| | | Fluence Energy ticks lower amid upgrade, company defense amid short report (update)
Feb. 23, 2024 2:00 PM ET
By: Joshua Fineman, SA News Editor
 Petmal/iStock via Getty Images
Update 2pm: Adds comments from AES, Siemens.
Fluence Energy (NASDAQ: FLNC) pared an earlier gain of as much as 13% and ticked down 1.5% on Thursday following a short report even as JPMorgan upgraded the stock on Friday.
"We believe the sell-off is overdone and believe the pullback presents a buying opportunity," JPMorgan analyst Mark Strouse, who upgraded to stock to overweight from neutral, wrote in a note on Friday.
Fluence Energy late Thursday said in a statement that the Blue Orca short report contained "numerous inaccuracies and distortions." Fluence also said that the pending litigation between Siemens Energy ( OTCPK:SMEGF) is a "small, ordinary course commercial dispute" that arose from a single project.
AES Corp. ( AES) and Siemens AG also responded to the short report in joint statements.
"In response to the inaccurate statements, Siemens and AES confirm their confidence that Fluence is well positioned to meet its financial commitments,"Siemens and AES said in a statement.
"AES is confident that Fluence is well positioned to meet its financial commitments. AES believes there is significant opportunity in the energy storage sector and we are pleased with Fluence as our preferred technology provider," according to the statement.
Strouse noted that lawsuits mentioned in the short report weren't deemed large enough for "materiality thresholds" and weren't included in SEC filings.
"We do not believe that Siemens Energy has ever been a material customer for FLNC and remind investors that Siemens AG (the parent company) is a supplier to FLNC, not a customer," Strouse, who has a $23 price target on FLNC wrote in the note.
"There is no legal case between Siemens AG and Fluence," Siemens AG said in the statement.
Strouse added that he doesn't believe there would be dilution if AES ( AES)/Siemens decide to sell their shares.
Fluence Energy ( FLNC) was also defended at BMO, reiterating its outperform rating and $28 price target.
"We disagree with today’s short-sell report linkage of future monetization of FLNC shares to operational/ commercial disputes with its major shareholders," BMO analyst Ameet Thakkar wrote in a note on Thursday.
"We remain comfortable with our rating and don't agree with the report's premise that sell-downs will accelerate due to commercial dissatisfaction with FLNC or have a material impact on future growth of its ESS business," Thakkar added. |
|
