Ballard Power Systems (TSX:BLDP) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Tuesday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.
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Summary
Ballard Power Systems reported a 26% increase in revenue for Q1 2026, driven by bus and rail markets, and achieved a 14% gross margin, marking the third consecutive quarter of positive gross margin.
The company signed multi-year agreements with major bus OEMs like New Flyer, Wrightbus, and Solaris, strengthening its position in the hydrogen bus market and expanding its fleet services offerings.
Operational highlights include the introduction of Project Forge, an automated manufacturing line expected to enter full production in the second half of the year, aimed at reducing costs and improving quality.
The company continues to focus on reducing product costs, expanding commercial structures, and exploring new applications such as stationary power for grid stability and energy resilience.
Ballard Power Systems ended the quarter with $516.8 million in cash, and despite not providing specific revenue or net income guidance, it expects revenue to be weighted toward the second half of the year.
Full Transcript
Sumit Kundu (Investor Relations)
Thank you Operator and good morning. Welcome to Ballard’s first Quarter financial and Operating Results conference call. With us today on the call are Marty Neese, Ballard’s President and CEO; Kate Igbolode, Chief Financial Officer; and Ralph Robinette, Ballard’s new Chief Operating Officer. We will be making forward looking statements based on management’s current expectations, beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. Actual results could differ materially. Please refer to our most recent annual Information form and other public filings for our complete disclaimer and related information. I’ll now turn the call over to Marty.
Marty Neese (President and CEO)
Thank you Sumit and welcome everyone to today’s conference call. This morning I will give an Overview of our Q1 2026 performance and provide a commercial update. I will focus on the progress we are seeing in the bus market. We are also joined by our new Chief Operating Officer Ralph Robinette. He will introduce himself and share updates on our operations. Kate will then review our financial results in more detail. We had a solid start to the year. Deliveries into the bus and rail markets drove revenue growth compared to last year. We also delivered another quarter of positive gross margins. This is our third consecutive quarter of positive gross margin. It reflects disciplined cost and commercial management and marks an important step in our transformation toward becoming cash flow positive. To build on this progress, we have set a few near term focus areas including deepening our partnerships with bus OEMs in key geographies improving and expanding our fleet services, capabilities and offerings Lowering costs through automation and intelligence. I’ll spend a few minutes on these and provide some additional color Turning to Buses we have made several important announcements in the bus market this year. In North America, we signed a multi year agreement with New Flyer representing approximately 50 megawatts of fuel cell engine supply. This strengthens our position as fleets continue to scale in the US Bus market. In the uk, Wrightbus selected Ballard to power its next generation hydrogen bus platform using our newest FCmove™ engine. In the eu, Solaris also selected Ballard as the fuel cell supplier for its next generation hydrogen bus platform including the FCmove™ SC for its 12 meter bus. These announcements matter for several reasons. First, these new agreements are multi year partnerships with leading bus OEMs in major markets. They include both engine sales and long term service support. This strengthens our position as fleet scale and as our fleet services business continues to grow. Our intelligent fuel cell engines help us deliver better service. They provide real time performance data that allows us and our OEM partners to respond faster and keep buses on the road. Our remote operations center adds another layer of support by improving parts planning, logistics and predictive insights. Combined with our industry leading durability, these capabilities position our engines as a zero emission solution that can match or even exceed battery, electric and diesel alternatives on uptime and total cost of ownership. Ballard Fleet Services plays a key role in this strategy. We are moving from being only a module supplier to becoming a proactive data driven fleet partner. Our approach is built on more than 300 million kilometers of real world operating data. Using this experience we created the industry first uptime standard which brings together predictive maintenance, training, service support and parts assurance. These offerings are designed to deliver up to 98% fleet availability. This creates real value for OEMs by reducing after sales friction and lowering risk. It also gives operators more predictable life cycle costs and stronger protection against budget swings. As our installed base grows, these services expand our recurring revenue and turn our fleet into a long term strategic asset. Second, these long term agreements support our product cost reduction goals. Both Wrightbus and Solaris have committed to our 9th generation FC Move SC platform. This engine was designed to reduce cost and simplify installation and maintenance. We cut the number of components by more than 40% while improving power density and durability. Each new bus we deploy also creates a long tail of service opportunities. Buses stay …
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