FuelCell Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FCEL) said Thursday it has arranged more than $100 million of new project construction finance commitments during its first quarter and had beat quarterly revenue estimates.
The company said in an update and earnings statement that it completed the construction of its high-efficiency SureSource 4000 plant in Danbury, Connecticut.
The company added that it had a contract backlog of $1.3 billion as of January 31, compared with $638.5 million a year earlier.
READ: FuelCell Energy beats 4Q revenue expectations, has a full order book
“Overall, our first quarter was about executing on our longer-term vision of building a sustainably profitable and growth-oriented business focused on service solutions,” CEO Chip Bottone said in a statement.
Danbury-based FuelCell beat Wall Street estimates on first-quarter revenue while trailing in terms of the bottom line.
For the three months ended January 31, the company posted a net loss of $0.33 per share on revenue of $17.8 million, compared with $38.6 million a year earlier. The average forecast of analysts was for a loss of $0.18 per share on revenue of $11.38 million.
Construction spending
Operating expenses for the first quarter totaled $13 million, compared with $10.2 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2018. The increase, according to FuelCell, was partly related to spending to complete the development and construction of the SureSource 4000 plant in Danbury.
The company was reportedly downgraded to Hold from Buy by Craig-Hallum analyst Eric Stine.
–This story has been updated to show the change in the Craig-Hallum rating–
Shares of the company fell $0.06 to $0.42 in Thursday’s late-afternoon Nasdaq trading.
Contact Dennis Fitzgerald at dennis@proactiveinvestors.com