 revenue to be in the range of $200 million to $210 million. The MLPE landscape is poised to grow tougher in 2018, IHS Markit analyst Cormac Gilligan recently told pv magazine, due to the competition posed by Chinese inverter firm Huawei with its new DC power optimizer solution.

“SolarEdge will continue to drive down costs with its HD Wave power optimizer solution,” Gilligan forecasts.

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