Vivint Smart Home, Inc. (VVNT)

Company website 2020 Financial Report Stock Analysis

1.7

Million Subscribers

by end of 2020

7.87^%

CAGR

in the number of subscribers, 2017 - 2020

1.26

Billion Dollars

in 2020 revenue

View Our Analysis

The Path to Drawdown: Building Automation

Buildings and construction account for 38% of global CO2 emissions and 35% of total energy use. Much of the energy used in buildings is the result of heating and air-conditioning, lighting, information and communications systems, security and access systems, fire alarms, elevators, appliances, and indirectly through plumbing.

Most large commercial buildings in industrialized countries have some type of centralized, computer-based building management system that monitors, evaluates, and controls these systems. That system is called a building automation system. Building automation systems utilize sensors to constantly scan and rebalance energy use to maximize efficiency and effectiveness. New buildings can be equipped with a building automation system from the start, and old ones can be retrofitted to incorporate it and reap its benefits.

Adopting automated, rather than manual, building management systems can result in over 20% more efficient heating and cooling, and 8% more efficient energy use for light, appliances, etc.

Today, the adoption of building automation systems varies widely by country. Project Drawdown estimates that, for building automation systems to make a significant dent in global emissions, their adoption needs to grow particularly rapidly in developing countries:

<::marker> In 2018, over 75% of buildings in some high-income countries were managed by automated systems while some developing regions had not integrated them at all.
<::marker> By 2050, if building automation systems are adopted by 100% of commercial buildings in OECD countries, 80% in China, and 50% in all other regions, they can help avoid up to 10.48 gigatons of CO2 emissions.

About

Vivint Smart Home, Inc. (stock ticker: VVNT) delivers an integrated smart home system that provides centralized control, a smartphone application for remote access and learning algorithms that automatically pick up on a user’s patterns. They also offer in-home consultation, professional installation and support. Headquartered in Provo, Utah, they serve customers in the US and Canada.

VVNT's Role in Drawdown

Vivint’s products are designed to provide customers with centralized control and remote access from smartphone apps, to enhance energy efficiency, home monitoring and protection.

They have several solutions that improve energy efficiency. Their Smart Thermostat provides intelligent temperature control by integrating with all the door, window and motion sensors in a Vivint-connected home. Their partnership with Philips Hue, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant has enabled Vivint to offer smart lighting solutions, which allow users to control the lights in their homes from a smartphone app or with their voice.

And Vivint Assist (p. 10) is an AI-driven software that learns from the users’ behavior and interaction with Vivint’s systems to algorithmically improve the smart home experience. A learning home automation system can make energy use more efficient.

VVNT: What We Like

We’re excited that Vivint is expanding their customer base and total revenue. The total number of subscribers has grown by 7.87% annually between 2017 and 2020. Their revenue has also increased by 6.27% every year between 2018 and 2020. While VIvint doesn’t break down their revenue by the products and solutions they offer, we hope that this expansion means more households are using building automation and energy efficiency technologies in their homes.

What We Want to See Improve

Disclose GHG Emissions

As of now, Vivint doesn’t have any information related to sustainability on their website. As a company advancing a Drawdown solution, we want to see Vivint become a climate-conscious firm. At the most basic level, this means disclosing their direct and indirect GHG emissions, energy-use by source, and the amount of emissions they helped avoid through their products. These metrics should be reported in an annual sustainability report.

Set Clear Targets

Once Vivint begins disclosing their emissions, the next step we’d like to see is for them to set clear, quantitative targets for emissions reductions within a specified timeframe. These targets should be in line with the international effort to stay under 1.5°C of global warming, and be accompanied by strategies of how to achieve them.

Switch to a Clean Bank

Vivint has obtained several loans from Bank of America (p. 71) over the years. Unfortunately, Bank of America is one of 12 banks in the US that fund fossil fuels the most. We urge Vivint’s executives to move away from dirty banks and work with financial institutions that, on principle, do not invest in high-emitting industries.

Related Building Automation Stocks in the Climate Index

View All Climate Index Stocks →

Allocated	Company	Description
3.34%	Johnson Controls (JCI)	JCI offers HVAC and automation systems, allowing building managers to improve energy efficiency. These solutions help reduce emissions from buildings
0.21%	Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (FIX)	Comfort Systems USA provides automation systems that building managers monitor building energy use. That's the solution for emissions from buildings.
0.12%	Vivint Smart Home, Inc. (VVNT)	Vivint offers a system that lets home owners control heating, cooling, energy and security. They enhance building automation, which cuts building emissions
0.02%	Limbach Holdings (LMB)	Limbach provides data-driven building automation, system integration, and energy management solutions. These solutions help reduce emissions from buildings