This hot AI-fueled stock has been in a rut. It just beat earnings expectations by 36%.

By Steve Goldstein

Bloom Energy fuel cells have been used to power data centers.

A company beating earnings expectations by 36% and revenue expectations by 15% would usually see a post-results bump. But not for Bloom Energy, the fuel-cell maker that has flourished due to data-center demand.

Bloom Energy (BE) late Thursday reported third-quarter earnings per share of 94 cents, up from just 15 cents a year earlier and comfortably ahead of the 69 cents that analysts polled by FactSet expected. Revenue rose 138% to $1.24 billion, beating expectations of $1.07 billion.

Bloom Energy said it's now targeting between $4.4 billion and $4.6 billion in revenue this year, versus the $4.26 billion consensus, while maintaining its adjusted gross margin outlook of 34%.

Its revenue guidance has now been steadily increased by 41% since February, noted JPMorgan analysts. "We're balancing this margin expansion with also capturing the market opportunity in front of us," CFO Simon Edwards told analysts on a call.

The company, whose clients include Google (GOOGL), Oracle (ORCL) and Nebius (NBIS), did burn $27 million in cash this quarter. "This quarter, we used cash from operations. But that's not the beginning of a trend," he said, noting it's cash flow positive on the year.

Chairman and CEO K.R. Sridhar referenced a comment made by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, that every quarter delay in a gigawatt data center translates to $10 billion of missed revenue. "So every 100-megawatt data center, a quarter delay would be a $1 billion lost revenue," said Sridhar. "That overwhelms every other value proposition that you will have on the power block."

Bloom Energy also has been highlighting fuel-cell usage outside of artificial intelligence.

But the stock has been in a funk, down 38% from highs. However, it rose 3% in premarket trading on Friday, after an initial 7% slide when the results were announced.

"Good quarter, crowded trade, tough reaction" was the title of an analyst note from Citi's Vikram Bagri.

-Steve Goldstein

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-23-26 0519ET