Sunrun, Block, and Nvidia are analyst darlings

Analysts are betting Sunrun to return to high growth

This year has been a disaster for renewable energy stocks, as we have written about multiple times, and recently the collapse in Orsted shares has put questions around the viability of offshore wind power amid high material costs and high interest rates. Despite a negative narrative in financial markets the with a jump by a third in 2023 compared to last year making it the largest absolute increase ever at 440 GW taking the total installed capacity of renewable electricity production to 4,500 GW (equal to the total power output of China). Two thirds of the increase in capacity this year is coming from solar. It looks increasingly like solar will be the dominant renewable energy source in the future.

Sunrun is the leading US home solar panel and battery storage company which has grown from a $859mn revenue business in 2019 to estimated $2.35bn in 2023. The company is still not profitable with an expected negative EBITDA of $263mn in 2023. From high growth rates during the pandemic (75% in 2021) revenue growth has slowed to just 1% in 2023 and the debt has ballooned to around $11.5bn. As a result, the default probability has risen dramatically since 2020 with Bloomberg’s default model score sitting just one notch above default. Sunrun shares are down 44% this year and the company has to quickly prove a path to profitability to avoid a potential restructure.

The residential solar market is tough in the US with financing rates at much higher levels compared to the high growth years of 2020 and 2021. On a positive note, Sunrun is growing faster than its peers and its virtual power plant strategy is beginning to bear fruit compared with good uptake in its battery business. Sunrun expects to generate $200-500mn y/y cash generation over the coming quarters and has said that it needs no recourse financing. The investment thesis relies heavily on the path to positive cash generation and revenue growth rates hitting 15% in 2025.

Adyen has put Block and the entire payments industry into trouble

The payments industry was one of the big winning themes of the pandemic and growth looked sure for decades to come inflating valuations to insane levels in late 2021. Since then, as a function of lower growth and higher interest rates, valuations have come down hard. Investors have gone from valuing Block at 5.6x enterprise value to sales in 2019 to 1.6x in 2023 reflecting lower expectations for growth but also operating margin as the industry has matured and technology advantages have converged among industry players. Adyen latest big miss on volume and operating margin was a big hit to the industry and has raised questions about whether payment companies outside American Express, Mastercard and Visa will ever be as profitable as the big three.

Block, formerly Square, generated revenue of $19.7bn in the last 12 months with EBITDA of $225mn (1.1% operating margin) and thus it is quite clear that investors want to see the operating margin expand. The industry narrative has changed to that of profitability instead of high revenue growth at all costs. Analysts remain bullish on Block with an upside of 55% to their price target.

Nvidia remains center of attention for analysts and investors

The AI hype and outrageous growth that Nvidia is experiencing have caught everyone’s attention in equity markets this year. 12-month forward revenue estimates are up 42% over the past three months which is something we have never observed before for a $1.1trn market value company. Not only is Nvidia growing fast it is also highly profitable (33% operating margin and expanding). Analysts are also maintaining their positive outlook with a price target 43% above the current price despite the strong performance already this year.

As we have noted in a recent equity note, the key risk for Nvidia shareholders is that the huge demand increase is driven a lot by the long tail of VC-backed AI startups that have gone all in on the gold rush. For Nvidia’s growth to continue over the coming year it is important that this gold rush into AI turns into commercial ideas that can be monetized on a grand scale. Adobe earnings Thursday after the US market close might give a clue of whether this is possible.