Dive Summary:

• Solar installer SolarCity has announced its first quarter earnings for 2012 and shows a loss of $91.5 million despite a steady increase in revenue.
• The company's business model is based on solar leasing power and purchase agreements; the news led to a fall in stock shares.
• Despite the bottom line, the company still showed total revenues at $128 million, while its gross margin increased to 40 percent.

From the article:

The income structure of a company like SolarCity, with a business model based on solar leasing and power purchase agreements for rooftop solar, is complex. Stripped of the small detail of distributed energy, the business is about velocity of money. ...