Will The Sun Shine On SunPower?

Shares of SunPower Corporation SPWR are down almost 4 percent on Thursday afternoon, as the company gets ready to report its first quarter financial results after the market closes.

According to Estimize, the company, the crowd and Wall Street analysts all expect to see a decline of roughly 80 percent in earnings. In the first quarter of 2014, SunPower reported earnings of $0.49 per share; in the latest quarter, $0.26 per share.

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For the first quarter of 2015, management guided earnings of $0.10 per share on revenue of $435 million; the crowd, $0.11 per share on revenue of $421.13 million; experts, $0.09 per share on revenue of $415.5 million.

The graph below shows a history of SunPower’s earnings, compared to estimates and guidance.

As seen on the chart, the energy services company beat Wall Street consensus and management’s guidance over the past eight quarters.

Another chart -- below -- illustrates the evolution of expectations over the quarter.

Estimates have been falling as the earnings date has gotten closer, while guidance has remained flat.

Analyst Ratings

Over the past few months, SunPower saw nothing but upgrades from major Wall Street research firms. Most recently, RBC Capital upgraded the stock to Outperform, setting a price target of $35.

Credit Suisse did the same, fixing the price target at $36.

Morgan Stanley also upgraded the stock to Overweight a few months ago, matching JP Morgan’s rating.