When Will Bloom Energy Corporation (NYSE:BE) Turn A Profit?

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. With the latest financial year loss of US$302m and a trailing-twelve-month loss of US$284m, the US$2.5b market-cap company alleviated its loss by moving closer towards its target of breakeven. The most pressing concern for investors is Bloom Energy's path to profitability – when will it breakeven? Below we will provide a high-level summary of the industry analysts’ expectations for the company.

View our latest analysis for Bloom Energy

Consensus from 24 of the American Electrical analysts is that Bloom Energy is on the verge of breakeven. They anticipate the company to incur a final loss in 2024, before generating positive profits of US$16m in 2025. Therefore, the company is expected to breakeven just over a year from today. What rate will the company have to grow year-on-year in order to breakeven on this date? Using a line of best fit, we calculated an average annual growth rate of 84%, which signals high confidence from analysts. Should the business grow at a slower rate, it will become profitable at a later date than expected.

We're not going to go through company-specific developments for Bloom Energy given that this is a high-level summary, though, bear in mind that generally a high growth rate is not out of the ordinary, particularly when a company is in a period of investment.

Before we wrap up, there’s one issue worth mentioning. Bloom Energy currently has a debt-to-equity ratio of over 2x. Generally, the rule of thumb is debt shouldn’t exceed 40% of your equity, and the company has considerably exceeded this. Note that a higher debt obligation increases the risk in investing in the loss-making company.

Next Steps:

There are too many aspects of Bloom Energy to cover in one brief article, but the key fundamentals for the company can all be found in one place – Bloom Energy's company page on Simply Wall St. We've also put together a list of pertinent aspects you should look at:

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.