Herb Greenberg Weary On SolarCity Couponing

On Wednesday, SolarCity SCTY and Groupon GRPN announced that they will offer deals on solar energy systems on the Groupon marketplace.

Details of the Deal

The press release states that customers will be able to purchase a deal from Groupon to pay $1.00 for $400.00 of home solar power.

“After purchasing today's solar deal on Groupon, homeowners will be contacted by SolarCity to schedule a consultation. If the homeowner decides to move forward with solar service, the discount will be applied. Homeowners can install their solar system at no additional cost and pay only for the power. SolarCity currently serves thousands of communities and major metropolitan areas in 15 states.”

Herb Greenberg Says “SolarCity Lost Some of its Flare”

On today's Premarket Prep Show, financial media journalist Herb Greenberg commented on the press release. Astonished by the news, Greenberg said, “SolarCity is couponing. Whenever you see discounting, whenever you see couponing,- You don't do that when your business is strong. You do that when your business isn't strong.”

Greenberg believes that this press release is a signal that SolarCity is “pulling out all the stops to reunite growth” in a very competitive market.

Greenberg sees the company's number and accounting games as red flags. He called the street's values on the company “made-up metrics” with SolarCity reporting guidance too far in the future. The company put “big numbers out there. Whether they can get there is anybody's guess,” according to Greenberg.

Greenberg concluded, “SolarCity has definitely lost some of its flare.”

Stock Action

Shares of SolarCity closed at $53.19 on Tuesday and at the time of publication, shares traded at $51.77, down 2.67 percent. Groupon closed at $6.27 on Tuesday. Shares of Groupon traded down 2.31 percent on Wednesday morning, and traded at $6.12 at the time of publication.