Burnaby’s Ballard Power Systems (TSX:BLDP) saw its share price dip almost 9% May 1 after it announced its first quarter results, which showed revenue was down 11% year-over-year.
Company president and CEO Randy MacEwen said the drop was due not to a weaker-than-expected first quarter, but rather from a one-off revenue boost in the same period last year.
“Q1 results were consistent with the type of start to 2018 we had anticipated and our typically slower first half of a year,” he said. “At the same time, the underlying growth in our Q1 results is masked by significant one-time revenue in the first quarter of 2017.
“Our outlook for the full year remains unchanged.”
Gross margin fell 31% from U.S.$9.6 million to U.S.$6.6 million, and loss per share increased from U.S.$0.02 to U.S.$0.03.
The news comes just a day after the company announced it has received a purchase order to supply 40 fuel cells to power buses from a company in Belgium, which caused the stock price to jump 4%.
As of press time, the share price had recovered some of its lost ground and was trading at $4.01 per share – down just over 5% from just before the company announced its results.
@EmmaHampelBIV
