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SolarEdge Technologies Inc (SEDG 2.81%)
Q1Â 2019 Earnings Call
May. 06, 2019, 4:30 p.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Please stand by. Welcome to the SolarEdge conference call for the First Quarter ended March 31st, 2019. This call is being webcast live on the Company's website at www.solaredge.com in the Investors section on the Event Calendar page.
This call is a sole property and copyright of SolarEdge with all rights reserved, and any recording, reproduction or transmission of this call without the expressed written consent of SolarEdge is prohibited.
You may listen to a webcast replay of this call by visiting the Event Calendar page of the SolarEdge investor website.
I will now like to turn the call over to Erica Mannion at Sapphire Investor Relations, Investor Relations for SolarEdge.
Erica Mannion -- Investor Relations
Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us to discuss SolarEdge's operating results for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2019, as well as the Company's outlook for the second quarter of 2019. With me today are Guy Sella, Founder, Chairman and CEO; and Ronen Faier, Chief Financial Officer.
Guy will begin with a brief review of the results for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2019. Ronen will review the financial results for the first quarter followed by the Company's outlook for the second quarter of 2019. Then we will open the call for questions.
Please note that this call will include forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's current expectations. We encourage you to review the safe harbor statements contained in our press release and the slides published today for a more complete description.
All material contained in the webcast is the sole property and copyright of SolarEdge Technologies with all rights reserved. Please note, this presentation describes certain non-GAAP measures, including non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net diluted earnings per share, which are not measures prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
The non-GAAP measures are presented in this presentation as we believe that they provide investors with the means of evaluating and understanding how the Company's management evaluates the Company's operating performance.
These non-GAAP measures should not be considered in isolation from, as substitutes for, or superior to financial measures prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
Listeners who do not have a copy of the quarter ended March 31, 2019 press release or the presentation may obtain a copy by visiting the Investors section of the Company's website.
Now, I will turn the call over to CEO, Guy Sella.
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
Thank you, Erica. Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us on our conference call today. We concluded our first quarter with record revenues of approximately $272 million, up 3% from last quarter and an increase of 30% from the same quarter last year.
These revenues also include a record quarter in our solar business of approximately $253 million. In the quarter ended March 31st, 2019, we shipped 1.1 gigawatt of AC nameplate inverters. Overall, we shipped 3 million power optimizers and 131,000 inverters.
Last quarter, we began to separate the solar and non-solar activities in order to enable a continued understanding of our solar business without the recent acquisitions. Of course, as soon as a single new business area becomes significant enough, it will be reported separately, all in accordance with GAAP principles and regulations.
Given recent implementation of newly enacted accounting principles such as the new leasing accounting standard and the additional accounting effect of the acquisition such as the amortization of intangible assets, we believe that the presentation and analysis based on non-GAAP measures provide a better understanding of the business as management sees it.
The non-GAAP presentation enables analysts and investors to have full transparency of our solar business and its continued profitability as well as seeing the result of the non-solar business. Along those lines, I'm happy to report that our non-GAAP gross margin increased to 32.8%, up from 30.9% last quarter, and our non-GAAP gross margin from solar product increased to 34.3%, up from 32.8% last quarter.
As we discussed last quarter, we are reducing our actual support cost while continuing to improve customer support services. Mostly, as a result of tighter control of support operations and reduce support-related logistics extensions.
We are reporting non-GAAP net diluted earnings per share of $0.64 for the first quarter of 2019. Our non-GAAP net income was approximately $33 million and we generated cash from operations amounting to $56.5 million. Despite our recent acquisitions, our strong cash flow generation enabled us to increase our cash level to approximately $400 million, while taking on a small debt of approximately $24 million from the non-solar acquired businesses.
Moving to the business front. As you can see from our result, our solar business continue to grow at a healthy pace and we see diversification both in our product and geographic mix. Specifically, this quarter's sales in the U.S. accounted for 47% of revenues, sales from Europe accounted for 40% of revenues and sales from the rest of the world, primarily Australia, accounted for 13% of our revenues.
Overall, we shipped approximately 421 megawatts of products to the United States this quarter. Our product mix reveals further expansion of our commercial sales, which comprised 44% of our total megawatt shipped this quarter.
As mentioned last quarter, we are working in opening an additional manufacturing site in Vietnam in order to supply products that will not be impacted by U.S. tariffs on Chinese products. This is in addition to our manufacturing sites in China and Hungary.
As a reminder, at the beginning of Q1, we announced the acquisition of SMRE, with initial purchase of 56% of the shares of the Italian AIM-listed Company. Over the course of the quarter and through April 26th, we increased our shareholding as planned to over 98% and the company is now delisted. The integration of both Kokam and SMRE is well under way and we expect that over the next few years, these acquisitions will accelerate the clean energy and e-mobility evolution that we want to lead.
Having said that, the main driver for revenue and profitability for now continue to be our solar products. And with this, I hand the speaker over to Ronen who will review our financial results.
Ronen Faier -- Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Guy, and good afternoon, everyone. Before starting the review of our financial results for the first quarter of 2019, I would like to remind listeners that while the overview will be on a GAAP basis, in certain cases I will be discussing non-GAAP numbers and measures, which exclude the impact of the newly adopted revenue recognition standard, stock-based compensation, one-time asset disposal, one-time transition tax, changes in deferred tax, one-time acquisition-related expenses, intangible asset amortization, and cost of product adjustment related to the acquisitions of SMRE, Kokam and the UPS division, and finance expenses related to the adoption of the newly enacted leasing accounting standards as well as non-GAAP earnings per share.
I will conclude this introduction by noting that the effect of the new acquisition closed in the last months on GAAP results is meaningful as a result of amortization of accounting elements identified in the preliminary purchase price allocation studies that we have recently performed.
As our results prior to these acquisitions did not include these elements and since the business results are almost not affected by this amortization, as mentioned by Guy, we believe that non-GAAP analysis provides a better view of the way that management analyzes the results of our operations.
Please also note that the first quarter financials represent a change in our consolidation perimeter due to the first time inclusion of SMRE results effective January 24th, 2019. Full reconciliation of the pro forma to GAAP results discussed on this call is available on our website and in the press release issued today.
For the first quarter of 2019, total revenues were 279 -- $271.9 million, a 3% increase compared to $263.7 million last quarter and a 30% increase compared to $209.9 million for the same quarter last year.
Revenues from sale of solar products were $253.1 million and were driven by record shipments to Europe and rest of the world. U.S. revenues were similar to the first quarter of 2018 and represented 46.9% of our solar revenues, partially reflecting the industrywide seasonal slowdown of the first quarter, while Europe and rest of the world revenues represented 39.8% and 13.3%, respectively, and hit an all-time record in absolute values.
This quarter, our top ten solar customers represented 62% of our quarterly solar revenues, a decrease from the last quarter, while only one customer continued to account for more than 10% of revenues.
Blended ASP decreased this quarter mainly due to currency fluctuations, higher commercial product sales and higher proportion of non-U. S. dollar-denominated revenues. This quarter, revenues from our non-solar product sales were $18.8 million, mostly driven by sales of lithium-ion sales and energy storage products, and to a lesser extent, from UPS products.
Revenues from SMRE for the period included in our consolidated reports were slightly under $3 million. GAAP gross margins for the quarter was 31.7% compared to 30.2% in the prior quarter and 37.9% in the same quarter last year.
Non-GAAP gross margins this quarter was 32.8% compared to 30.9% in the prior quarter and 38.4% in the same quarter last year. Non-GAAP gross margins for the solar activities was 34.3% compared to 32.8% in the last quarter. This increase was primarily attributed to product mix as well as lower shipment and logistic costs.
Our actual warranty expenses continued to decrease this quarter in comparison to the last quarter in absolute value, while our long-term warranty accrual increased as a result of our calculation method that takes into account past expenses. The net effect on gross margin of these two changes compared to the last quarter was negligible.
U.S. customs tariffs negatively impacted our solar business margins this quarter by 65 basis points. Our non-GAAP margin on non-solar activities was 13.1% this quarter compared to 7.8% in the previous quarter, where the majority of the result is related to higher margins on energy storage systems.
Moving to operating expenses. In total, operating expenses for the first quarter were $58.1 million or 21.4% of revenues compared to $55.3 million or 21% of revenues in the prior quarter and to $38.8 million or 18.5% of revenues for the same quarter last year.
On a non-GAAP basis, operating expenses for the first quarter were $48 million or 17.7% of revenues compared to $45.1 million or 17.1% of revenues in the prior quarter and $32.9 million or 15.7% of revenues for the same quarter last year.
Of this non-GAAP increase in operating expenses, $1.6 million were related to the solar activities, the majority of which are related to increase in our R&D headcount. Our non-GAAP solar operating expenses as a percent of solar revenues were 16.6% with no change compared to the last quarter. The remaining increase of non-GAAP operating expenses is mainly an inclusion of the operating expenses of SMRE in the amount of $1.5 million in our P&L. Non-GAAP operating expense related to Kokam and to the UPS division were unchanged.
The bottom line result of this GAAP operating -- of this is GAAP operating income for the quarter of $28 million compared to $24.4 million in the previous quarter and $40.8 million for the same quarter last year. Non-GAAP operating income for the quarter was $41.2 million compared to $36.4 million in the previous quarter and $47.6 million for the same period last year.
Financial expense for the quarter was $6.2 million compared to financial income of $0.3 million in the previous quarter and to financial income of $0.6 million for the same period last year. Of this amount, $5 million of expenses are related to the devaluation of the euro, Korean won and Israeli New Shekel against the U.S. dollar. An additional $0.9 million are a result of the adoption of the new lease standards.
This quarter, we had a tax expense of $3.9 million compared to a tax expense of $12.1 million in the prior quarter, which was affected by one-time adjustment to the provisional tax on undistributed earnings and profits resulted from the U.S. tax reform, and a tax expense of $5.7 million for the same period last year.
GAAP net income for the first quarter was $19 million compared to GAAP net income of $12.9 million for the previous quarter and $35.7 million for the same quarter last year. Our non-GAAP net income was $32.9 million compared to a non-GAAP net income of $31.5 million in the previous quarter and $42.5 million for the same quarter last year.
The non-solar activities generated a $2.8 million of non-GAAP net loss this quarter compared to a net loss of $2.6 million in the previous quarter, which did not include SMRE. GAAP net diluted earnings per share was $0.39 for the first quarter compared to $0.27 in the previous quarter and $0.75 for the same quarter last year.
Non-GAAP net diluted EPS was $0.64, slightly higher compared to the $0.63 of the previous quarter and $0.87 in the same quarter last year. It is important to note that our non-GAAP consolidated EPS was affected this quarter by $0.02 as a result of the SolarEdge shares issued as part of the SMRE acquisition. Non-GAAP net diluted EPS were negatively affected by $0.07 per share as a result of the non-solar activities.
Turning now to the balance sheet. As of March 31st, 2019, cash, cash equivalent, restricted cash, short-term bank deposits and investments were $398.7 million compared to $392.2 million at December 31st, 2018.
During the first quarter, we generated $56.5 million of cash from operation. Actual cash paid in the first quarter for the purchase of SMRE shares and additional Kokam shares was $43 million net of cash acquired.
In addition, this quarter, our balance sheet includes net debt of $24.3 million related to borrowing taken by Kokam and SMRE for working capital needs and capital expenditures prior to the acquisition. Our current plans are to maintain this debt until we finalize our capital needs for Kokam relating to the increase of manufacturing capacity and the need of SMRE in relation to long-term financing leases on building.
AR net increased this quarter, reaching a $187.5 million compared to $173.6 million last quarter. DSO this quarter in the solar business was 68 days, a slight change from 69 days last quarter. As of March 31st, 2019, our inventory level net of reserve was at $150.8 million compared to $141.5 million in the prior quarter. Approximately $39.5 million of this amount relates to non-solar inventory. The majority of which is raw materials held by Kokam.
Moving now to guidance for the second quarter of 2019. We expect revenues to be within the range of $310 million to $320 million. Revenues from the sale of solar products are expected to be within the range of $290 million and $300 million. We expect gross margins to be within the range of 32% to 34%. Gross margins from solar activities is expected to be within the range of 33% to 35%.
I will now turn the call over to the operator to open it up for questions. Operator, please.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you. (Operator Instructions). We'll take our first question from Maheep Mandloi with Credit Suisse.
Maheep Mandloi -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
Hi. Thanks for taking the questions. Can you just talk about the Q2 guidance, what's driving the growth and the sales for the quarter? And also, can you also just touch upon what you're seeing on the ASPs in the market individually for the residential and commercial applications in Q1 and rest of the year? Thanks.
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
So, I followed the first part of the question, I'm not sure about the second, I will answer the first part and then just remind me what exactly was the part -- second part of the question. This is Guy.
Maheep Mandloi -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
Sure.
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
So we are expecting the non-solar to stay quite flat between Q2 and Q3. And the majority of increase in demand on Q2 is coming from Europe. In general, you know, the market, Q2 is the strongest quarter in Europe. Q3 is almost as strong, but a bit weaker due to the (inaudible).
While in the U.S., usually the second part of the year, H2, is stronger. So I would expect that the majority of increase will be coming from Europe. And we would assume that during the second part of the year, we'll see even higher growth coming from the U.S.
And now what was the question about ASP, if you can help me to...
Maheep Mandloi -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
Yeah, so I just wanted to understand directionally how were the ASPs in the residential and commercial applications when you spoke about the blended average being down because of high commercial mix. But in those individual segments, how were the ASPs in the quarter and what are your expectations for the year? And then I had a follow-up after that.
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
So basically, I think three questions at once. I will try to answer them in a way that will explain what we do and what we see. So ASP of commercial, as you know, is lower than the ASP of residential. It's hard to give the average.
It depends on the exact type of the commercial, the type of optimizer, et cetera. But it reflects more or less the differences in the market. So it can be 50% to 60% in average. It depends what you measure, very hard to measure. The gross margin on both products is pretty similar between residential and commercial, so we don't see any negative effect by growing our commercial business.
Looking forward on ASP, that's complex this year. Originally, without the changes in taxation from the U.S. and without the tweet on Sunday, I would expect that we'll see slight decrease in ASP in Q3 and Q4. Saying that, with the tweet and with the unexpected future of taxes, I think that we have no clue about what will be the ASP.
And I will be very happy to learn from analysts like you what you think because we do not know.
Maheep Mandloi -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
I just go by what you say. But thanks. That's really helpful color. And just last question from me and then I'll pass along. Given the volume growth in Q1 and Q2, where do see your -- what are your thoughts on market share in the U.S. markets? Do you think it's growing, flattish or how do you think about that? Thanks.
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
Again, here we think that our market share is growing, but that's a very unindependent analysis that we do based on reviewing the many accounts of the Q1, Q2 and average long tail that we have. The right numbers or the most accurate numbers are coming, as you know, from Greentech Media, and those probably will be available by the end of May.
So I would expect that we grow a bit in our market share, but I think it's hard to, from our position, we have limited view. It's hard to come with a concluded answer.
Maheep Mandloi -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
Got it. Thanks for taking the questions and congratulations on the quarter.
Ronen Faier -- Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Maheep.
Operator
We will take our next question from Colin Rusch with Oppenheimer & Company.
Colin Rusch -- Oppenheimer & Company -- Analyst
Thanks so much. Guy, just thinking about this market share dynamic that you're talking about, what other technologies are you taking share from? Clearly, it seems like you're at cost points where you could be taking significant share from string inverters at this point. And then I have a couple of follow-ups after this.
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
I don't think we have a good enough view of such a question. It's -- I think that we see some large centralized inverter companies going down with their market share. I don't think we see any newcomers such as new Chinese taking any market share.
And I think Enphase is doing good. So I really don't -- and I don't think the differences in market share are in huge percentage. So I really don't think I have any accurate feeling on this question. Sorry.
Colin Rusch -- Oppenheimer & Company -- Analyst
Okay. That's all. I'll take it off-line with a little bit more nuance. And then just in terms of energy storage attach rates and what you're seeing in terms of orders at this point, particularly as folks understand your acquisition of Kokam, what can you tell us about that, specifically related to the U.S. and then, separately, in Europe?
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
So we don't have yet solarized batteries, as you know. Those are planned for the end of the year, beginning of next year.
So there is no yet impact of the acquisition of Kokam regarding our own offering in storage products. Saying that, we are today supporting high-voltage batteries of LG and -- in quite big percentage. When Tesla is selling their battery, we are connected on the PV side.
So it's an AC coupling structure. We have no intent to reduce the offering of storage in the future but adding our own high-voltage battery. And in addition to that, we're planning to announce and having the market later this year or beginning of next year a three-phase on-grid storage for the European market that can work with 48-volt batteries. So all in all, we are increasing our storage offering in 2.5 dimensions and I believe it will help us to sell many more storage products.
Colin Rusch -- Oppenheimer & Company -- Analyst
Okay. Thanks, guys.
Operator
We'll take our next question from Philip Shen with Roth Capital. Mr. Shen, your line is now open.
Philip Shen -- Roth Capital -- Analyst
Okay. Great. Just want to make sure the line is OK. Thanks for taking the questions. So as a follow-up on the tariff topic, Guy and Ronen, philosophically, let's say the tariff goes to 25%, would you expect to pass on all of that to your customers? Or I think in the first tranche of 10% -- that first tariff of 10%, that was the expectation and that's what happened, not only for you but also for, I believe, your peer.
But now that -- if we go from 10% to 25%, would you want to do the same thing? Or do you think you might absorb some of that as well yourself?
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
Different from some leaders, we take decisions based on fact and we cannot tweet our answer. So that's a Sunday tweet by Mr. Trump. And before having a real data, real impact, real HS code that we can put on Excel and really calculate the impact on gross margin, I think it will be irresponsible from my side to try to give you an answer.
Philip Shen -- Roth Capital -- Analyst
Okay. Fair enough, Guy. And then as it relates to Vietnam, you mentioned that in your prepared remarks, can you share with us who your contract manufacturer is in addition to the time line of when that facility could be ramped up? And do you expect to be able to fully serve all of U.S. demand from Vietnam?
And does it also include both inverter capability as well as optimizer capability? Thank you.
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
So the CM is Jabil Vietnam. We are in the process of building the lines now, and we're supposed to start producing end of June, beginning of July. And of course, we'll produce both optimizers and inverters. Regarding the full capacity, that's again something -- it's hard to predict, especially the future.
So it depends on how fast we would ramp up and how fast the demand from the U.S. will come. We do have additional line in Hungary and -- which we can double in case we need relatively in a fast way. So we have enough tools, but to be able to predict the total demand from the U.S. for any quarter in the future, of course, is not something I can do.
Philip Shen -- Roth Capital -- Analyst
Okay. Great. And then just a couple of more housekeeping type questions. Can you talk about why the optimizer units were down in the quarter while inverters were up? Was it simply an inventory or channel situation? And then I think you guys mentioned that international revenues were 53% of overall revenues in the quarter.
Can you talk about how you expect that mix to trend as we go through the year? Thank you.
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
So regarding optimizers, it's a split in inventory channel hands between Q4 and Q1. So we don't see any new phenomena in the market. So I would expect that many people have higher inventory of optimizers compared to inverters.
Saying that, the inventory level in Europe are almost zero, and in the U.S., in average, the inventory are not high as well. The second question was about the trend in the future of the ratio between inverters and optimizers. Is this correct?
Philip Shen -- Roth Capital -- Analyst
No. Between U.S. and international, the international mix.
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
U.S. and international. So as mentioned, I think, again, that's based on the behavior, but I feel -- maybe Ronen can answer as well. But I feel that in Q2, it's supposed to be similar or a little bit even higher demand from Europe.
And then it will be changed to the other direction in Q3 and Q4 since usually the U.S. is stronger in H2, and we see very positive signs in the U.S. market since the beginning of the year.
Philip Shen -- Roth Capital -- Analyst
Okay. Great. Thank you, Guy. I will pass it on.
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
Thank you.
Ronen Faier -- Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
Operator
(Operator Instructions). We will take our next question from Joseph Osha with JMP Securities.
Hilary Elizabeth Cauley -- JMP Securities -- Analyst
This is actually Hilary on for Joe. I'll just kind of like get back to the non-solar. I know you said you're expecting it to continue relatively flat next quarter, but I was just wondering if you could speak to what that revenue ramp might look like over the next several quarters?
And then longer term, what you kind of see a target or optimal split between solar and non-solar? Thank you.
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
That's even harder than to predict the future. So as mentioned last call, we believe that we've built a very strong multi-pillar company, which will have UPS and storage cells and other ESS products as well as e-mobility, and one or two more segments that we'll develop in-house.
Saying that, and as mentioned before, we do not know yet to give a good analysis of how fast we can ramp each of the businesses simply because we're still building them. As you know, we bought the UPS for something in the area of $11 million, $12 million, and we are working on the Kokam side on establishing a completely new and much more advanced capacity and production capability.
And with SMRE, it's in the heart of the automotive industry. So before we'll see the first one or two major deals, it will be very hard to give any estimation as you asked. So all in all, I think that we will have a clearer picture of how fast we can roll the UPS after we'll completely adopt their product, start to produce them on our line, et cetera, something which I would expect will happen in Q1 2020.
We will have, I think, better view on Kokam, somewhere between Q4 this year, maybe a bit later. And regarding SMRE, I think it's even hard to predict when should we see enough horizon, but it can happen in one to three quarters from now.
Hilary Elizabeth Cauley -- JMP Securities -- Analyst
Okay. Great. Thank you.
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
Thank you.
Ronen Faier -- Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
Operator
And our next question comes from Jeff Osborne with Cowen & Company.
Jeff Osborne -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst
Yeah. Good afternoon, guys. Just a couple on my end. I think on the last call, we had talked about getting to a 36%-plus solar gross margin range, which was your prior guidance at some point in time, I think in Q3, is what you had indicated.
Is that still the trajectory? I know that you guided for improvement in Q2. I just want to get a sense of what you're seeing for the second half with the moving parts of warranty and pricing.
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
So again, if not -- without analyzing Mr. Trump, I think that as mentioned before, we believe -- I think we said last time, three to four quarters, and I think we still feel comfortable with this estimation.
Jeff Osborne -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst
Got it. And then, Guy, is there any conversations that you're having around safe harboring of either optimizers or inverters? Is that something that possibly can manifest itself between now and April of next year?
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
Of course, we still need to learn exactly the regulation. I think if they are a little bit different from the regulation of the last safe harbor, I think it was in 2013 or I'm not sure, don't catch me on the year, we are learning it. But yes, there is a nice potential.
Of course, it will impact, if at all, somewhere between Q4 and Q1 next year.
Jeff Osborne -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst
Got it. And then you highlighted, Ronen, on the debt and keeping that with Kokam and SMRE. Can you just talk about what your plans are for capacity expansion? A two part question. I guess, one, remind us what the capacity is today?
And then two, where you're going and how much that will cost? Is that something that you can give some guidance in CapEx in particular for the year?
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
So not yet. So capacity today at Kokam, we have 150 megawatt to 200 megawatt depend on the blend. And the majority are high, very high-ended sales with up to 11,000 cycles that go to specific very high-end markets.
And that was the reason why we acquired the Company because of the really special capabilities in chemistries in long term and amount of cycles and so on. Regarding capacity and price of CapEx, we are working and will have -- we're working intensively on checking three generations of options of expansion.
One is like mid-two. And then if we will go with this direction, then you probably know the CapEx related to any additional once you go out of capacity we would like to add. The chances we'll go with mid-two in production, as you know, are sort of not very high. We're checking another two options. One is based on a different approach, and one is based on an almost -- or a majority of self-development machines.
And once -- I think it will take us three, four months and we'll know what we do, we will share the capacity and more or less the schedule and the expected CapEx investment.
Ronen Faier -- Chief Financial Officer
And Jeff, just to add to this, as we said all along, we do expect that once we make the decision, we would try to make the -- to take the majority of the financing from Korean banks in Korea itself in order not to utilize it or monies coming from the United States into Korea and not to create any kind of, I would call it, tax accidents.
Jeff Osborne -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst
Make sense. I appreciate it. Thank you.
Ronen Faier -- Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
Operator
And that concludes today's question-and-answer session, I'd like to turn the conference back to Guy Sella for any additional or closing remarks.
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
Thank you. In summary, this quarter, we continued our expected growth and execution on all fronts. The solar business continued to generate increased demand for our products, and we continue to supply the market with top-notch innovative technology, while also investing resources in new products that will address the clean energy and e-mobility evolution.
Thank you all for joining us on today's call. All the best.
Operator
And that does conclude today's conference. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.
Duration: 40 minutes
Call participants:
Erica Mannion -- Investor Relations
Guy Sella -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Founder
Ronen Faier -- Chief Financial Officer
Maheep Mandloi -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
Colin Rusch -- Oppenheimer & Company -- Analyst
Philip Shen -- Roth Capital -- Analyst
Hilary Elizabeth Cauley -- JMP Securities -- Analyst
Jeff Osborne -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst
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