Amprius (AMPX) Q1 2026 earnings review
Scale Takes Hold: Explosive Revenue Growth and Narrowing Losses
Amprius delivered a standout Q1 2026, fundamentally validating its strategic pivot to a capital-light model. Revenue growth is accelerating, surging 153% YoY to $28.5 million. More importantly, gross profitability has experienced a reversing trend—flipping from a severe -21% margin a year ago to a healthy 20% today. Management raised full-year 2026 revenue guidance to at least $130 million while maintaining their target for positive Adjusted EBITDA. While cash burn appears high on the surface, it is primarily driven by the planned legacy Colorado lease settlement and working capital needs to fund growth.
🐂 Bull Case
The transition away from heavy proprietary manufacturing to contract partners is yielding results. The company improved Adjusted EBITDA to negative $1.8 million, an impressive 66% YoY improvement, proving they can scale revenue without linearly scaling operating expenses.
Management proactively increased FY26 revenue guidance from $125M to at least $130M, citing strong Q1 demand and visibility into potential US customer orders, signaling high confidence in near-term backlog execution.
🐻 Bear Case
Despite narrowing adjusted EBITDA losses, Amprius burned $37.3M in operating cash this quarter. Even stripping out the $20.6M lease termination payment, underlying working capital drain remains high due to an $11.5 million jump in Accounts Receivable.
Gross margin decelerated sequentially, dropping to 20% from 24% in 25Q4. Even adjusting for $0.5M in non-recurring Colorado expenses, the 22% adjusted margin still represents a slight step backward that warrants monitoring.
⚖️ Verdict: 🟢
Bullish. Amprius is successfully executing its transition from a pre-revenue R&D shop to a commercial-scale enterprise. The combination of accelerating revenue, positive gross margins, and a raised FY outlook far outweighs the temporary working capital friction.
Key Themes
Commercial Breakthrough in Light Electric Vehicles (LEV)
Amprius secured a massive $21.0 million purchase order for SiCore cylindrical cells from a premier electric mobility customer in China. This validates the technology's application beyond niche aviation and drones, moving into higher-volume scooter and motorcycle markets.
Defense Sector and NDAA Tailwinds
Macro tailwinds are accelerating domestic demand. Longstanding U.S. defense customers received ~$500 million in new military orders, providing strong visibility for future Amprius cell POs. Concurrently, Amprius added $3.3 million to its Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) contract, raising the total to $18.1 million to support NDAA-compliant battery sourcing.
Supply Chain Diversification via Nanotech Energy
Adding Nanotech Energy as a U.S. production partner drastically de-risks the company's heavy reliance on Asian contract manufacturing. This solidifies their manufacturing-light model while ensuring compliance for defense contractors who require domestic sourcing.
Working Capital Masking Profitability Gains
While management touts a $3.4 million YoY improvement in Adjusted EBITDA, a review of the cash flow statement contradicts the pure 'asset-light' narrative. Accounts Receivable spiked by $11.5 million in a single quarter (up from a $5.1 million use last year). As the company pivots toward larger POs, extended payment terms are severely pressuring cash balances.
Sequential Margin Deceleration
Gross margin reversed its four-quarter streak of sequential gains. After climbing steadily from -21% (25Q1) to 24% (25Q4), it fell to 20% in 26Q1. Management attributed ~2% of this to non-recurring Colorado costs, but the remaining compression implies potential pricing pressure or mix-shift dilution from the new LEV volumes.
Lumpiness Risk in New LEV Segments
Management previously warned in FY25 that the LEV sector features a 'lumpier profile' driven by customer product introduction cycles. Anchoring growth to the new $21 million Chinese LEV order introduces high concentration risk and revenue volatility compared to their stickier defense and aerospace segments.
Other KPIs
Accelerating toward breakeven. Improved by 66% YoY (from -$5.2M in 25Q1). Total operating expenses (R&D and SG&A) were $12.4M, meaning the 20% gross margin on $28.5M revenue is increasingly capable of funding the core operational footprint.
Decelerating violently vs the -$14.1 million recorded in 25Q1. The vast majority of this deterioration is tied to a $20.6 million cash payment for operating lease liabilities (terminating the legacy Colorado facility) and an $11.5 million build-up in Accounts Receivable.
Guidance
Accelerating on an absolute basis. Management raised this floor from their previous $125 million target, representing roughly 78% YoY growth compared to FY25's $73 million. They cite strong Q1 demand and visibility into expanding US customer orders.
Reversing to profitability. Retaining this target implies that management expects the Q1 Adjusted EBITDA loss of -$1.8M to flip to strong positive generation in the back half of the year as scale leverages fixed costs.
Stable outlook. Management reiterated this target, which points to massive YoY progress compared to the $44 million net loss recorded in FY25 (which included heavy one-time impairment charges).
Key Questions
Working Capital Dynamics
Accounts Receivable increased by $11.5 million this quarter. Are the payment terms on large international LEV orders structurally longer than your defense contracts, and will working capital constrain your ability to hit $130 million in revenue without raising additional equity?
Gross Margin Progression
Excluding the $0.5M Colorado expense, Q1 gross margin was 22%, a sequential step-down from 24% in Q4. How much of this compression is driven by aggressive pricing to win LEV volume versus higher component costs, and what is the target margin for the back half of the year?
U.S. Manufacturing Ramp
With Nanotech Energy joining as a U.S. partner, what percentage of your FY26 revenue guidance is modeled to be manufactured domestically, and how quickly can this facility scale to service the $500M in defense orders won by your customers?