What happened
ChargePoint Holdings (CHPT 3.18%) stock popped Wednesday and was up a solid 15.4% as of 10:20 a.m. ET. The electric vehicle (EV) charging stock made a high of 16.9% in early morning trade as the market lapped up ChargePoint's second-quarter numbers, which were declared on Tuesday after market close.
ChargePoint crushed Wall Street estimates yet again, and the market didn't fail to notice an improvement in one important metric that spooked investors when the company reported its first-quarter numbers three months ago.
Above all, ChargePoint's outlook is as good as it can get.
So what
Here are some of the most important numbers from ChargePoint's second-quarter earnings report (all changes year over year):
- Revenue: Up 93% to $108.3 million.
- Gross margin: Down 2 percentage points to 17%.
- Net loss: Up 9% to $92.7 million.
If you're wondering why the stock popped on what doesn't like a great set of numbers, here's the thing: ChargePoint has consistently beaten sales estimates for several quarters now, and the second quarter was no different, as the consensus expected to see roughly $103 million in sales.
A northward-bound top line that's growing faster than expected can hugely drive conviction in a growth stock. In fact, Q2 was the first time ChargePoint's revenue crossed the $100 million mark.
Also, ChargePoint's gross margin dropped substantially -- by almost 8 percentage points to 15% -- in its first quarter. A relatively smaller year-over-year drop and a sequential improvement of around 2 percentage points in Q2 is noteworthy.
ChargePoint further revealed two vital numbers during its second-quarter earnings call:
- Its total EV charging port installations jumped 70% year over year and 7% sequentially to nearly 200,000 across North America and Europe.
- New customers contributed almost one-third to its billings in Q2.
These numbers confirm a megatrend: EVs are evidently in high demand, and that's driving investments in charging infrastructure. As one of the largest EV charging companies in the U.S., ChargePoint is clearly benefiting from the trend.
NYSE: CHPT
Key Data Points
Now what
Perhaps the biggest reason why ChargePoint stock is firing up today is its outlook for the third quarter: The EV charging company expects 100% year-over-year growth in revenue in the third quarter, and a rise of almost 20% sequentially at the midpoint of its guidance range.
That's phenomenal growth for any company.
There's another important thing to note here: ChargePoint's full-year projection of $450 million to $500 million in revenue means it expects faster sales growth in the second half of the year versus the first.
That explains why investors who want to play the EV boom are betting on ChargePoint stock and why at least two analysts reiterated their bullish views on it today: J.P. Morgan analyst Bill Peterson has a price target of $20 a share and Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch posited a price target of $40 per share for ChargePoint stock.
