EnerNoc Reports Profitable Year, But Is Business Slowing?

Revenue, profit forecast for 2011 looks like 2010.

2010 was a very good year for EnerNoc. 2011 might be just okay.

The demand response specialist reported its first full year of profitability as a public company today. Revenue for 2010 came to $280.2 million, up 47 percent from revenue of $190.7 million in 2009.

Net income, meanwhile, came to $9.6 million, or 37 cents a share, way up from a loss of $6.8 million in 2009. The net income figures in both cases were weighed down by acquisitions and other issues. Non-GAAP earnings per share in 2010 came to 97 cents.

Overall, EnerNoc can now call on 5.3 gigawatts of capacity during demand response events, up from 3.55 gigawatts' worth of capacity at the end of 2009. In all, the company dispatched power resources over 220 times in 2010. It has 3,600 end customers (customers it can pull power from) and can pull power from 8,600 sites.

To top it off, the company formally expanded from being a demand response provider in 2010 to more of a full-fledged energy provider. Through its EfficiencySmart platform, it can provide building management services, carbon accounting and other services. The ten acquisitions to date have helped flesh out this strategy. It also began to branch out overseas.

Now look forward to 2011. The company predicts that revenue will come to $300 million to $320 million, or a four percent increase -- less than the jump from 2009 to 2010. Even if you look at it in terms of gross growth, revenue is expected to grow $40 million, or less than half of the $89.5 million increase seen in 2010. (Cash flow from operations grew from $37 million in 2009 to $45 million in 2010.)

Net income is expected to come in at 25 cents to 50 cents a share in 2011 or 97 cents to $1.23 per share under non-GAAP rules -- in other words, somewhat in the same range of 2010. That still makes the company the only public smart grid startup to maintain profitability, but this isn't exactly hockey stick growth, either.

PJM may also change rules that will clamp down on "double counting" for some demand response events in 2011. EnerNoc denies it has violated any rules. Nonetheless, the accounting standards employed seem to be the reason 'double counting' exists, so changes could effect the profits and revenue of EnerNoc and other demand service providers.

Fourth quarter revenue came to $22.7 million, down from $26.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. The net loss came to $21.2 million, an increase over the net loss of $15.2 million in 2010.

First quarter revenue is slated to come in at $25 million to $31 million, with a net loss of 85 cents per share to $1.05.