SunPower Unveils World's First 400-Plus-Watt Solar Panels

SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) has recently introduced the world's most powerful home solar panels in markets across the United States, Europe and Australia, equipped to deliver 400 plus watt of power. Additionally, these solar panels are designed to deliver 60% more energy in the same roof space over the first 25 years compared to conventional panels.

A-Series & Maxeon 3 Solar Panels

SunPower's A-Series panels are built with the company's fifth-generation Maxeon solar cells, known as Gen 5, which are 65% larger compared to those in the earlier panels. These panels are equipped to absorb more sunlight and ultimately offer more savings to homeowners. The A-Series panels can deliver up to 415 watts of electricity and are the most powerful solar panels that customers in the United States can buy for their home now.

SunPower recently broke the 400-watt, residential solar panel barrier for homeowners in Europe and Australia with its new Maxeon 3 panel, which delivers 400 watts of power from its third-generation Maxeon solar cells. Higher efficiency, improved field performance from lower temperature coefficient, improved reliability due to low reverse breakdown voltage and a uniform dark appearance are the characteristics of the Maxeon 3 technology.

Global Demand Driving Growth

Per Mordor Intelligence, the emergence of the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry will likely generate robust demand for the global residential solar energy market over the 2019-2024 period. In addition, the declining price of solar panels has also encouraged governments across various nations to take initiatives and provide subsidies, which, in turn, are expected to aid growth of the residential solar energy market. This opportunity for expansion and the introduction of highly efficient technologies pave way for solar companies like SunPower to further enhance share in the expanding residential solar market.

In this line, other solar majors like SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ:SEDG) and First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) are also making significant efforts to reap the benefits of the expanding worldwide solar market.

Our View

With the introduction of the world’s first 400-watt plus residential solar panels, SunPower has taken a distinctive leap ahead of its peers as most of the other solar companies have just managed to cross the 300-watt threshold for home solar panels. Compared to other conventional solar panels offered by its peers, SunPower's highest powered solar panels will give users longer-term energy in lesser space. Going forward, this is expected to significantly boost SunPower's solar panels sales across its three major markets.

From the context of its 2018 quarterly results, SunPower's residential demand in the fourth quarter remained solid, with 15% year-on-year volume growth. Moreover, in 2018, the company was successful in adding approximately 40,000 customers to its growing portfolio, bringing its U.S. residential install base to approximately 240,000 homes, with an installed base of more than 1.5 gigawatts. Now, with the company’s new powerful home solar panels, these numbers are expected to witness a notable growth in 2019 and beyond.

Price Performance

In a year’s time, SunPower’s stock has lost 13.4%.

Zacks Rank

SunPower currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). A better-ranked stock in the same space is Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Canadian Solar came up with average positive earnings surprise of 49.66% in the last four quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 earnings has risen 15.5% to $2.83 in the past 90 days. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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