FuelCell shares jump on Q3 results
Date: 30-Aug-01
Country: USA
Shares of FuelCell, a maker of fuel cells for electric power distribution, were up $1.86 to $15.18 in Tuesday afternoon trading on Nasdaq.
For the quarter ended July 31, Danbury, Connecticut-based FuelCell reported a third-quarter net loss of $2.8 million, or 8 cents a share, wider than the net loss of $1.3 million, or 4 cents a share, reported in the same quarter last year. However, the results significantly exceeded the consensus estimate of a loss of 18 cents a share, according to analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call.
The company attributed its better-than-anticipated performance partly to the sale of fuel cell components, as opposed to fuel cell systems, to MTU, an affiliate of Big Three automaker DaimlerChrysler AG , which then assembles the components and puts them into a system.
"The company said that's a more attractive business for them," said analyst David Sackler of Vestigo/Fidelity Capital Markets. "The price vs. cost is much better."
FuelCell said revenues for the quarter increased 85 percent from the prior-year quarter to $7.6 million.
"It was another decent quarter for them from a number of perspectives," Sackler added.
Looking ahead, the company is currently awaiting a decision on Connecticut's proposal to purchase fuel cells from the company using conservation funds collected by the state's electric utilities.
"The two keys going forward will be the upcoming Connecticut ruling, which they said they're positive about but they're not sure. And the second one is what does the environment look like at the end of the year when they finally get commercial orders," Sackler said.