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Energy Focus: Q1 Earnings Insights

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Benzinga Insights
·1 min read
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Shares of Energy Focus (NASDAQ:EFOI) were flat after the company reported Q1 results.

Quarterly Results

Earnings per share were up 83.33% over the past year to ($0.04), which beat the estimate of ($0.07).

Revenue of $3,783,000 rose by 19.07% from the same period last year, which beat the estimate of $3,460,000.

Looking Ahead

Earnings guidance hasn't been issued by the company for now.

Energy Focus hasn't issued any revenue guidance for the time being.

How To Listen To The Conference Call

Date: May 13, 2020

View more earnings on EFOI

Time: 07:18 PM ET

Webcast URL: http://public.viavid.com/player/index.php?id=139583

Recent Stock Performance

52-week high: $0.99

Company's 52-week low was at $0.16

Price action over last quarter: Up 21.69%

Company Description

Energy Focus Inc is a provider of energy efficient Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting products and a developer of energy efficient lighting technology. It serves the military maritime market and general commercial markets. Its product offerings include Military maritime LED lighting products such as military intellitube, globe lights, berth lights, and military fixtures; and Commercial products such as LED fixtures and panels, LED down-lights, LED dock lights and wall-packs, and LED retrofit kits. Geographically, it operates in the United States and other countries. Its products include Commercial products and MMM products. It generates a majority of its sales from the Military maritime products primarily in the US.

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© 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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    (Bloomberg) -- Gap Inc. and Synchrony Financial are parting ways after they couldn’t reach an agreement to renew their longstanding card partnership.The clothing retailer has decided to shift the portfolio to Barclays Plc beginning in May 2022, it said in a statement Tuesday. Synchrony said in a regulatory filing that it expects to recognize a gain on the sale of the portfolio when it unloads it next April.“Synchrony was unable to reach contractual and economic terms with Gap that made sense for our company and our shareholders,” the Stamford, Connecticut-based firm said in the filing.Synchrony shares dropped 3.7% to $41.55 at 2:34 p.m. in New York, the second-worst performance in the 65-company S&P 500 Financials Index. The lender plans to use about $1 billion of the proceeds from the sale of the portfolio to buy back shares and invest in “higher growth programs,” according to the filing.Gap and Synchrony have offered cards together for more than two decades, and the lender counts the retailer as one of its five largest partners. The portfolio represents about 5% of the bank’s roughly $80 billion in receivables.It’s the second time Synchrony has opted not to renew a partnership with a major retailer after Walmart Inc. shifted its portfolio to Capital One Financial Corp., a move that was first announced in 2018. The decision comes just a few weeks after the lender installed Brian Doubles as its new chief executive officer, replacing its longtime leader, Margaret Keane.“This is a speed bump,” Jon Arfstrom, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in a note to clients. “We do not believe this loss (and Walmart in 2018) are due to any uncompetitive positioning for Synchrony, and we believe it comes down to preferences and negotiations and bottom-line profitability.”Gap, like most of its mall-based peers, has struggled to attract customers during the coronavirus pandemic. “We faced one of the most difficult years in our company’s history,” Chief Executive Officer Sonia Syngal said last month as Gap capped its fiscal year with fourth-quarter sales that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations.What Bloomberg Intelligence Says:“Revenue and earnings from the Gap partnership have been steadily shrinking, so the retailer’s move to Barclays should reduce Synchrony’s costs and shift resources to new, high-potential cards with Venmo and Verizon.”-- David Ritter, BI fintech analystClick here to read the research.Its Banana Republic brand, which primarily sells work clothes, has been particularly weak. One bright spot for the retailer is its Athleta activewear brand, which passed $1 billion in sales in 2020.Gap said the new credit-card program will be a key component of the revamped rewards program it launched in September. Barclays will issue both private label and co-brand credit cards for Gap, with the latter using Mastercard Inc.’s payment network.“With our shared values and focus on inclusion, we look forward to working with Gap Inc. and Barclays to deliver an enhanced card program to their customers,” Linda Kirkpatrick, president of Mastercard’s North America business, said in an emailed statement.It will be Barclays’s first private-label card, and the bank has already begun investing in the systems it will need to provide the program, said Denny Nealon, CEO of the U.S. consumer bank at Barclays. The bank has also recently been investing in data and analytics and other efforts to improve technology.Barclays has been looking to diversify its card partnerships, which have long focused on airlines, cruises and hotel chains. The firm recently debuted a new card with the nonprofit AARP.“We’re absolutely thrilled to join forces with Gap, it’s an iconic American brand, its got a huge customer base,” Nealon said. “We think we can help them drive growth and success.”(Updates with executive commentary beginning in 11th paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • U.K. Finance Regulators Seek ‘Ambitious’ Access to U.S. Markets

    (Bloomberg) -- Britain’s financial markets watchdog is looking to upgrade its relationship with the U.S. and give U.K. firms permanent access to American securities and derivatives markets in the wake of Brexit.The Financial Conduct Authority is working closely with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission about a “permanent footing” for U.K. trading venues to operate in the U.S., Nausicaa Delfas, the FCA’s executive director of international, said at a conference on Tuesday.“If granted, this recognition will provide U.K. firms with the certainty they need to conduct their business in the U.S. with confidence,” Delfas said at the City & Financial Global virtual event.The FCA is also in discussions with the Securities and Exchange Commission over access to the U.S. for swap dealers, and the regulator is supporting the U.K. government’s negotiations with the U.S. on a wider trade agreement. These efforts build on agreements made before Brexit came into effect at the start of the year, which pledged to minimize disruption in transatlantic financial markets.“There is much still to be agreed, but we are supportive of an ambitious outcome on financial services that benefits both U.K. and U.S. industries whilst preserving our regulatory objectives and safeguards,” Delfas said.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • S&P 500, Nasdaq up as tech stocks rise after J&J vaccine pause

    The S&P 500 hit a record high on Tuesday and the Nasdaq jumped as investors flocked to technology-related stocks after the United States' pause in the rollout of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine sparked fears of a delay in a broader economic rebound. The drugmaker's shares fell 2.7% to a one-month low as calls for pausing the use of its COVID-19 vaccine after six women developed rare blood clots dealt a fresh setback to efforts to tackle the pandemic. The technology and consumer discretionary sectors, which house high-flying technology names that flourished during coronavirus-induced lockdowns last year, rose 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively.

  • Fervor Eases as Record SPAC Deal Gets Ho-Hum Response

    (Bloomberg) -- Southeast Asia’s answer to Uber is set to nab the record for biggest deal in the SPAC world, yet traders are holding their applause.Singapore-based Grab Holdings Inc. said it will list on U.S. exchanges through a reverse merger with Altimeter Growth Corp. in a deal valued at nearly $40 billion that drew institutional backing from heavyweights like T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Temasek Holdings Pte.As it stands, the blockbuster tie-up would be the largest SPAC merger ever, dwarfing the one announced between Lucid Motors Inc. and Churchill Capital IV in February, valued at $24 billion. The transaction is expected to close in July and the company will trade on the Nasdaq with the catchy symbol GRAB.But investors don’t seem much interested in seizing this special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, opportunity.Shares of Altimeter rose on the day merger rumors surfaced, but modestly relative to others, in the latest example of SPAC market pain. After trading lower earlier Tuesday, the stock rallied into the close but still remains 15% below its January peak.Gone are the 2020 days of indiscriminate SPAC deal pops, when everyone wanted to play the deal announcement, Josef Schuster, founder of the SPAC index, told Bloomberg in an interview. Excitement came fast and easy but dissipated after a series of “lousy” showings from the companies post-deal, Schuster said, noting that the SPAC index has gone nowhere this year.“Maybe the idea is that those deals shouldn’t get a pop in the first place,” Schuster said. “If anything the market is more efficient now.”The second- and third-largest deals -- Michael Klein’s SPAC with Lucid Motors and Alec Gore’s SPAC with United Wholesale Mortgage Group, valued at $16 billion -- haven’t translated into big gains thus far. The Churchill SPAC is 66% off its peak and UWM Holdings Corp. now sits below $8 after completing its reverse-merger earlier this year.Traders reference the Churchill-Lucid announcement in late February as “peak SPAC” -- when the deal value broke, shares of the SPAC fell and catalyzed a selloff in that market that led to hundreds of pre-deal SPACs sliding under their IPO prices of $10. Meanwhile, regulators have turned up the heat on SPACs and the feverish pace of SPACs coming to market has slowed to a crawl.Read More: Do-Nothing SPACs Sag, Offering Investors a $1.1 Billion ReturnWhile history favors pre-deal SPAC performance, buying shares of companies that emerge from SPAC combinations and holding them for one year results in an annualized loss of 15% on an equal-weighted basis, according to data from Jay Ritter, a University of Florida finance professor who tracked such deals from January 2010 through October 2020.SPACs are also significantly underperforming traditional initial public offerings. This year’s SPAC listings are up about 1%, while regular listings have gained 35% on an offer-to-date basis, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.Perhaps investors keen on size should be paying attention to the biggest companies to emerge from SPACs based on market capitalization, which would ultimately determine whether they land in major index funds and exchange-traded funds. That would be DraftKings Inc. at about $23 billion, Opendoor Technologies Inc. for $11 billion and Paysafe Ltd. around $9 billion as of Monday night.Whether Grab will crack those ranks remains to be seen.(Update in fifth graph, first chart)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Ant to Be Financial Holding Firm in Overhaul Forced by China

    (Bloomberg) -- Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co. will drastically revamp its business, bowing to demands from Chinese authorities that want to rein in the country’s fast-growing Internet giants.Ant will now effectively be supervised more like a bank, a move with far-reaching implications for its growth and ability to press ahead with a landmark initial public offering that the government abruptly delayed late last year.The overhaul outlined by regulators and the company on Monday will see Ant transform itself into a financial holding company, with authorities directing the firm to open its payments app to competitors, increase oversight of how that business fuels it crucial consumer lending operations, and ramp up data protections. It will also need to cut the outstanding value of its money-market fund Yu’ebao.The directives come as China’s regulators pledge to curb the “reckless” push of technology firms into finance and crack down on monopolies online. The twin pillars of Ma’s empire -- Ant and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. -- have been at the center of the increased scrutiny, sending a message to the country’s largest corporations and their leaders to fall in line with Beijing’s priorities.Several government agencies, including the People’s Bank of China, and regulators overseeing the banking and securities sectors met with Ant to dictate the changes. The company will plan its growth “within the national strategic context,” and make sure that it shoulders more social responsibility, Ant said in its statement.Regulators have also slapped a record $2.8 billion fine on Alibaba this month after an anti-trust probe found the e-commerce company abused its market dominance.“The darkest hour for Alibaba has passed, but I wouldn’t say so for Ant Group,” said Dong Ximiao, chief researcher at Zhongguancun Internet Finance Institute. “The latest announcement clarified the framework for Ant’s restructuring, but the tone is still harsh and some of the requirements are tougher than expected. I don’t think the overhang is removed for Ant investors at this stage.”While the revamp leaves Ant’s main businesses intact, regulators are making it harder for the firm to exploit synergies that allowed it to direct traffic from its payments service Alipay -- which has a billion users -- to other financial services including wealth management, consumer lending and even on-demand neighborhood services and delivery.Authorities now require Ant to cut off any improper linking of payments with other financial products including its Jiebei and Huabei lending services. Ant said it will fold those units into its consumer finance arm, apply for a license for personal credit reporting, and improve consumer data protection.Ant could add more credit borrowing options on Alipay instead of setting Huabei as the default or preferred option, Thomas Chong, a Hong Kong-based analyst with Jefferies Financial Group Inc., wrote in a report, adding that synergies between Huabei and Yu’ebao could be affected.“Ant’s growth prospects just became a lot more challenging, given it will be much more difficult to capitalize on its scale,” said Mark Tanner, founder of Shanghai-based consultant China Skinny. “These growth challenges, in addition to the wider concerns about the tech sector regulators, makes their IPO value and attractiveness a shadow of what it was.”Ant Chairman Eric Jing promised staff last month that the company would eventually go public. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Francis Chan has estimated the firm’s valuation may drop about 60% from the $280 billion it was pegged at last year given the rule changes being contemplated in areas including payments.Payments FocusChanges to the payments business were among the top priorities regulators outlined, with Ant pledging to return the business “to its origin” by focusing on micro-payments and convenience for users.Earlier this year, China proposed measures to curb market concentration in online payments, which Ant and rival Tencent Holdings Ltd. have transformed with their ubiquitous mobile apps that are used by a combined 1 billion people.The central bank said in draft rules that any non-bank payment company with half of the market in online transactions or two entities with a combined two-thirds share could be subject to antitrust probes.If a monopoly is confirmed, the central bank can suggest that cabinet impose restrictive measures including breaking up the entity by its business type.Mobile payments are only part of what contribute to online transactions, but they have become the most important platform in China, fueling growth in other services.Investors are also awaiting final rules aimed at curbing online consumer lending, which were unveiled late last year.Given all the changes still down the track, an Ant IPO remains “far, far away,” said Zhongguancun Internet Finance Institute’s Dong.“The PBOC statement emphasizes risks and correction, while Ant Group’s statement sounds positive to investors,” Shujin Chen, the Hong Kong-based head of financial research at Jefferies, wrote in a report. “Ant will be the first financial holding company in China, a milestone in fintech regulation. Ant sees a clearer roadmap to restructure, although some details remain unclear.”(Updates with Ant comment in fifth paragraph, analyst comment in tenth)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Tempo raises $220 million as the connected home fitness market bulks up

    Tempo, which launched its first home "studio" in February 2020, on Tuesday announced its $220 million Series C led by SoftBank Vision Fund with participation from new investor Steadfast Venture Capital, and returning investors DCM, General Catalyst, Norwest Venture Partners, and Bling Capital. T

  • Should you convert your IRA to a Roth if Biden’s infrastructure plan passes?

    Roth accounts serve a special tax purpose — they’re funded with after-tax dollars and thus, are distributed tax-free (compared with a traditional account, where the money is contributed and grows tax-free but is taxed at withdrawal). Roth conversions are similar — investors move the money from their traditional accounts into Roth accounts and pay the tax upfront.

  • Glass Lewis opposes re-electing Credit Suisse board's risk chairman

    ZURICH (Reuters) -Proxy adviser Glass Lewis urged Credit Suisse shareholders to oppose board member Andreas Gottschling's re-election, on grounds that as risk committee chairman he should be held accountable for problems tied to Greensill and Archegos. Switzerland's second-biggest bank has been reeling from the collapses of Greensill Capital and Archegos Capital Management, with a 4.4 billion Swiss franc ($4.75 billion) charge hitting its balance sheet after Archegos failed to meet margin commitments.

  • Didi Chuxing Has Filed Confidentially for U.S. IPO

    (Bloomberg) -- Asia’s top ride-hailing startups are pushing ahead with listing plans, as they seek to take advantage of a boom in equity offerings to fund expansion in everything from food delivery to autonomous driving.Beijing-based Didi Chuxing has filed confidentially with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering that could raise several billion dollars, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Its Southeast Asian peer Grab Holdings Inc. aims to announce a merger with a blank-check company in the U.S. as soon as this week in a deal valued at more than $34 billion, the people said.These listings pave the way for some of the largest tech debuts globally this year as demand for ride services and ride-sharing jumped after pandemic-induced disruptions in Asia. Didi and Grab are also capitalizing on a rebound in tech stocks as the Nasdaq Composite Index is again charging toward an all-time high.Didi has tapped Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley as underwriters for its U.S. listing which could value the company at as much as $70 billion to $100 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. It is raising $1.5 billion through a revolving loan facility to shore up capital ahead of the share sale, Bloomberg News reported last week.The startup is also exploring a potential dual listing in Hong Kong at a later time, one of the people added.Didi, the Chinese version of Uber Technologies Inc., acquired its U.S. rival’s China business in 2016. The SoftBank Group Corp.-backed company is stepping up efforts to grow its presence in strategically important sectors like autonomous driving and technologies like artificial intelligence chips. It has also just raised about $1.5 billion for its on-demand trucking unit earlier this year, Bloomberg News has reported.Separately, Singapore-based Grab has attracted backing from T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Temasek Holdings Pte for its planned merger with Altimeter Growth Corp., the people said. The firms have expressed interest in joining a private investment in public equity offering, or PIPE, to support Grab’s combination with the blank-check company, the people said. BlackRock Inc. is also in talks to participate in the PIPE, which could raise about $4 billion, they added.At a valuation of more than $34 billion, Grab’s deal could become the biggest SPAC merger ever, according to data complied by Bloomberg, and would see the startup become one of the first Southeast Asian unicorns to go public through a blank-check company.Read more: Grab’s $34 Billion SPAC Deal Puts Southeast Asia Tech on the MapDidi and Grab are set to test investor appetite for the capital-intensive ride-hailing business. Uber, which raised $8.1 billion in an IPO in 2019, saw its share dive in March 2020 as the pandemic led to lockdowns in major cities globally. The stock has since quadrupled and even reached a new high in February this year.Details of Didi and Grab’s listings could still change as deliberations continue, the people said. Representatives for Didi, Grab, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.