SunPower Corp. announced financial results for the fourth quarter 2007, which ended December 30, 2007. Revenue for the 2007 fourth quarter was $224.3 million, down 4.3 % from prior-quarter revenue of $234.3 million and up 201.1 % from year- ago fourth-quarter revenue of $74.5 million. The Components segment accounted for $100.4 million of fourth-quarter revenue, a 31.1 % increase from prior-quarter revenue of $76.6 million. The Systems segment accounted for $123.9 million of fourth-quarter revenue, a 21.4 % decrease from prior- quarter revenue of $157.7 million.
Third-quarter 2007 revenue was significantly influenced by large scheduled project installations, particularly the Nellis Air Force Base project. 2007 fourth-quarter revenue growth, compared to the fourth quarter of 2006, was primarily driven by continued strong demand for SunPower products and systems across market segments and channels. For reporting purposes, the Systems segment generally represents products and services sold directly to the system owner, while the Components segment represents primarily products sold to installers and resellers. Additionally, both SunPower and third-party solar panels sold through the Systems segment channels are recorded as Systems segment revenue.
On a GAAP basis, SunPower reported total operating income of $11.2 million and diluted net income per share of $0.06. These figures include non-cash operating expenses for amortization of purchase accounting intangible assets of $7.1 million and non-cash, stock-based compensation of $14.0 million. Fourth quarter 2007 GAAP results also include a non-cash charge of $8.2 million representing the write-off of unamortized debt issuance costs related to the issuance of SunPower’s convertible debentures which became convertible in the first fiscal quarter of 2008 starting December 31, 2007. This also resulted in the reclassification of the convertible debentures from long-term to current liabilities as of December 30, 2007.
"SunPower achieved record operating results again in the fourth quarter of 2007," said Tom Werner, SunPower’s CEO. "SunPower’s investments in channel development, brand building, technology, and people yielded great results this quarter. We have purposefully chosen to vertically integrate and build a portfolio of customer segments, channels and applications to leverage our proprietary high-performance solar technology. Our brand and technology platforms improve our response time to new market opportunities and limit our individual market risk. Upstream we have also followed a portfolio strategy, developing a diversified set of silicon suppliers from polysilicon to ingots and wafers. We believe that our scale and flexibility places SunPower on the leading edge of the cost reduction roadmap as we address a rapidly evolving market.
"The global solar market delivered strong, dynamic growth in 2007. In the latter part of 2008 and beyond, we expect our industry’s silicon feedstock to become more abundant, leading to lower solar panel prices which will redistribute the power and profit pools in the value chain. SunPower has been preparing for this development for the last two years by vertically integrating downstream. In that vein, earlier this month we closed the acquisition of Solar Solutions – now named SunPower Italia – an Italian systems integrator. The investment in Italy and channel development in Southern Europe is aligned with SunPower’s vertically integrated model, our portfolio approach to customer market segments and our global geographic reach."
