Acorn Energy Inc reports 16.9% revenue growth in 2018 and 16.5 pp EBITDA Margin growth from -42.2% to -25.8%
03/27/2019 • About Acorn Energy Inc (
$ACFN) • By InTwits
Acorn Energy Inc reported 2018 financial results today. Here are the key drivers of the company's long term financial model:
- The company operates at negative EBITDA Margin: -25.8%
- Acorn Energy Inc spends a lot for Stock Based Compensation (SBC): average SBC/Revenue for 2014-2018 is 0.0%. Average EBITDA Margin for the same period was -37.7%
- Acorn Energy Inc has low CAPEX intensity: 5 year average CAPEX/Revenue was 0.7%.
Below you can find a comprehensive analysis of the key data driving the company's performance and the stock price.
Revenue and profitability
The company's Revenue surged on 16.9%. Revenue growth showed small slowdown in 18Q4 - it was 16.6% YoY. During 2014-2018 Revenue growth bottomed in 2017 at -49.8%. Revenue growth happened at the same time with EBITDA margin expansion. EBITDA Margin surged on 16.5 pp from -42.2% to -25.8% in 2018.
Gross Margin increased on 5.1 pp from 56.3% to 61.4% in 2018. Gross Margin followed a growing trend at 7.4 pp per annum in the last 5 years. SG&A as a % of Revenue dropped on 10.5 pp from 88.3% to 77.8% in 2018.
Net Income margin dropped on 12.5 pp from -26.9% to -39.3% in 2018. During 2014-2018 Net Income margin topped in 2016 at 1.7% and was declining since that time.
Leverage (Debt)
The company paid down all the debt in 2018. Cash jumped on 102%.
Management team
The company's CEO Jan Herman Loeb is a founder and has spent 3 years with the company. Tracy Clifford is a Acorn Energy Inc's CFO. Tracy Clifford has spent 1 year at the company.
Financial and operational results
FY ended 12/31/2018
Acorn Energy Inc ($ACFN) key annual financial indicators| mln. $ | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2018/2017 |
|---|
P&L
|
|---|
| Revenue | 19.560 | 16.548 | 8.659 | 4.350 | 5.087 | 16.9% |
| Gross Profit | 6.638 | 6.167 | 3.525 | 2.447 | 3.122 | 27.6% |
| SG&A | 12.023 | 9.632 | 5.651 | 3.840 | 3.956 | 3.0% |
| EBITDA | -9.518 | -4.856 | -2.907 | -1.836 | -1.310 | |
| Net Income | -27.145 | -10.599 | 0.145 | -1.169 | -2.001 | |
Balance Sheet
|
|---|
| Cash | 4.821 | 0.124 | 0.222 | 0.481 | 0.973 | 102.3% |
| Short Term Debt | 4.419 | 3.816 | 0.376 | 0.313 | 0.000 | -100.0% |
| Long Term Debt | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | |
Cash flow
|
|---|
| Capex | 0.393 | 0.159 | 0.033 | 0.000 | 0.000 | |
Ratios
|
|---|
| Revenue growth | -3.6% | -15.4% | -47.7% | -49.8% | 16.9% | |
| EBITDA growth | -53.1% | -49.0% | -40.1% | -36.8% | -28.6% | |
|
|---|
| Gross Margin | 33.9% | 37.3% | 40.7% | 56.3% | 61.4% | 5.1% |
| EBITDA Margin | -48.7% | -29.3% | -33.6% | -42.2% | -25.8% | 16.5% |
| SG&A, % of revenue | 61.5% | 58.2% | 65.3% | 88.3% | 77.8% | -10.5% |
| Net Income Margin | -138.8% | -64.1% | 1.7% | -26.9% | -39.3% | -12.5% |
| CAPEX, % of revenue | 2.0% | 1.0% | 0.4% | 0.0% | 0.0% | |
|
|---|
| ROIC | -46.8% | -63.4% | -78.6% | -114.1% | | |
| ROE | -129.0% | -211.0% | 17.1% | -129.7% | | |
Acorn Energy Inc ($ACFN) key quoterly financial indicators
| mln. $ | 18Q1 | 18Q2 | 18Q3 | 18Q4 | | YoY change |
|---|
P&L
|
|---|
| Revenue | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | 10.3% | 17.7% | 23.2% | 16.6% |
| EBITDA | -0 | -1 | -0 | -0 | | | | | |
| Net Income | -1 | -1 | 0 | -0 | | | | -98.3% | |
Balance Sheet
|
|---|
| Cash | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | | 265.2% | 461.8% | 385.3% | 102.3% |
| Short Term Debt | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 83.6% | -33.3% | -43.1% | -100.0% |
| Long Term Debt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | |
Ratios
|
|---|
| Gross Margin | 61.6% | 59.8% | 62.2% | 61.8% | | 5.6% | 3.0% | 4.2% | 7.5% |
| EBITDA Margin | -29.0% | -42.9% | -16.0% | -16.6% | | -0.1% | 3.7% | 31.3% | 29.6% |
| Net Income Margin | -101.1% | -43.7% | 0.3% | -18.7% | | -81.0% | 3.2% | -21.5% | 43.1% |
Peers in Electronic Equipment & Instrum
Below we provide Acorn Energy Inc benchmarking against other companies in Electronic Equipment & Instrum industry for the last 5 years. We show data for the top-5 companies by key financial metric together with the median value for all the companies in the industry.
Top companies by Revenue growth, %
| Top 5 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 |
|---|
| Hickok Inc ($HICKA) | | -7.2% | 13.5% | 258.4% | 178.7% |
| Electro Scientific Industries, Inc. ($ESIO) | | -12.2% | 15.9% | -12.7% | 128.5% |
| Microvision, Inc. ($MVIS) | | 163.6% | 60.7% | -34.7% | 82.8% |
| Ipsidy Inc ($IDTY) | | | | | 66.2% |
| Magal Security Systems Ltd. ($MAGS) | | -17.8% | 6.4% | -5.2% | 44.0% |
| |
|---|
| Median (61 companies) | -78.5% | 4.5% | 1.2% | 4.6% | 9.1% |
|---|
| Acorn Energy Inc ($ACFN) | | -15.4% | -47.7% | -49.8% | 16.9% |
Top companies by Gross margin, %
| Top 5 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 |
|---|
| Intellicheck, Inc. ($IDN) | 58.2% | 57.1% | 80.0% | 85.5% | 91.3% |
| Image Sensing Systems, Inc. ($ISNS) | 74.7% | 77.1% | 71.0% | 79.9% | 80.9% |
| National Instruments Corporation ($NATI) | 74.4% | 74.1% | 74.5% | 74.5% | 75.4% |
| Cognex Corporation ($CGNX) | 77.9% | 77.2% | 75.2% | 75.6% | 74.4% |
| Applied DNA Sciences Inc ($APDN) | | | 82.2% | 77.3% | 69.1% |
| |
|---|
| Median (60 companies) | 42.7% | 42.3% | 40.5% | 41.5% | 40.9% |
|---|
| Acorn Energy Inc ($ACFN) | 33.9% | 37.3% | 40.7% | 56.3% | 61.4% |
Top companies by EBITDA margin, %
| Top 5 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 |
|---|
| Cognex Corporation ($CGNX) | 32.9% | 30.1% | 31.9% | 36.0% | 30.1% |
| Coherent, Inc. ($COHR) | 14.2% | 16.7% | 18.9% | 24.9% | 26.6% |
| Hollysys Automation Technologies, Ltd. ($HOLI) | 21.3% | 26.9% | 23.5% | 16.1% | 23.9% |
| Electro Scientific Industries, Inc. ($ESIO) | -10.1% | -19.1% | -2.0% | -17.8% | 23.1% |
| FLIR Systems, Inc. ($FLIR) | 20.7% | 22.8% | 21.3% | 20.0% | 21.7% |
| |
|---|
| Median (60 companies) | 5.5% | 5.2% | 3.4% | 5.1% | 4.2% |
|---|
| Acorn Energy Inc ($ACFN) | -48.7% | -29.3% | -33.6% | -42.2% | -25.8% |
Top companies by CAPEX/Revenue, %
| Top 5 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 |
|---|
| Wrap Technologies Inc ($WRTC) | | | | | 61.4% |
| ClearSign Combustion Corporation ($CLIR) | | 80.3% | 22.1% | 17.4% | 17.7% |
| LightPath Technologies, Inc. ($LPTH) | 16.8% | 5.0% | 6.5% | 7.8% | 7.7% |
| Giga-tronics Inc ($GIGA) | 1.7% | 0.1% | 1.3% | 0.3% | 7.0% |
| Applied DNA Sciences Inc ($APDN) | 8.4% | 3.9% | 16.1% | 3.1% | 6.8% |
| |
|---|
| Median (60 companies) | 1.8% | 2.0% | 2.1% | 1.7% | 2.3% |
|---|
| Acorn Energy Inc ($ACFN) | 2.0% | 1.0% | 0.4% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Top companies by ROIC, %
| Top 5 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 |
|---|
| Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp ($ESCC) | | | 83.3% | 39.6% | 55.3% |
| Electro Scientific Industries, Inc. ($ESIO) | -11.7% | -19.7% | -7.1% | -22.9% | 31.5% |
| Coherent, Inc. ($COHR) | 9.9% | 13.1% | 15.6% | 24.0% | 21.5% |
| Zebra Technologies Corporation ($ZBRA) | 3.3% | 0.9% | 2.2% | 10.2% | 20.8% |
| Cognex Corporation ($CGNX) | 18.3% | 15.6% | 17.7% | 25.6% | 20.1% |
| |
|---|
| Median (72 companies) | 3.3% | 2.3% | 2.2% | 3.3% | 1.1% |
|---|
| Acorn Energy Inc ($ACFN) | -46.8% | -63.4% | -78.6% | -114.1% | |
Top companies by Net Debt / EBITDA
| Top 5 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 |
|---|
| Itron, Inc. ($ITRI) | 2.1x | 1.9x | 1.0x | 2.0x | 12.3x |
| Track Group Inc ($TRCK) | | | | | 12.2x |
| Mesa Laboratories, Inc. ($MLAB) | 0.7x | 1.1x | 1.7x | 2.0x | 3.5x |
| Trimble Inc. ($TRMB) | 1.3x | 1.7x | 1.1x | 1.3x | 3.4x |
| MTS Systems Corporation ($MTSC) | -0.0x | -0.4x | 5.8x | 3.9x | 3.2x |
| |
|---|
| Median (36 companies) | -0.8x | -0.9x | -0.8x | -0.7x | -0.9x |
|---|
