2021 has opened with a reshuffle of the Israeli companies traded in New York. Solar energy and energy storage technology company SolarEdge Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: SEDG) has overtaken Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP), NICE Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE: NICE) and healthcare company NovoCure (Nasdaq: NVCR) to become the most valuable Israeli company on Wall Street. SolarEdge currently has a market cap of $17.8 billion, which compares with 17.7 billion for cybersecurity company Check Point.
SolarEdge's share price shot up 9.9% yesterday to a record $348, adding $1.6 billion to its market cap by the end of the session. The company is benefitting from positive sentiment arising from expectation that the new US administration will promote green energy.
Yesterday, the Democratic Party of president-elect Joe Biden won run-off elections for two Senate seats in the state of Georgia, in effect giving the party a majority in the Senate (the Democrats and Republicans actually have the same number of senators, but in a tie, the vice president, Kamala Harris, will have the deciding vote). This is expected to make it easier for the Biden administration to pass green power initiatives. Against this background, several companies in this field rose strongly, among them Enphase Energy (Nasdaq: ENPH) and First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR).
Another Israeli company that rose sharply yesterday was geothermal energy company Ormat Technologies (NYSE: ORA). Its share price closed 10% higher, bringing its market cap to $5.8 billion.
SolarEdge is headed by Zvi Lando, who took up the post in 2019 when the company's founder, the late Guy Sella, fell ill. Sella died shortly afterwards.
In the first nine months of 2020, SolarEdge's revenue totaled $1.1 billion, and its net profit attributable to shareholders, on a non-GAAP basis, was $169 million.
Four Israeli companies traded in New York currently have market caps higher than $15 billion: SolarEdge, Check Point, Nice Systems, and NovoCure. Internet company Wix.com Ltd. (Nasdaq: WIX) has a market cap of $13.8 billion, while Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA), once undisputedly the leading Israeli company on Wall Street, now has a market cap of $11.3 billion.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 7, 2021
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