EnerNoc Inc. (NSDQ: ENOC) said Wednesday that it lost $12.5 million in the first quarter of 2009, worse than its loss of $11 million in the same quarter last year but better than analysts had expected.
The Boston-based demand response aggregator also said it has grown its megawatts under management to more than 2,700 at the end of the quarter in March, up from about 2,000 megawatts at the end of 2008.
Also, its gross margins — a measure of the dollars it takes from utilities or grid operators versus those it passes on to customers — grew to 42.9 percent in the quarter, up from 34.8 percent in the same quarter of 2008.
EnerNoc helps companies pledge to cut power during peak demand times in exchange for payment from utilities or grid operators, a business shared by companies such as Comverge (NSDQ:COMV), CPower, EnergyConnect and Constellation NewEnergy.
"The most impressive thing to me was the gross margin they were able to achieve," said Ben Schuman, analyst with Pacific Crest Securities. "The question is, will this be sustainable when they recognize a large chunk of revenue from PJM in the third quarter."
That's noteworthy because about a third of EnerNoc's megawatts under management at the end of 2008 were within PJM, the grid operator for the mid-Atlantic region, he said. But those contracts do not bring the company revenue until the second quarter, and most of the revenues from the region will come in the third quarter, he said.
EnerNoc apparently felt confident enough to raise its estimate of 2009 annual revenues to $160 million to $172 million, up from previous guidance of $155 million to $170 million. EnerNoc's revenues for the first quarter were $18.4 million, down slightly from $18.6 million in the same quarter last year.
EnerNoc has added a host of new customers, including the city of Boston, the Salt River Project in Arizona, Allegheny Power, Baltimore Gas and Electric, Delmarva Power and Light Company, and Potomac Electric Power Company (see EnerNoc Harvests Power in Maryland and In New England, A Demand Response Company Gets Utility-Sized).
As for recent additions to the company's business — such as new energy efficiency and carbon footprint accounting offerings, as well as its launch last month of its PowerTalk technology to give the devices it controls for customers a constant presence over an IP-enabled network — company officials said it will take awhile longer to see their effects on the company's overall financial situation (see Instant Messenger of the Smart Grid and EnerNoc Expanding Into Carbon Management Energy Services).
