Stem Announces Second Quarter 2024 Results

Revising Full Year 2024 Guidance

Activated $3 million of ARR in 2Q, Representing +7% QoQ Growth

Expect Full Year Positive Operating Cash Flow

Bill Bush to step down as CFO effective September 2, 2024; Doran Hole to be named CFO as part of planned succession

Second Quarter 2024 Financial and Operating Highlights

Financial Highlights

• Revenue of $34.0 million, down from $93.0 million (-63%) in 2Q23
• GAAP gross profit of $9.4 million, down from $11.9 million in 2Q23
• GAAP gross margin of 28%, up from 13% in 2Q23
• Non-GAAP gross profit of $13.5 million, down from $16.4 million in 2Q23
• Non-GAAP gross margin of 40%, up from 18% in 2Q23
• Net loss of $582.3 million versus net income of $19.1 million in 2Q23, due to a one-time non-cash $547 million impairment of goodwill
• Adjusted EBITDA of $(11.3) million versus $(9.5) million in 2Q23
• Operating cash flow of $(11.9) million versus $(165.4) million in 2Q23.
• Ended 2Q24 with $89.6 million in cash and cash equivalents, versus $112.8 million at the end of 1Q24
• Revising guidance for key metrics for full year 2024

Operating Highlights

• Bookings of $25.4 million, versus $236.4 million in 2Q23, driven primarily by increased quarterly variability associated with Stem’s continued expansion into large, utility-scale projects
• Contracted backlog of $1.6 billion, up from $1.4 billion (+14%) at end of 2Q23
• Contracted storage assets under management (“AUM”) of 5.8 gigawatt hours (“GWh”), unchanged from 5.8 GWh at end of 1Q24
• Solar monitoring AUM of 26.9 gigawatts (“GW”), unchanged from 26.9 GW at the end of 1Q24
• Contracted annual recurring revenue (“CARR”) of $90.1 million, up from $74.9 million (+20%) at end of 2Q23, and up from $89.3 million (+1%) at end of 1Q24

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Stem, Inc. (“Stem,” “we” or the “Company”) (NYSE: STEM), a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven clean energy solutions and services, announced today its financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024.

“Our financial performance during the second quarter was a disappointment,” said John Carrington, CEO of Stem. “Revenue during the period was substantially lower than expected, primarily due to unforeseen extensions of project timelines caused by certain customers’ USDA-related project financing delays and protracted interconnection timelines in the quarter. While our strategic expansion into the large-scale storage market has resulted in significantly larger average deal sizes, it has also led to increased variability, greater project complexity, and longer sales cycle than we anticipated, which negatively impacted our bookings and operating cash in the quarter.

“We remain confident in the underlying business fundamentals and we are encouraged by our significant operating leverage, as evidenced by relatively flat adjusted EBITDA results despite a 63% decline in revenue compared to the same quarter last year. During the quarter, we accelerated the pace of software activations, delivered continued strong performance across our solar asset performance management business and drove a greater mix of software services revenue, as evidenced by a material improvement in GAAP gross margins of 28% and non-GAAP gross margins of 40%, a 1500 and 2200 basis point improvement, respectively, relative to Q2 2023. In addition, we continue to drive reductions in net working capital with a $79 million decline in 1H 2024.

“We are adjusting our full year 2024 guidance to account for our latest financial results and the expected continuation of interconnection and USDA funding delays. These factors have negatively impacted our financial performance including revenue, bookings and cash, and are expected to push certain projects from the second half of 2024 into 2025. Partially offsetting the revenue decrease is an improvement in non-GAAP gross margins, which are benefiting from project mix and a proactive focus on driving profitable projects. Importantly, we expect to generate positive operating cash flow this year. We do not anticipate the need to raise additional equity, largely owing to our continued reduction in working capital intensity.

“While many of the issues we are facing are beyond our direct control, we are disappointed in revising our guidance. Nonetheless, we remain relentlessly focused on reducing costs, managing cash, and building free cash flow to drive resiliency over the long-term. This, coupled with our focus on our guiding principles for 2024, cash flow generation, building software services revenue, and extending our technology leadership position, is expected to drive value over the long-term.”

Key Financial Results and Operating Metrics

(in $ millions unless otherwise noted):

Second Quarter 2024 Financial and Operating Results

Financial Results

Revenue decreased 63% year-over-year to $34.0 million, versus $93.0 million in the second quarter of 2023. The decrease was largely driven by lower hardware revenue primarily due to a decrease in demand for hardware systems from the extension of certain project-related timelines.

GAAP gross profit (loss) was $9.4 million, or 28%, versus $11.9 million, or 13%, in the second quarter of 2023. The year-over-year increase in GAAP gross margin (%) was primarily driven by a higher mix of Services revenue in the quarter.

Non-GAAP gross profit was $13.5 million, or 40%, versus $16.4 million, or 18%, in the second quarter of 2023. The year-over-year decrease in non-GAAP gross profit ($) was largely due to lower storage hardware revenue.

Net loss was $582.3 million versus second quarter 2023 net income of $19.1 million. The year-over-year change was primarily driven by lower revenues in the current quarter and a one-time impairment of goodwill in the quarter. The impairment charge represents 100% of the total amount of goodwill previously recorded on the balance sheet of the Company.

Adjusted EBITDA was $(11.3) million compared to $(9.5) million in the second quarter of 2023.

The Company ended the quarter with $89.6 million in cash and cash equivalents, as compared to $112.8 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of the first quarter 2024.

Operating Results

Contracted backlog was $1.58 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2024, compared to $1.64 billion as of the end of the first quarter of 2024, representing a 4% sequential decrease. The slight decrease in contracted backlog in the quarter was driven by the conversion of backlog to revenue and low bookings additions in the quarter.

Bookings were $25.4 million in the second quarter of 2024 versus $236.4 million in the second quarter of 2023. Bookings remain highly variable due to the Company’s expansion into large front-of-the-meter (FTM) storage projects, combined with delays in customer receipt of IRA-related funding.

Contracted storage AUM was effectively unchanged sequentially to 5.8 GWh for the second quarter of 2024. Solar monitoring AUM of 26.9 GW for the second quarter of 2024 was also unchanged sequentially.

CARR increased 1% to $90.1 million at the end of the first quarter of 2024 versus $89.3 million at the end of the first quarter of 2024.

The following table provides a summary of backlog at the end of the second quarter of 2024, compared to backlog at the end of the first quarter of 2024 ($ in millions):

Management and Board Updates

Today the Company announced that Doran Hole has been appointed as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company, succeeding Bill Bush, who will be stepping down as Chief Financial Officer effective September 2, 2024. Mr. Bush will continue to serve as CFO until September 2, 2024 and will continue to lead our strategy targeting public power and large scale FTM projects along with the supply chain team. In addition to the CFO role, Mr. Hole will oversee the Company’s software and services group, focused on delivering high quality customer relevant software and service solutions, including the recently announced Athena® PowerBidder™ Pro product. David Buzby, current Chairman of the Board of Directors, has also been appointed Executive Chair of the Board. We are also commencing a strategic review of our business. Our newest Board member, Gerard Cunningham, has been appointed Chair of an ad hoc Software Strategy Working Group that will work closely with the management team to develop this strategy. The Company also announced today that Stem is streamlining its management structure by eliminating the Chief Strategy Officer role. Prakesh Patel is departing from the Company, effective immediately, with his responsibilities assumed by existing members of the management team.

Recent Business Highlights

On July 29, 2024, Ameresco announced the successful completion of construction of multiple battery energy storage systems in collaboration with United Power, an electric cooperative in Colorado. The assets are designed to provide 313 MWh of battery storage capacity to the United Power electric distribution system across multiple sites. Ameresco integrated Stem’s AI-driven clean energy software to efficiently operate and maintain the systems.

On June 11, 2024, Stem and Arizona Electric Power Cooperative (AEPCO), a not-for-profit, member-owned electric generation and transmission (G&T) cooperative, in partnership with Prometheus Power (Prometheus), a national renewable energy developer, announced the deployment of a co-located storage and solar project to help deliver clean, reliable power to its distribution co-ops and public power members. The project for Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Co-op (SSVEC), an AEPCO member co-op, includes a 40-MWh energy storage system and an existing 20-MW photovoltaic system that will integrate Athena®, Stem’s award-winning AI-driven clean energy software, to continuously operate and monitor the storage system for maximized performance on a single, unified platform. The SSVEC project is the first of three similarly sized deployments that Stem will collaborate on with Prometheus to provide Stem’s services for AEPCO’s other managing co-ops. All three projects are expected to come online by the end of the year.

Outlook

The Company is updating its full year 2024 guidance ranges as follows ($ millions, unless otherwise noted):

See the section below titled “Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for information regarding why Stem is unable to reconcile Non-GAAP Gross Margin and Adjusted EBITDA guidance to their most comparable financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP.

The Company is updating its full year 2024 revenue projected quarterly performance as follows:

Some Factors Affecting our Business and Operations

As previously disclosed, the Company entered into certain contractual guarantees pursuant to which, if a customer were unable to install or designate hardware to a specified project within a specified period of time, the Company would be required to assist the customer in re-marketing the hardware for resale by the customer. Such guarantees provide that, in such cases, if the customer resold the hardware for less than the amount initially sold to the customer, the Company would be required to compensate the customer for any shortfall in fair value for the hardware from the initial contract price. The Company accounts for specified contractual guarantees as variable consideration. The Company reviews its estimate of variable consideration, including changes in estimates related to such guarantees, each quarter for facts or circumstances that have changed from the time of the initial estimate. Due to recent market conditions, the Company recorded a net revenue reduction of $33 million in hardware revenue during the three months ended March 31, 2024, and no such net revenue reduction during the three months ended June 30, 2024. The reduction in revenue was related to deliveries that occurred prior to the current fiscal year.

The Company has not issued such guarantees since June 2023, and does not intend to issue any new guarantees in the future.

The Company is actively advancing projects under fixed price contracts that it expects will consume approximately 50% of the remaining hardware subject to guarantees, based on current market conditions. It is anticipated that these transactions will close in the second and third quarters of 2024, at which point they will not be subject to future adjustment. The Company believes that these transactions will enable it to convert accounts receivable into cash more quickly. The remaining hardware subject to guarantees are currently valued at approximately $50 million, after giving effect to the $33 million adjustment. The Company intends to integrate this hardware into development projects, which are expected to be available for sale late in the second half of 2024 and to be operational in the second half of 2025. The Company will continue to evaluate the economics of these transactions based on then-current conditions. Any remaining hardware that is not integrated into future projects remain subject to potential future updates to estimates of variable consideration, which may result in one or more future impairments.

Stem continues to diversify its supply chain, integrate additional energy technologies, and deploy a portion of its balance sheet to help position the Company to meet the expected significant growth in customer demand. We are subject to risk and exposure from the evolving macroeconomic, geopolitical and business environment, including the effects of increased global inflationary pressures and interest rates, potential import tariffs, potential economic slowdowns or recessions, and geopolitical pressures, including the armed conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, and in the Gaza Strip and nearby areas, as well as tensions between China and the United States, and unknown effects of current and future trade and other regulations. We regularly monitor the direct and indirect effects of these circumstances on our business and financial results, although there is no guarantee of the extent to which we will be successful in these efforts.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to financial results determined in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), this earnings press release contains the following non-GAAP financial measures: adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP gross profit and non-GAAP gross margin.

We use these non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision-making and to evaluate our operating performance and prospects, develop internal budgets and financial goals, and to facilitate period-to-period comparisons. Management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding our performance and liquidity by excluding certain expenses and expenditures that may not be indicative of our operating performance, such as stock-based compensation and other non-cash charges, as well as discrete cash charges that are infrequent in nature. We believe that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing our performance and when planning, forecasting, and analyzing future periods. These non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate management’s internal comparisons to our historical performance and liquidity as well as comparisons to our competitors’ operating results, to the extent that competitors define these metrics in the same manner that we do. We believe these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors both because they (1) allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in its financial and operational decision-making and (2) are used by investors and analysts to help them analyze the health of our business. Our calculation of these non-GAAP financial measures may differ from similarly-titled non-GAAP measures, if any, reported by other companies. In addition, other companies may not publish these or similar measures. These non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for, or superior to, other measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. For reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA and non-GAAP gross profit and margin to their most comparable GAAP measures, see the section below entitled “Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

Definitions of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We define adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) attributable to Stem before depreciation and amortization, including amortization of internally developed software, net interest expense, further adjusted to exclude stock-based compensation and other income and expense items, including gain (loss) on the extinguishment of debt, revenue constraint, reduction in revenue, excess supplier costs, change in fair value of derivative liability, transaction and acquisition-related charges, litigation expense, restructuring costs, and income tax provision or benefit. The expenses and other items that we exclude in our calculation of adjusted EBITDA may differ from the expenses and other items, if any, that other companies may exclude when calculating adjusted EBITDA.

We define non-GAAP gross profit as gross profit excluding amortization of capitalized software, impairments related to decommissioning of end-of-life systems, excess supplier costs, reduction in revenue, and including revenue constraint. Non-GAAP gross margin is defined as non-GAAP gross profit as a percentage of revenue.

The Company generally records the full purchase order value as revenue at the time of hardware delivery; however, for certain non-cancelable purchase orders entered into during the first quarter of 2023, the final settlement amount payable to the Company is variable and indexed to the price per ton of lithium carbonate in the first quarter of 2024 such that the Company may increase or decrease the final prices in such purchase orders based on the price per ton of lithium carbonate at final settlement. Lithium carbonate is a key raw material used in the production of hardware systems that the Company ultimately sells to customers. The total dollar amount of such purchase orders for the indexed contracts is approximately $52 million. However, as a result of the pricing structure in such purchase orders, the Company recorded revenue in the first quarter of 2023 of approximately $42 million in accordance with GAAP, net of a $10 million revenue constraint, using a third party forecast of the lithium carbonate trading value in the first quarter of 2024. Because the Company had not before used indexed pricing in its customer contracts or purchase orders and had not previously constrained revenue related to forecasted inputs of its hardware systems, the Company believes that including the $10.2 million revenue constraint from the first quarter of 2023 into non-GAAP gross profit enhances the comparability to the Company’s non-GAAP gross profit in prior periods. The Company expects to receive, pursuant to such purchase orders, final consideration of at least $34 million. The Company recorded the full cost of hardware revenue for these indexed contracts in the first quarter of 2023.

As stated above, in certain customer contracts, the Company previously agreed to provide a guarantee that the value of purchased hardware will not decline for a certain period of time. The Company accounts for such contractual terms and guarantees as variable consideration at each measurement date. The Company reviews its estimate of variable consideration each quarter, including changes in estimates related to such guarantees, for facts or circumstances that have changed from the time of the initial estimate.

See the section below entitled “Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

Conference Call Information

Stem will hold a conference call to discuss this earnings press release and business outlook on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, beginning at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The conference call and accompanying slides may be accessed via a live webcast on a listen-only basis on the Events & Presentations page of the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at https://investors.stem.com/events-and-presentations. The call can also be accessed live over the telephone by dialing (877) 407-3982, or for international callers, (201) 493-6780 and referencing Stem. An audio replay will be available shortly after the call, and can be accessed by dialing (844) 512-2921 or for international callers by dialing (412) 317-6671. The passcode for the replay is 10191244. The replay will be available until Friday, September 6, 2024. An archive of the webcast will be available shortly after the call on Stem’s website at https://investors.stem.com/overview for 12 months following the call.

About Stem

Stem provides clean energy solutions and services designed to maximize the economic, environmental, and resiliency value of energy assets and portfolios. Stem’s leading AI-driven enterprise software platform, Athena® enables organizations to deploy and unlock value from clean energy assets at scale. Powerful applications, including AlsoEnergy’s PowerTrack, simplify and optimize asset management and connect an ecosystem of owners, developers, assets, and markets. Stem also offers integrated partner solutions to help improve returns across energy projects, including storage, solar, and EV fleet charging. For more information, visit www.stem.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This earnings press release, as well as other statements we make, contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which include any statements that are not historical facts. Such statements often contain words such as “expect,” “may,” “can,” “believe,” “predict,” “plan,” “potential,” “projected,” “projections,” “forecast,” “estimate,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “ambition,” “goal,” “target,” “think,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “will,” “hope,” “see,” “likely,” and other similar words.

Contacts

Stem Investor Contacts
Ted Durbin, Stem

Marc Silverberg, ICR

IR@stem.com

Stem Media Contacts
Suraya Akbarzad, Stem

press@stem.com

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