The wind industry is suffering through a tough first half of 2010, and Broadwind Energy (Nasdaq: BWEN) is no exception. The maker of towers and gearing is now paying the price for overbuilding capacity in anticipation of stronger demand. But things may be turning around for the second half of the year.
Second-quarter earnings were tough, but show signs of improvement. Revenue was $36.6 million, up 65% sequentially on increased wind-turbine construction. Net loss reached $14.2 million, including a $4.6 million non-cash charge. The adjusted EBITDA loss was less than half of the first quarter's, checking in at $4 million. That's not exactly a blowout quarter, but it still looks much better than the start of the year.
The hope for coming quarters lies in Broadwind’s extremely low capacity utilization. In May, the company reported less than 40% capacity utilization in towers, gearing, and logistics. Although management said this improved throughout the quarter, it’s still below what investors should expect, and it leaves a lot of room for improvement.
We’ve been hearing about “hope for the second half” from Broadwind customers General Electric (NYSE: GE) and Vestas Wind Systems for a while now. Now it’s time for the industry to show us real progress. Last month, Vestas did sign a record 570 MW order, to be built under a power purchase agreement for Edison International (NYSE: EIX). If more signings like this push up demand in the second half of the year, maybe Broadwind can put some of its extra capacity to work.
I’m not getting too worked up over the wind industry's second-quarter numbers. It’s taken time to digest weaker credit markets and a changing energy landscape. Heck, even superstar American Superconductor (Nasdaq: AMSC) has seen slowing growth this year. I'll start getting concerned only if the promise for Q3 and Q4 doesn’t come true.
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