Net profit surged 837%! The 'top dog' in household storage is still in 'trouble'

Energy storage is replacing power batteries as the new direction in the energy market.

As the most promising sector in this year's energy market, multiple energy storage companies reported explosive growth in their performance during the first three quarters. Among them, Sungrow Power Supply, as the industry leader, achieved a net profit of 11.881 billion yuan, a year-on-year surge of 56.34%.

In a sector where even elephants can "dance," leading companies have either achieved explosive growth or seen a clear inflection point in their results, such as GoodWe, the "No. 1 in residential storage."

According to its disclosed third-quarter report, GoodWe achieved revenue of 6.194 billion yuan in the first three quarters of this year, a year-on-year increase of 25.3%; net profit reached 81.12 million yuan, up 837.57% year-on-year; and adjusted net profit was -9.655 million yuan, a 96.95% increase year-on-year.

Specifically, in the third quarter, GoodWe achieved revenue of 2.108 billion yuan, up 17.42% year-on-year; net profit was 97.7178 million yuan, a 200.83% increase year-on-year; and adjusted net profit reached 47.8711 million yuan, up 106.09% year-on-year.

From a fundamental perspective, GoodWe's performance has seen significant growth, but its net profit remains on the edge of profitability, mainly due to last year's substantial losses and industry-wide challenges.

Overall, although the industry's recovery is ongoing, the company's own difficulties cannot be ignored. According to Kanjian Finance, among mainstream listed inverter companies like Sungrow Power Supply, Ginlong Technologies, and Deye, GoodWe's net profit is at the bottom.

Due to poor performance, GoodWe's performance in the capital market has been relatively lackluster.

Statistics show that as of the latest close, GoodWe's year-to-date gain is only 28%. From its peak, its stock price has fallen by over 75%, with its market cap evaporating by more than 44 billion yuan.

At one point, GoodWe was highly sought after in the capital market. When it went public in 2020, under the halo of "No. 1 in residential storage," its stock price surged continuously, with a P/E ratio exceeding 700x at its peak, making it one of the highest-valued solar companies at the time. However, today, with its weak performance, GoodWe has clearly failed to meet initial market expectations, and its stock price has plummeted accordingly.

As a result, the net worth of GoodWe's controlling shareholder, Huang Min, has also shrunk significantly. According to equity disclosures, Huang Min holds 31.22% of GoodWe's shares. Based on the latest closing price, his stake is worth about 4 billion yuan, down by over 13 billion yuan from its peak.

From Highly Sought After to Falling from Grace

In 2010, driven by the "Golden Sun Demonstration Project," China's solar power industry gradually entered a boom period.

Against this backdrop, GoodWe was born, embodying founder Huang Min's vision of being "as solid as a rock, virtuous and talented, and renowned far and wide."

However, GoodWe's development has not been smooth sailing.

In 2012, the international market imposed "anti-dumping and countervailing" policies on solar companies, causing the market to take a sharp downturn. Many solar companies went bankrupt, and GoodWe also suffered a major blow.

Facing the industry's major test, GoodWe keenly recognized the huge potential behind the distributed solar market and, compared to the fiercely competitive domestic market, saw greater potential overseas. Thus, GoodWe's helmsman Huang Min made a fate-changing decision—to target overseas distributed solar markets.

After choosing this direction, GoodWe also foresaw that the intermittent nature of solar power generation must be addressed through energy storage and concluded that future solar power generation must include storage. Based on this judgment, GoodWe launched its first energy storage inverter product in 2013, becoming one of the earliest domestic companies to introduce such products.

As the overseas energy storage inverter market matured, GoodWe entered a harvest period. According to a May 2019 research report by Wood Mackenzie, GoodWe ranked first globally in shipments of residential energy storage inverters, with a market share of 15%. Additionally, in the same year, GoodWe ranked sixth globally in shipments of three-phase string inverters and fifth in single-phase string inverters.

In September 2020, GoodWe, under the halo of "No. 1 in residential storage," successfully listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's STAR Market, marking its brightest moment.

After its IPO, GoodWe's stock price soared, with its P/E ratio exceeding 700x at one point, making it one of the highest-valued solar companies at the time. Behind this capital market frenzy was GoodWe's pre-IPO high growth. Financial reports show that from 2018 to 2020, GoodWe achieved net profits of 56.04 million yuan, 102.8 million yuan, and 260.3 million yuan, respectively, with growth rates of 5.49%, 83.47%, and 153.16%, showing clear acceleration.

However, by 2024, GoodWe's high growth faced challenges. Financial reports show that the company's revenue for the year was 6.738 billion yuan, down 8.36% year-on-year, while net profit attributable to shareholders was a loss of 62 million yuan, down 107.25% year-on-year.

As the "No. 1 in residential storage," such performance was undoubtedly disappointing to the market. According to media reports, GoodWe was the only loss-making company in the A-share inverter sector in 2024.

Regarding the reasons for the losses, Chairman Huang Min explained at the earnings conference. Huang Min stated that it was mainly due to factors such as high inventory levels in Europe, leading to a decline in sales revenue from high-margin inverters and batteries overseas, resulting in a significant reduction in overall gross profit.

Specifically, in 2024, GoodWe's sales revenue from inverters and energy storage batteries in Europe was only 937 million yuan, compared to 3.344 billion yuan for the same business in 2023. In other words, in just one year, GoodWe lost 2.4 billion yuan in sales revenue in the European market.

It's worth noting that overseas markets are crucial for GoodWe, as their gross margins are more than double those in China. In 2024, GoodWe's gross margin in Europe reached 42.13%, and in 2023, it was as high as 45.42%. The loss of these high-margin overseas markets is precisely why GoodWe's performance suffered a Waterloo.

By 2025, although performance has somewhat recovered, compared to industry leaders like Sungrow Power Supply, GoodWe's net profit is still a fraction of theirs. Clearly, the former "No. 1 in residential storage" has fallen from grace.

Retreating from Overseas to Focus on Domestic Markets

Currently, GoodWe faces more than just weak performance.

Kanjian Finance believes its biggest challenge lies in the continued contraction of its overseas business.

Financial reports show that in 2023, GoodWe's overseas revenue was 4.329 billion yuan, accounting for 58.88% of total revenue. However, by 2024, overseas revenue plummeted to 1.999 billion yuan, a drop of about 2.3 billion yuan, with the overseas revenue share falling to 29.67%.

In 2025, GoodWe did not disclose regional revenue in its interim report but mentioned in risk disclosures that "overseas revenue accounted for 25.62% in the first half of 2025." Compared to the end of 2024, the overseas revenue share has further declined, indicating a worsening situation.

Regarding the reasons for the decline in overseas revenue, GoodWe explained that Europe's high subsidies in 2023 overdrew demand, leading to a destocking cycle in 2024, coupled with trade barriers, resulting in a sharp drop in orders for inverters and batteries.

Admittedly, the above factors did impact GoodWe's overseas business, but the main reason for the sharp contraction was actually a shift in the company's strategic direction.

According to media reports, in recent years, GoodWe has significantly increased investment in its "residential system" business. In 2024, residential distributed sales reached nearly 960MW, and in the first half of this year, residential system sales were about 0.65GW, up over 50% year-on-year. From its cooperation with Yuexiu, Yuexiu Leasing has signed agreements with over 70 platform partners, including a 10 billion yuan collaboration with GoodWe's residential solar business.

Notably, while revenue from the "residential system" business has increased, it suffers from low gross margins. Financial reports show that in 2024, the gross margin for this business was only 14.11%, compared to 19.28% for "grid-tied inverters" and 31.78% for energy storage batteries. This shift in focus is precisely why GoodWe's net profit plummeted in 2024.

Of course, overall, GoodWe's pivot to domestic markets may have been a forced move, as overseas competition is indeed intense. Take the booming Australian market as an example. In July, Australia officially launched a 2.3 billion yuan subsidy for residential storage, making the market a hot spot. GoodWe managed to grab a slice of the pie.

According to SunWiz's report, the top three brands in Australia's residential storage market in 2024 were Sungrow Power Supply, WATTNOVA, and GoodWe. However, the dark horse, Sigenergy, has risen rapidly in the Australian market, going from obtaining CEC listing approval in October last year to taking the top spot in just six months, pushing GoodWe out of the top three.

For GoodWe, with fierce overseas competition, it had no choice but to retreat to domestic markets. However, the high-demand "residential system" business in China has low margins, leaving GoodWe in a dilemma.

According to media reports, GoodWe is now betting on its WE platform for integrated energy management. This platform is not only the largest in its R&D pipeline but also embodies GoodWe's vision of "source-grid-load-storage-intelligence." Including the supporting monitoring platform, total investment amounts to 350 million yuan. However, for now, the WE platform remains in the "storytelling" phase, and for GoodWe, distant water cannot quench present thirst.