SolarCity has net income on more sales of rooftop arrays

SolarCity Corp. reported net income for the third quarter as the rooftop developer’s cash sales gained on leases, improving its balance sheet a week before shareholders are expected to vote on its pending acquisition by Tesla Motors Inc.

Net income was $53 million (48 cents per share), compared with a loss of $19.1 million (20 cents) a year earlier, the San Mateo company said Wednesday.

Chief Executive Officer Lyndon Rive in August trimmed the 2016 forecast because of the company’s strategic shift a year ago to focus on profitability over rapid growth.

Billionaire Elon Musk is chairman and the largest shareholder of both, and has sketched out a long-term vision that combines solar-powered homes that use clean energy to recharge electric vehicles.

Homeowners increasingly prefer to purchase the rooftop systems rather than the decades-long leases that make up most of the company’s business.

SolarCity’s earnings report comes amid concerns that an Environmental Protection Agency appointed by Donald Trump will try to overturn the nation’s Clean Power Plan.

[...] many key policies that favor renewable energy, such as California’s storage mandate, are largely state issues unlikely to be affected by Trump’s victory.