Bloom Energy Corporation (NYSE:BE) Could Be Less Than A Year Away From Profitability

With the business potentially at an important milestone, we thought we'd take a closer look at Bloom Energy Corporation's (NYSE:BE) future prospects. Bloom Energy Corporation designs, manufactures, sells, and installs solid-oxide fuel cell systems for on-site power generation in the United States and internationally. The US$5.6b market-cap company’s loss lessened since it announced a US$302m loss in the full financial year, compared to the latest trailing-twelve-month loss of US$130m, as it approaches breakeven. As path to profitability is the topic on Bloom Energy's investors mind, we've decided to gauge market sentiment. In this article, we will touch on the expectations for the company's growth and when analysts expect it to become profitable.

See our latest analysis for Bloom Energy

According to the 27 industry analysts covering Bloom Energy, the consensus is that breakeven is near. They expect the company to post a final loss in 2024, before turning a profit of US$20m in 2025. Therefore, the company is expected to breakeven roughly a year from now or less! How fast will the company have to grow to reach the consensus forecasts that anticipate breakeven by 2025? Working backwards from analyst estimates, it turns out that they expect the company to grow 61% year-on-year, on average, which is extremely buoyant. If this rate turns out to be too aggressive, the company may become profitable much later than analysts predict.

Given this is a high-level overview, we won’t go into details of Bloom Energy's upcoming projects, however, bear in mind that typically a high forecast growth rate is not unusual for a company that is currently undergoing an investment period.

Before we wrap up, there’s one issue worth mentioning. Bloom Energy currently has a debt-to-equity ratio of over 2x. Typically, debt shouldn’t exceed 40% of your equity, and the company has considerably exceeded this. A higher level of debt requires more stringent capital management which increases the risk in investing in the loss-making company.

Next Steps:

There are key fundamentals of Bloom Energy which are not covered in this article, but we must stress again that this is merely a basic overview. For a more comprehensive look at Bloom Energy, take a look at Bloom Energy's company page on Simply Wall St. We've also put together a list of pertinent factors you should further examine:

1. Valuation: What is Bloom Energy worth today? Has the future growth potential already been factored into the price? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether Bloom Energy is currently mispriced by the market.
2. Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business – take a look at who sits on Bloom Energy’s board and the CEO’s background.
3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.