PowerSecure posts record third-quarter sales

PowerSecure International posted record third quarter sales and reported nearly a half-billion dollars in upcoming contracts as the Wake Forest energy services company distances itself from last year’s financial setbacks.

PowerSecure nearly doubled third quarter revenue to $107.2 million and posted a profit of $871,000, compared to a quarterly loss of $2.7 million a year ago. The company now employs more than 900 people, up from 750 a year ago, as it continues expanding its business divisions.

Analyst Eric Stine of the Craig-Hallum Capital Group wrote in a research note to investors that PowerSecure’s “business continues to hit on all cylinders.”

The company’s stock jumped 10.5 percent Thursday and closed Friday at $14.14, down 7 cents. Shares are up 21 percent this year.

CEO Sidney Hinton told analysts Thursday that PowerSecure has attained a critical mass of customers across several industries, including utilities, retailers and data centers, as a basis for future growth.

The company posted gains in all three business units: backup emergency generators, a division that serves grocery stores and data centers; utility infrastructure, which contracts labor to power companies; and energy efficiency, which serves the retail industry.

“For me, the comfort comes in, we are not dependent on catching new elephants,” Hinton said. “By God’s blessing and grace, we are serving a bunch of great elephants now. By God’s blessing and grace, we are chasing a bunch, too.”

PowerSecure executives said cost-management is an ongoing challenge, especially as the company swells to meet customer demand. About a third of PowerSecure’s employees work in the Triangle.

“We’ve grown so much in the last 12 months it just calls for an examination,” CFO Chris Hutter told analysts, saying focusing resources is a matter of constant vigilance.

PowerSecure also has a backlog of contracts totaling $447 million, a slight decline as a major solar farm project was scaled back. A year ago PowerSecure’s backlog was $360 million.

Analysts, who had expressed frustration with PowerSecure last year, found little to criticize in the company’s performance this week.

“PowerSecure has done an excellent job recovering from the challenges of early 2014,” wrote Robert Brown of Lake Street Capital Markets. “We believe PowerSecure is in the early stages of its growth curve.”

“[PowerSecure] is progressing nicely on the execution story, and we continue to see an opportunity for skeptical investors to come back to the story,” wrote analyst Ben Hearnsberger of Stephens.

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 2:24 PM with the headline "PowerSecure posts record third-quarter sales."