Tigo Energy - Earnings Call - Q1 2025
May 6, 2025
Executive Summary
- Q1 2025 revenue rose to $18.8M (+92.2% YoY, +9.1% QoQ), with GAAP gross margin improving to 38.1% and net loss narrowing to $7.0M; shipments reached 502k MLPE units (351 MW).
- Results beat S&P Global consensus: revenue $18.84M vs $17.56M (+7.3%)* and EPS -$0.11 vs -$0.115 (beat $0.005)*; adjusted EBITDA loss improved to -$2.0M.
- Q2 2025 guidance: revenue $21–$23M and adjusted EBITDA $(1.5)M to $0.5M; FY25 revenue reiterated at $85–$100M.
- Management flagged market share gains across EMEA/Americas/APAC, new TS4-A 22A (725W) product, and tariff mitigation via geographic/manufacturing diversification; regained Nasdaq minimum bid price compliance in June following an April notice, reducing listing risk.
What Went Well and What Went Wrong
What Went Well
- Fifth consecutive sequential revenue increase, with broad-based regional growth; EMEA, Americas, and APAC comprised 61%, 25%, and 14% of revenue, respectively.
- Product momentum and portfolio breadth: launch of TS4-A 22A (725W) adding Multi-Factor Rapid Shutdown; single-optimizer SKU coverage, backward compatibility, and fast installation drove share gains. “We have a single optimizer that covers basically the whole market... installation time... about 10 seconds per PV module”.
- Margin and cost discipline: GAAP gross margin 38.1% (vs 28.2% YoY), OpEx down 5.9% YoY; CFO indicated trajectory toward ~40% gross margin and OpEx ~$11–$12M run-rate.
What Went Wrong
- Balance sheet leverage and financing risk: $42.7M short-term debt following reclassification, with $50M convert due Jan 2026; going concern language noted by analysts, and management working on a refinance.
- Energy storage (GO ESS) softness remains a drag (prior heavy inventory reserves); Q1 mix still only ~$2M GO ESS; mix-dependent margins remain a watch item.
- Tariff headwinds and policy uncertainty: management estimated ~5% of Q1 revenue potentially subject to 145% China tariffs and ~15% subject to 10% reciprocal tariffs; mitigation efforts underway but policy changes are fluid.
Transcript
Operator (participant)
Afternoon. Welcome to Tigo Energy's Fiscal First Quarter 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. Joining us today are Zvi Alon, CEO, and Bill Roeschlein, CFO. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Bill Roeschlein, Chief Financial Officer.
Bill Roeschlein (CFO)
Thank you, Corinne. It is a pleasure to join you from our corporate offices in Campbell, California. Also with us is Zvi Alon, our CEO, who is joining us from the Intrasolar Conference in Munich, Germany.
I'd like to remind everyone that some of the matters we'll discuss on this call, including our expected business outlook, our ability to increase our revenues and become profitable, and our overall long-term growth prospects, expectations regarding recovery in our industry, including the timing thereof, statements about demand for our products, our competitive position and market share, the impact of tariffs, our current and future inventory levels, charges, reserves, and their impact on future financial results, inventory supply and its impact on our customer shipments, statements about our revenue and adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of 2025, and our revenue for the full year of fiscal year 2025, our ability to penetrate new markets and expand our market share, including expansion in international markets and investments in our product portfolio, forward-looking.
As such, are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those factors that are described in today's press release and discussed in the risk factor section of our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2025, and other reports we may file with the SEC from time to time. These risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed on this call. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date they're made. During our call today, we will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures. We include non-GAAP to GAAP reconciliations in our press release furnished as an exhibit to our Form 8-K.
The non-GAAP financial measures provided should not be considered as a substitute for or superior to the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. Finally, I would like to remind everybody that this conference call is being webcast, and a recording will be made available for replay on Tigo's Investor Relations website at investors.tigoenergy.com. With that, I'd like to now turn the call over to Tigo CEO Zvi Alon. Zvi?
Zvi Alon (CEO)
Thank you, Bill. To begin today's discussion, I will highlight key areas in our recent financial and operational performance and briefly address the current macroeconomic developments before turning the call over to our CFO, Bill Roeschlein. He will discuss our financial results for the first quarter in more depth, as well as provide our guidance for the second quarter and the full year of 2025. After that, I will share some closing remarks, tell you about our outlook, and then open the call for questions from you and the analysts. I'm pleased to report that we ended the first quarter of 2025 with our fifth increase in sequential quarterly revenue goals, growing 9.1% sequentially and 92.2% on a year-over-year basis. In the first quarter of 2025, we reported a total revenue of $18.8 million and shipped 502,000 or 351 megawatts of MLPE.
I'm exceptionally proud of what our team here at Tigo has accomplished. To give some geographical color on our results, we saw positive sequential sales growth in EMEA, the Americas, and APAC regions. Within EMEA, the recovery that began for us a year ago has now broadened as we saw much stronger results from Italy and the Netherlands. In addition to both, the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions also grew sequentially in the first quarter. I'm also excited about our recently introduced 22 amp TS4A series, now serving panels up to 725 watts, and joining the TS4X family with the highest safety solution, including the unique Tigo Multi-Factor Rapid Shutdown, demonstrating our commitment to stay ahead of the module performance curve. Given the current developments in Washington, many of you are likely interested in how the latest reciprocal tariff decisions may impact us.
As you may know, the majority of Tigo's revenue occurs outside of the United States. Based on the current reciprocal tariffs announced, we estimated that approximately 5% of our Q1 revenue would have been affected by the China reciprocal tariff of 145%. We also estimate that approximately 15% of our Q1 revenue would have been affected by 10% of the rest of the world's reciprocal tariff. We are currently working with our supply chain partners to mitigate the effects of these reciprocal tariffs where possible. With that, I will turn it over to Bill. Bill?
Bill Roeschlein (CFO)
Thank you, Zvi. Turning now to our financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025. Revenue for the first quarter of 2025 increased 92.2% to $18.8 million from $9.8 million in the prior year period. On a sequential basis, revenues increased 9.1%, with improved results coming from many countries in the EMEA and APAC regions, including Italy, Czechia, the Netherlands, and the Philippines. By region, EMEA revenue was $11.5 million, or 61.3% of total revenues. Americas revenue was $4.7 million, and APAC revenue was $2.6 million, or 13.6% of total revenues. By product family, for the first quarter of 2025, MLPE revenue represented $16 million of revenue, or 84.8% of total revenues. OESF represented $2 million, or 10.7% of total revenues, and PredictPlus and licensing revenue represented $0.8 million, or 4.5% of total revenues during the quarter.
Gross profit in the first quarter of 2025 was $7.2 million, or 38.1% of revenue, compared to a gross profit of $2.8 million, or 28.2% of revenue in the comparable year-ago period. Operating expenses for the first quarter declined 5.9% to $11.2 million, compared to $11.9 million in the prior year period. The decline was driven primarily by our previously announced cost-cutting efforts. Operating loss for the first quarter decreased by 56.2% to $4 million, compared to $9.1 million in the prior year period. GAAP net loss for the first quarter was $7 million, compared to a net loss of $11.5 million in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA loss in the first quarter decreased 67.4% to $2 million, compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $6.3 million in the prior year period. These results reflect progress towards profitability on a non-GAAP basis, as previously announced.
As a reminder, adjusted EBITDA loss is a non-GAAP measure that represents net loss as adjusted for interest and other expenses, income tax expense, depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation, and M&A transaction expenses. Primary shares outstanding were $61.9 million for the first quarter of 2025. Turning now to the balance sheet, accounts receivable net increased this quarter to $10.4 million, compared to $8 million last quarter, and increased from $6.3 million in the year-ago comparable period. Inventories net decreased by $3.1 million, or 14.1%, to $18.9 million, compared to $22 million last quarter and $55.8 million in the year-ago comparable period. Cash, cash equivalents, and short and long-term marketable securities totaled $20.3 million at March 31st, 2025. On a sequential basis, cash increased by $0.4 million as we continue to make progress on reducing our inventory and working capital.
Turning now to our financial outlook for the second quarter of 2025 and full year of 2025. As a reminder, Tigo provides quarterly guidance for revenue as well as adjusted EBITDA, as we believe these metrics to be key indicators for the overall performance of our business. For the second quarter of 2025, we expect revenues and adjusted EBITDA to be in the following range. We expect revenues in the second quarter ended June 30, 2025, to range between $21 million and $23 million. We expect adjusted EBITDA to range between negative $1.5 million and positive $500,000. For the full year of 2025, we are reiterating our previous guidance of revenues of between $85 million and $100 million. That completes my summary, and I'd like to now turn the call back over to Zvi for final remarks.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
We look ahead. I'm happy to say that even against the backdrop of the economic uncertainty, we believe that our track record of five consecutive quarters with top-line growth will continue for the remainder of 2025 as demand for our solutions continues to return. We firmly believe in the growth prospects for our business and look forward to providing additional updates in the coming quarters. With that, operator, please open the call for Q&A.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. At this time, we would like to conduct the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Eric Stein of Craig-Hallum Capital Group, your line is now open.
Eric Stein (Analyst)
Hi, Zvi. Hi, Bill.
Bill Roeschlein (CFO)
Hey, Eric.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
Hello.
Bill Roeschlein (CFO)
Hey.
Eric Stine (Analyst)
Hello. So curious, I mean, obviously a nice recovery you're seeing in actually across all your markets, but when you think about this, I mean, how do you break this down between just improving conditions with your current distributors and direct sales versus market share gains? Because clearly this is a little bit of both. Would love your thoughts on how that breaks down between the two.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
Outstanding question, Eric. Thanks for asking it. I will share that we continue to see current existing distributors, which are very strong, increasing their footprint with us and becoming much more bullish on the market requirements. Similarly, our efforts with going directly to at least promoting the products with system integrators and large EPCs is paying very nice dividends. I can tell you that the majority, I would say, of our growth is coming from an increased market share, we believe, even though it's the same exact distributors, and that's what we hear from them. At least I would not mention any names, but two or three of them mentioned specifically that we have increased the footprint within their portfolio substantially above any other competitor.
Eric Stine (Analyst)
That's good color. I mean, do you attribute that to just a broader product offering, the fact that this can be used residential, C&I, utility scale? Is it price? Is it kind of all of the above?
Zvi Alon (CEO)
I can tell you that I'll touch the price first. We have not changed price at all, and we have been consistent on that front. We introduced the TS4X family at a higher price, and we see a nice increase for those products for a different market, which is accepting it so far. As far as the TS4A product, price was not an issue. Now, I can tell you that many factors are helping us gain market share. One, the number of SKUs is very small. We have a single optimizer that covers basically the whole market. Not only that, it's the highest powered rating, which is the current shipping version is 700 watt or 800 watt, and we just announced the 725 watt. Working for essentially all three market segments.
Number three, I would say, I believe we are the only company with a backward compatibility of the current shipping products to products we shipped seven, eight, nine years ago, exactly identical. If you have any failure with an old product, which they sometimes do happen, you do not need to go and get the same exact part number. You can just buy any one off the shelf and replace it or get an RMA from us, and you will get a new product to replace it. Also, the fact that our product works with pretty much any inverter out there is also a major contributor. All in all, oh, I would mention one more thing. Our installation time of the MLPE product is superb. It is about 10 seconds per PV module. It is unheard of. I mean, literally just slide the unit on the panel, connect the wires, and you are done.
All those factors together, the more people get to experience, the more they buy into it and want to do more. I can tell you that the amazing part for us also is that we see a larger number of units being shipped to large EPC installers as they become much more aware and successful with those products.
Eric Stine (Analyst)
Got it. Thank you very much for that. I guess for my last question, then I'll turn it over. Just curious, I mean, OpEx came down a little bit here in the quarter, but I also know that in Q1, you were expecting some audit fees and some other one-time items. Just curious, I mean, your guidance and the fact that at the upper end, positive adjusted EBITDA would imply that OpEx, we should think of it lower. Just curious if you can give any color on that.
Bill Roeschlein (CFO)
In general, there are two levers to think about in the guidance and projections for the years you build out your model. We are tracking at a high gross margin. We are seeing that both in our MLPE business as well as the lack of having a drag on the margin from our GO ESS product line, which we did a large reserve for last quarter. Combining the combination of both should lead to some gross margin uplift as we look later into the year. 38% plus. I would put it more closer to 40%. OpEx, considerably speaking, between 11% and 12%, maybe midpoint 11.5%, I think is a fair range. We were 11% and 11.2% last Q1, but we were also 11.5% in Q4. There is a little bit of variability there.
When you model that out, you'll come up with numbers for the adjusted EBITDA that are in the range that we guided to.
Eric Stine (Analyst)
Okay. All right. Thank you very much.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from Philip Shen, ROTH Capital Partners. Your line is now open.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
Phil.
Operator (participant)
One moment for our next question. Our next question comes to us from Sameer Joshi of H.C. Wainwright. Your line is now open.
Sameer Joshi (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Hey, good afternoon, Zvi. Thanks for taking my questions and congrats on a good quarter.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
Thank you.
Sameer Joshi (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
I think in your prepared remark, you mentioned 5% of revenues would have been impacted by 145% tariff and 15% by 10% tariff. Back of the envelope suggests this would be around $1.8 million to $2 million. Should we expect that level of impact going forward? And then how does that mesh with the sort of increased gross margin that you have seen recently?
Bill Roeschlein (CFO)
I would characterize it this way. The U.S. represented about 22% of our revenues. Within that, you've got 15% of that that is our MLPE products that are made outside of China and Thailand that are subject to the reciprocal tariffs. We'll see what happens after the 90-day review. That leaves 5% that's subject to the China tariffs. That includes both inverter and batteries. We are working on our supply chain and have the opportunity to move some of that, specifically on the inverter side, outside of China. That would negate much of that 5%. The rest of it is batteries, which are sourced in China, but we have a large inventory position in the U.S. already. That also negates the tariffs on that.
Combining all of that, we don't see a substantial impact of the tariffs on our business, at least for the second quarter. We're going to leave it quarter-to-quarter because the world seems to change so fast on this front.
Sameer Joshi (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Yeah. No, you answered my part two of the question, which was inventory, how much of it will support the second quarter. So it seems you have enough inventory that is pre-tariff that can support your business in the second quarter.
Bill Roeschlein (CFO)
Correct.
Sameer Joshi (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
The April 24th off-grid product offering that you are, the solar package that you're offering, where is this demand for off-grid that you're seeing from? Is it mainly businesses or because the press has also mentioned residential? I was curious, how large is that demand and from where are you seeing that demand?
Zvi Alon (CEO)
There is a substantial region, actually a couple, who like to be off-grid, and they're in the Midwest and some South. That is what we were aiming at. We started seeing some fairly good success, so we have packaged that solution for that one specific market. If you check who else are providing solutions which are also off-grid, it is becoming an increased number of suppliers. We are sure we are not going to stay the only one, and we are not right now. For us, it's a growing segment that we've not touched before.
Sameer Joshi (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Understood. And then just the last one, the second quarter guidance implies that your second half revenues are likely to be $46 million-$59 million just by at the midpoint of Q2 guidance. Do you have visibility and how much confidence do you have in that outlook for strong second half?
Zvi Alon (CEO)
I can tell you that we don't have specific orders going out more than a couple of quarters, maybe in some very small cases, a little bit more, but majority are really for the current quarter and the next quarter. On the other hand, we know how, and we do talk to our distributors, and we know how the markets behave and what their expectations are. We factor it in in addition to, obviously, what we know about the market. We have been so far accurate for the last five, six quarters with our projections. We are fairly confident. I can tell you that our backlog, increasingly, we don't share quite those numbers, but increasingly over the last two or three quarters grew from one quarter to the other.
As we got into the current quarter, we felt much more confident on even increasing the numbers, the guidance.
Sameer Joshi (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Understood. That sounds good. Thanks a lot for taking my questions.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
Most welcome.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone. Our next question comes from Philip Shen of ROTH Capital Partners. Your line is now open.
Philip Shen (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. We went through the 10Q quickly. We saw that there's the going concern language. You have the $50 million convert, I think, due January 1 or sometime in January of 2026. Can you talk to us about the situation there? How do you expect to manage the $50 million due? How flexible would you expect your convert counterparty, L1 Energy, to be? Thanks.
Bill Roeschlein (CFO)
Yeah. The counterparty is being very flexible and cooperative and is a big supporter of Tigo. That being said, we are working on a refinance. I'm sure you can appreciate when we have something announced, we'll announce it. Rest assured, we are diligently working to address the maturity on that.
Philip Shen (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Okay. Thanks, Bill. From a cash standpoint, you guys have an annual guide. If you hit the midpoint of that guide, how much free cash flow generation do you think you can have?
Bill Roeschlein (CFO)
On a go-forward basis, we're looking at EBITDA positive. If not in Q2's guide, then for three and four, we would expect that based on the annual guide. The overall cash position is, I would say, probably going to be flattish to slightly up. We are in a replenishment mode on some of the inventory, especially on MLPE. There's going to be some consumption there that some of the cash flow generation is going to be used for working capital for that purpose. We're thinking of cash sort of in a bit range-bound in this lower $20 million level.
Philip Shen (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Okay. Great. Thanks. As it relates to Europe, Intersolar is about to kick off, I think, tomorrow. Are you guys there? I know Europe is a big part of your business. What are you hoping to accomplish, you think, at that show? Thanks.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
We are at full swing. We have our team ready. We have a very nice booth set. We actually have a very interesting and busy schedule already from partners, distributors, as well as customers. It is interesting, but we are all pretty much booked. We did not have much left to allocate. We are very happy with what is going on right now.
Philip Shen (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Thanks, Zvi. In terms of distributors, I've been hearing that some of the pan-European larger distributors might be having issues with a trend where more of the local distributors are developing a greater influence with the installer base. Are you seeing something similar? How might you adjust your strategy to sell into Europe? I do not know if this plays a factor at all, but what are your thoughts on this dynamic? Thanks.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
We have seen two phenomena. First of all, big picture, the total number of distributors we have did not shrink much, even with all those guys that went out of business. We actually replenished some of them fairly quickly with others, and some came back from almost extinction. We were very happy for them to be able to actually survive. Now, to the question itself, we do see a phenomenon in which the very large distributors are starting to sell to some local distribution. We have seen that happening in a few places. We are not necessarily encouraging it or discouraging it, but it helps us keep a footprint which is much wider. For the smaller regional ones, they do not necessarily are able to hit the same discount level as the large ones.
That mechanism we have in place, which we are rigidly following, is working for us and it serves pretty much all of them. We do not think we need to make any changes right now. Yeah.
Philip Shen (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Got it. When you see the large distributors selling products to the smaller ones or local ones, what kind of products are we talking about? Modules, inverters, MLPE, your products, or is it more focused on storage or some other category?
Zvi Alon (CEO)
No, the majority we see is in the line of inverters, MLPE, and some PV modules. On the battery side and ESS, not much. Not much at all, I would say.
Philip Shen (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Got it. Thanks, Zvi. And then.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
You're most welcome.
Philip Shen (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
In terms of maybe the last one here for me, the China tariff in the U.S., 145%, the biggest impact I see is on sell packs for batteries coming into the country. I wanted to just check in. Maybe you already addressed this. Sorry if I missed this. What's the impact for you guys? Do you already have a lot of inventory in country in the U.S. so that that's less of an issue? If it is a bit of an issue, what are you guys doing to mitigate?
Zvi Alon (CEO)
Okay. For the foreseeable future, I would say the next few quarters, we are in good shape with the inventory we have. We are getting ready for the next generation, which is addressing the sources of the suppliers. We would not be exposed to China as much. As you know, China controls a very large part in the market. I am not sure we can avoid it completely, but we have other sources.
Philip Shen (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Good. For now, you guys have some insulation, maybe a few quarters. That is a fair amount of time. As you burn through that inventory, you do need to start now or soon in diversifying your sell pack geographic sourcing. The world is trying to do this, or at least most of the U.S. What countries are you trying to go to? Is it Korea? Is it Japan? What are the countries?
Zvi Alon (CEO)
It's those two that you mentioned exactly. Also, yeah, it seems like some of the Chinese guys are actually also looking for other sales from other places. We do not know exactly how it's going to all work out, but Korea and Japan are the two main areas for us.
Philip Shen (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Okay. Great. Best of luck in that transition and with the rest of the year. Thank you, and I'll pass it on.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
Thank you much. Thanks, Phil. Are you in Germany?
Philip Shen (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Not this time around, given the earning season.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
Oh, okay. No problem.
Philip Shen (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Yep. Sorry to miss you. Thanks.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
Sorry.
Operator (participant)
One moment for our next question. Our next question is Mathison of Sidoti & Company. Your line is now open.
Michael Mathison (Senior Equity Analyst)
Congratulations on the quarter, gentlemen.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
Thank you.
Michael Mathison (Senior Equity Analyst)
Just turning to the demand side, you've reported increased sequential growth in all regions, but just working out some arithmetic, it looked like EMEA was a little bit stronger in growth. Is that accurate?
Bill Roeschlein (CFO)
Yes. We had most growth from APAC region in the quarter, but they represent the smallest of the three regions for us, followed by EMEA and then Americas.
Michael Mathison (Senior Equity Analyst)
Can you release any growth figures for the Americas?
Bill Roeschlein (CFO)
It's growing a little bit more than what the market estimates are. I mean, it's certainly low to mid single digits. I mean, if that helps. It's certainly not that we did 9%. It certainly didn't carry the day for the 9%.
Michael Mathison (Senior Equity Analyst)
Got it. All right. Thank you for the information and good luck in the coming quarter.
Bill Roeschlein (CFO)
Thank you so much.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
Thank you so much.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. At this time, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Alon for his closing remarks.
Zvi Alon (CEO)
Thanks again, everyone, for joining us today. I especially want to thank our dedicated employees for their ongoing contribution, as well as our customers and partners for their continued hard work. I also want to thank our investors for their continued support. Operator.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.