Bloom Energy's revenue more than doubles as data centers turn to fuel cells for AI power

Bloom Energy, the San Jose fuel-cell manufacturer that has become one of the most closely watched suppliers to the artificial intelligence buildout, reported record third-quarter revenue late Thursday and raised its full-year financial outlook for the third time this year, underscoring how data center operators are increasingly turning to on-site power generation rather than waiting for grid connections.

The company's quarterly results, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and posted on its own newsroom as a press release, showed revenue of $1.2358 billion for the three months ended September 30, up 138.1 percent from $519 million a year earlier. Product revenue, the bulk of sales, rose 179.4 percent to $1.0736 billion. Adjusted earnings came in at 94 cents a share, well ahead of the 68-cent consensus estimate tracked by analysts, according to a Motley Fool analysis of the results.

A third guidance raise in a single year

Bloom lifted its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to a range of $4.4 billion to $4.6 billion, up from the $3.9 billion to $4.2 billion range it had set in July, implying roughly 122 percent growth at the midpoint over 2025. The company also raised its non-GAAP operating income guidance to $960 million to $1.03 billion and its non-GAAP earnings guidance to $3.10 to $3.40 a share. Chief financial officer Simon Edwards said on the earnings call, according to a transcript of the call, that "operating margin for the quarter expanded to 23.1 percent from 8.9 percent a year ago."

Gross margin reached 33.8 percent on a GAAP basis, up more than four percentage points from a year earlier, while net income attributable to common stockholders swung to $250.3 million from a $23.1 million loss in the same period last year. Not every figure pointed in the same direction: operating cash flow turned negative, at $27.1 million, after a positive $226.4 million in the second quarter, and capital expenditures jumped to $153.5 million for the quarter as the company builds out manufacturing capacity. The company reported $2.4867 billion in cash and equivalents against $2.4735 billion in recourse debt as of September 30.

Data centers look past the grid

The results arrive as AI data center operators confront electricity shortages that utilities and regional grids have struggled to address quickly. Founder and chief executive KR Sridhar told analysts, in remarks carried in the call's own transcript, that "the grid was designed to provide power that was evenly distributed across a very large number of customers spread over large areas. It is overwhelmed by the concentrated and huge power needs of data centers." The remark amounted to a direct warning that grid capacity cannot keep pace with hyperscaler buildouts.

"The grid was designed to provide power that was evenly distributed across a very large number of customers spread over large areas. It is overwhelmed by the concentrated and huge power needs of data centers."

Bloom's solid oxide fuel cells, which generate electricity on-site through a chemical process rather than combustion, have found a growing customer base among hyperscale operators seeking power faster than new grid connections or transmission lines can be built. Sridhar told analysts on the same call, per the transcript, that American Electric Power is building a roughly 700-megawatt Bloom-powered fuel-cell project in Wyoming to supply a Google data center, a deployment he described as approaching gigawatt scale. Sridhar also told investors that "our customer pipeline continues to grow, and our backlog is continuing to expand faster than our revenue," and said the company sees an additional opportunity in "securely powering military and civilian critical infrastructure" beyond AI data centers.

Investors focus on cash burn despite the beat

Despite the headline beat and the raised guidance, Bloom shares fell roughly 9 percent at Thursday's close and extended that decline into Friday, down as much as 11.24 percent to around $193 at one point, according to Stocktwits and the Motley Fool analysis. Investors appeared to focus on the swing to negative operating cash flow and the sharp rise in capital spending rather than the revenue and earnings beat, a pattern that has recurred this year as Bloom's stock has become highly sensitive to any sign that its rapid capacity expansion is straining its balance sheet. Even after the post-earnings decline, shares remained up more than 150 percent for the year, reflecting the broader run-up in companies seen as direct beneficiaries of AI infrastructure spending.

The company's shares have been volatile for months as investors debate whether hyperscaler capital spending on data centers, and by extension on power suppliers like Bloom, is sustainable. Bloom was added to the S&P 500 in September, replacing Molson Coors Beverage, under a change the index's administrator detailed in a press release from S&P Dow Jones Indices that took effect before trading opened on September 21.

What comes next

Bloom's near-term trajectory depends on whether it can keep expanding manufacturing fast enough to work through a backlog that management says is growing faster than revenue, while avoiding further strain on cash flow. The company is also working to diversify beyond AI-driven hyperscaler demand, pointing to opportunities in grid support for utilities, carbon capture-enabled projects such as the AEP facility in Wyoming, and power for military and other critical infrastructure. For the data center industry more broadly, the quarter adds to evidence that the search for electricity, not computing power itself, has become one of the central constraints on how fast AI infrastructure can be built, with on-site generation emerging as a parallel track to grid expansion rather than a replacement for it.