What happened
Shares of microinverter manufacturer Enphase Energy Inc. (ENPH 0.83%) jumped as much as 15% in trading Tuesday after the company announced a new product. Shares gave back some gains late in trading but were still up 11.3% at 3:10 p.m. EDT.
So what
Enphase announced the IQ Combiner 3, an upgrade of the IQ Combiner product that allows for solar and storage installations to be pre-wired for residential applications. Enphase isn't going to take a different role than it has always had as a supplier to solar installers, but it might be able to expand the components it provides beyond microinverters to energy storage solutions.
Image source: Getty Images.
New and improved products have helped Enphase improve its position in the market and advance microinverters as well. There isn't any tangible evidence this will improve financials, but that's what investors are betting on today.
Now what
To be clear, the bounce in Enphase's stock today is speculation that sales will grow in the energy storage industry with IQ Combiner 3. That could be true, but we don't have any evidence as to how big the impact will be. It's also worth noting that energy storage is still a very small market in the U.S., which will limit the impact on Enphase. I wouldn't be surprised if the euphoria from today wears off soon, unless we see Enphase's new product start flying off the shelf in the coming months.
