What happened
Shares of solar inverter manufacturer SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG -0.64%) jumped as much as 26.2% on Wednesday after the company reported second-quarter earnings. Shares were trading near their high at 12:10 p.m. EDT, up 23.9% on the day.
So what
Revenue was up 20% to $325 million, and net income popped 74% to $33.1 million, or $0.66 per share. On a non-GAAP (adjusted) basis, earnings were $49.3 million, or $0.94 per share.
Analysts were expecting $315.5 million in revenue and earnings of $0.73 per share on a non-GAAP basis, so results beat what many investors had priced in by a wide margin.
Management expects growth to continue in the third quarter, and projects revenue in the range of $395 million to $410 million and gross margin between 32% and 34%, compared to 34.1% in the second quarter.
Now what
The U.S. solar industry is growing faster than expected, and SolarEdge is seeing strength in the residential and commercial markets in Europe and Asia. What's amazing is that no rival has matched the company's financial success and developed products that can compete in what is effectively a commodity business. But until a company can come up with a challenger, this will be a top-performing solar stock.