Boost Run (BRUN) Q3 2026 earnings review
Boost Run's contracts climb 42%, but it still loses money
Boost Run, which rents Nvidia chip servers to AI companies, signed far more work but still lost money. Sales reached $40 million, and its signed contract value rose by $800 million, the company said. But the cost of its servers, spread over their working life, took most of those sales, so it posted a $14 million net loss.
| Revenue | $39.9M +496% from a year ago |
|---|---|
| Signed contract value | $2.7B $1.9B at the end of June |
| Operating cash flow | $65.6M $54.4M of it from customer prepayments |
| Year-end plan for contracts running | $1.3B $0.8B running at the end of September |
⚖️ Verdict: 🟢 Bullish
The story got better because customers keep signing, and Boost Run has a timetable to start up those contracts. It plans to have $1.3 billion of contract value running by the end of December, against $0.8 billion today. One caution: customer prepayments supplied most of its operating cash, and the company warned that the figure "should not be run-rated".
The question now is whether running contracts produce cash on their own, without new upfront payments. Either the servers earn enough to cover their lease payments, or Boost Run needs new money to keep building. Fourth-quarter cash flow, set beside lease payments, will tell.
🐂 Bull Case
Contract Value Rose $800 Million in One Quarter
Boost Run rents servers built on Nvidia chips to AI companies under multi-year contracts. Contract value, or TCV, is the total those customers have signed to pay. Boost Run said TCV reached $2.7 billion at the end of September.
By our math, the $800 million it added is 42% more than the June total. The cloud provider said all of it is live, being installed, or "fully contracted and scheduled for deployment in 2027".
- Contract value: $2.7 billion, against $1.9 billion in June
- Contracts already running: $0.8 billion, double the June level
- Upfront payments: an average of 22% of contract value, the company said
This matters because signed contracts set sales for about three years, the average term in its presentation. The US group also said it switches on no server before a customer signs. But contract value turns into sales only once the servers run, so installation speed now carries the risk.
What to watch: the value of contracts running at the end of December, set against Boost Run's year-end plan. Reaching it would show the business can install servers as fast as it signs customers.
Cash Costs Fell as a Share of Sales
Boost Run reports earnings before interest, tax and depreciation, excluding one-offs, to show what its servers earn in cash. That figure reached 45.1% of sales in the third quarter, against 34.4% in the first half, by our math.
- Overhead and selling costs: 27.6% of sales, from 38.7% in the first half
- Rent for data-centre space and power: 23.6% of sales, from 36.1%
The gain came because sales grew faster than overhead and rent, as new server clusters came fully online. Overhead dropped 11.1 percentage points as a share of sales, by our math. Finance chief Erik Guckel said the team remains focused on "disciplined capital deployment".
What to watch: rent as a share of sales in the fourth quarter. Boost Run pays rent on new space before its servers there earn much, so a higher share would point to slow start-ups.
Project Loans and Prepayments Fund Each Build
Boost Run rents its data-centre space and spends its money on servers instead. Chief executive Andrew Karos said each project loan is "paid down every month out of contracted customer cash flows". The company said it secured about $600 million of such loans this year without issuing shares.
- Unrestricted cash: $157 million at the end of September
- Customer prepayments: 30% to 40% of each project's cost
- Prepayments due when projects go live: $482 million
This matters because customers and lenders, not shareholders, pay for most of each build. But the loans stay on the balance sheet, so their repayments come before any cash reaches shareholders.
What to watch: new project borrowing in the quarterly filing, set against new contracts. Borrowing that grows faster than signed contracts would mean each build relies on debt to a greater degree.
🐻 Bear Case
Customer Prepayments Supplied Most of the Operating Cash
Chief executive Andrew Karos said each project "adds positive incremental cash flow starting in month one of being fully deployed". The release backs this with $65.6 million of operating cash flow for the quarter, which exceeds its sales.
Most of that cash came from customers paying upfront for future server time. Boost Run said prepayments supplied $54.4 million of it, and it warned that the headline figure "should not be run-rated". By our math, the rest came to $11.2 million.
- Operating cash flow, first nine months: $172.6 million
- Of which customer prepayments: $167.4 million
- Lease payments on servers, which work like loan repayments: $212.5 million
- Cash left after equipment spending and lease payments: about −$76 million, by our math
This matters because operating cash flow leaves out those lease payments. After them, the business used more cash than it brought in, so prepayments and loans still fund the gap. Karos's claim about each project may hold, but the total does not show it yet.
What to watch: fourth-quarter operating cash flow before prepayments, set against that quarter's lease payments. That comparison will test whether live projects produce the cash Karos described.
Server Depreciation Now Equals 87% of Sales
Depreciation spreads the cost of Boost Run's servers over their working life. The charge reached $34.8 million in the third quarter, more than in the whole first half.
That charge equalled 87.2% of sales, 32.8 percentage points above the first-half share, so the AI cloud provider lost money at the operating level.
- Operating loss: $17.0 million, or 42.6% of sales
- Loss before tax: $23.8 million by our math, before a $9.7 million tax credit
This matters because servers lose value even if a customer leaves. Contracts last about three years on average, the company said, so each one must repay its hardware within that term.
What to watch: depreciation as a share of sales in the fourth quarter, as the two sites that started up in the third quarter add sales.
Boost Run's Own Figures Disagree
Boost Run's release and presentation give different values for three of the figures readers use to follow a business changing this fast.
- Annual recurring revenue, the yearly value of running contracts: $167 million on one slide, about $435 million in the appendix
- Contracts running: $0.8 billion in September on a slide; chief executive Andrew Karos said 26% of $2.7 billion by late November, about $0.7 billion by our math
- Sales growth from a year ago: 496% in the release, 492% in the presentation
The presentation calls its quarterly figures for running contracts estimates "interpolated from disclosed metrics". It also says contract value includes renewal options and letters of intent that customers have not yet committed to.
What to watch: remaining performance obligations, the contracted revenue customers cannot cancel, in the quarterly filing. That figure will show how much of the contract value is binding.
A $4–5 Billion Hardware Plan Lacks Signed Agreements
Boost Run said it is pursuing about $4–5 billion of server hardware from several manufacturers, a purchase several times its plan for this year's spending. It added that "no definitive agreements have been executed".
Chief executive Andrew Karos said the company has "no dilutive debt or warrant overhang". That holds only because warrant holders paid cash to turn their warrants into shares, so shares outstanding rose 9.5% in the quarter.
- New shares from warrants in the quarter: 7.3 million, for $88.2 million
- Shares outstanding: 84.2 million, against 30.3 million at the end of 2025
What to watch: the funding behind any signed hardware deal. If new shares pay for it, existing holders would own a smaller part of each future contract.
👓 Other Themes
Short-Term Rentals Bring Over a Tenth of Sales
Besides multi-year contracts, Boost Run rents servers on demand through its own online platform. The company said these "Short term, on demand contracts at higher pricing and margins" made up more than 10% of sales. Nvidia has also given Boost Run its Exemplar Cloud status for Blackwell chips. Outsiders cannot check the margin claim yet, because the platform has no separate profit figure.
💲 Other KPIs
Short-term bills grew faster than short-term assets in the quarter. Current liabilities, the bills due within a year, reached $304.6 million, against $224.3 million of current assets. So the ratio between them slipped to 0.74. It stood at 0.87 in June and 0.49 at the end of 2025.
Obligations shrank as a share of the balance sheet, because warrant cash lifted equity. Liabilities equalled 83.7% of assets in September. The share stood at 86.5% in June and 89.5% at the end of 2025. Finance leases on servers, which work like loans, were the largest item, at $399.5 million.
🔮 Guidance
New. Boost Run plans to spend $1.0–1.4 billion on equipment this year, counting servers it leases. Its cash outlay on equipment came to only $36.1 million in nine months, because leases carry most of the cost. The company gave no year-to-date figure on the same basis.
New. The plan has $1.3 billion of contract value running by the end of December. By our math, that is 48% of everything signed, against 30% now. The path counts only contracts already signed, so new deals would come on top.
New. The US group plans to have every contract signed so far running during 2027. By our math, that means switching on another $1.4 billion of contract value next year. That is almost twice what runs today, and the forecast leaves out contracts it may still sign.
New. Karos expects projects to keep 15–20% of their sales as cash in coming periods. By our math, free cash flow before customer prepayments came to about 12% of sales in the third quarter. Boost Run's own measure leaves out growth spending financed by leases, so the two figures do not match exactly.
New. Boost Run plans to add three US sites over the next six months, taking the total to nine. It rents space and power from partners rather than owning buildings. The company said it can reach 253 megawatts across those partnerships, though it has not energized all of it.
❓ Key Questions
Is annual recurring revenue $167 million or $435 million?
One slide puts annual recurring revenue, the yearly value of running contracts, at $167 million. The appendix says about $435 million. Readers need one figure, with its definition, to judge how fast contracts turn into sales.
How much contract value was running in September?
A slide shows $0.8 billion live at the end of September, but Karos said 26% would be live by late November. The presentation also calls its quarterly figures estimates.
How will Boost Run pay for $4–5 billion of hardware?
The planned purchase is several times this year's spending plan. Readers need the mix of project loans, prepayments and new shares before any deal closes.
What cash does a live project produce after lease payments?
Operating cash flow excludes lease payments on servers, which reached $212.5 million in nine months. A per-project figure after those payments would test the 15–20% cash margin target.
How much of sales comes from the largest customers?
The presentation lists dependence on a limited number of customers as a risk. Boost Run has not said what share of sales or contract value its biggest customers hold.