Dragonfly Energy Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:DFLI) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Dragonfly Energy Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:DFLI) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript May 14, 2026

Dragonfly Energy Holdings Corp. misses on earnings expectations. Reported EPS is $-0.64 EPS, expectations were $-0.52.

Operator: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to Dragonfly Energy’s First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. I will now hand the conference over to Szymon Serowiecki. Please go ahead.

Szymon Serowiecki: Thank you, operator. We appreciate you joining us for today’s call. Joining me here today, Dr. Denis Phares, Dragonfly Energy’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Wade Seaburg, Chief Commercial Officer. Before I turn the call over to Denis, I’d like to make a brief statement regarding forward-looking remarks. During this call, the company will be making forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 based on current expectations. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Actual results may differ due to factors noted in the press release and in periodic SEC filings. Management will reference some non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliation to the nearest corresponding GAAP measure can be found in today’s release on the company’s website. Please note that all comparisons will be discussed today are on a year-over-year basis unless otherwise noted. I’ll now turn the call over to Denis.

Denis Phares: Thank you, Szymon, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. First quarter results came in above guidance on both net sales and adjusted EBITDA and reflected a softer RV environment as expected. The RV market continues to navigate meaningful headwinds with industry shipments and recent retail sales data down year-over-year. While the broader market remains soft, we continue to see healthy adoption trends within our OEM partnerships, driven by both expanded integration across additional model lineups and increased energy storage content within existing platforms. We are encouraged by signs of stabilization in the RV market as we move into the second quarter as well as the strong momentum we are seeing in our heavy-duty trucking business.

After several years of building our presence in trucking, we are now beginning to see that work translate into meaningful revenue. Following our quarter end, Stevens Transport, one of the largest temperature-controlled freight carriers in North America, placed our largest trucking purchase order to date valued at over $3 million, covering nearly 500 trucks. Deliveries are expected to begin in the second quarter and continue to ramp through 2026. Stevens has been a partner since 2024 when we began deploying our all-electric APU across a portion of their fleet for validation testing. We believe the results of that pilot program gave Stevens the confidence to commit to transitioning their entire fleet of 2,500 trucks to our platform, and this purchase order marks the beginning of that broader commitment.

Importantly, the order spans our full heavy-duty trucking product portfolio, reflecting the expansion of our relationship beyond the initial deployment, a trend we are seeing more broadly as fleets transition from pilots to fleet-wide multisystem implementation. Wade will discuss the heavy-duty trucking environment in more detail, but I would note that the backdrop for our trucking business has shifted meaningfully over the past several months, and we believe we are well positioned to build on this momentum throughout the year. Turning to our cost structure. As we noted on our fourth quarter call, we implemented a series of decisive actions to align our cost structure with key growth opportunities while also ensuring that incentives across the organization remain closely aligned with long-term shareholder value.

This included reductions in marketing spend, primarily in DTC-focused channels, targeted workforce reductions and compensation adjustments at the leadership level, where members of the executive team and Board agreed to reduce cash compensation by approximately 20% with that portion converted to equity-based incentives, again, with the goal of directly aligning the interest of our leadership team with those of long-term shareholders. Since implementing these actions in March, we have realized approximately $4.5 million in annualized expense reduction on an adjusted basis. We also expect an additional $4 million in annualized expense reduction from the consolidation of rental space, which is expected to be finalized in the second quarter. Collectively, these actions are expected to drive an annualized adjusted EBITDA improvement of approximately $9 million.

Following these actions, we believe Dragonfly is now appropriately sized while still retaining the resources necessary to support growth as our business continues to scale. Moving on to the technology and IP side. In April, we received our first patent allowance from the Japan Patent Office for our powderized solid-state electrolyte and electroactive materials application. This milestone strengthens our global intellectual property portfolio, which includes nearly 90 issued or pending patents across battery technology, system integration capabilities and proprietary software. While our top priority remains getting back to profitability, we continue to advance our dry electrode and solid-state programs, which we believe represent a significant long-term opportunity for Dragonfly.

We have developed a significant amount of valuable IP over the years that we look to appropriately leverage through organic development, partnerships, joint ventures and similar structures. Alongside this progress, we continue to invest in our domestic manufacturing capabilities. Earlier this month, we were selected for a second round of Nevada Tech Hub funding, a $527,000 nondilutive award that will support the expansion of our in-house cylindrical cell prototyping and testing capabilities. The project is expected to run through Q2 2027, and receiving this award for a second consecutive cycle reflects the program’s confidence in our domestic battery manufacturing road map. With that, I’d like to turn the call over to Wade to discuss our commercial markets in more detail.

Wade Seaburg: Thank you, Denis. I’d like to discuss the progress we are seeing across our commercial markets with a particular focus on heavy-duty trucking, where rising diesel prices and an accelerating fleet replacement cycle are strengthening the ROI case for our solutions in real time. Fleets have been operating through an extended freight recession with capital spending constrained across the industry. Against that backdrop, the Stevens Transport order is particularly meaningful. It reflects a customer who evaluated our technology under pressure and chose to commit to transitioning their entire 2,500 truck fleet to our platform. Following the Werner order in the fourth quarter, Stevens has now placed a purchase order spanning nearly 500 trucks with delivery scheduled throughout 2026.

The scope of the order is worth noting as it spans our full heavy-duty trucking product portfolio, the dual flow power pack, the all-electric APU and inverter. The deployment is also expected to span 4 different OEM chassis, including trucks equipped with our 24-volt dual flow power pack. Together, these products address the full range of a truck’s needs during the rest period. The dual flow supports starter battery health and reduces idle-related strain. The all-electric APU eliminates engine idling by powering in-cab hotel loads, HVAC, climate control and onboard appliances without running the engine. And the inverter delivers clean, stable AC power for onboard electronics and appliances. Our ability to deliver fully integrated solutions differentiates our platform, reinforces our position as a complete energy solutions provider in this market and increases our revenue opportunity per truck.

The timing of the Stevens order is also worth noting given the broader economic environment. Diesel prices have increased significantly since the beginning of the year, which has had a meaningful impact on the ROI equation for fleet operators evaluating our solutions. Based on our internal fleet modeling, the dual-flow power pack was delivering a payback period of just over 1 year at prior diesel prices. In the current pricing environment, the payback period is under 10 months with similar improvements across our all-electric APU. Compounding this dynamic is the 2027 engine transition as many carriers are prebuying 2026 trucks in anticipation of higher prices when the new NOx compliant engines come to market. These next-generation engines are showing higher idle rates as they need to operate at elevated temperatures to process emissions effectively, leading to increased fuel consumption and engine wear during rest periods.

They are also expected to be meaningfully more expensive, further strengthening the economics for our idle reduction solutions. With these converging factors, we believe the outlook for the balance of the year is increasingly favorable. Fleet capital spending is beginning to recover and the fleets that deferred equipment purchases through the downturn are now moving. We are engaging in meaningful conversations and seeing encouraging progression as fleets advance through their evaluation phases. We have spent the last few years validating our technology and establishing our credibility across industry. Now we are seeing that work start to translate into the commercial momentum we have been building toward. Turning to the RV market. The overall environment remained soft in the first quarter with recent industry data showing March new RV retail sales down more than 20% year-over-year, while wholesale shipments also declined year-over-year.

Against that backdrop, we remain well positioned and continue to see healthy adoption trends within our OEM partnerships. Importantly, that growth is coming not only from broader inclusion across additional model lineups, but also from increased energy storage content within select existing models as OEMs look to deliver more capable power systems to their customers. We are in active discussions with existing OEM partners on expanding our energy storage solutions to additional model lineups and increasing battery capacity within select current platforms, and we expect to provide further updates as those conversations progress. Across both markets, we entered the second quarter with improving momentum with trucking accelerating from a strong commercial foundation and RV positioned to benefit as end market conditions improve.

With that, I’ll turn the call back to Denis.

Denis Phares: Thank you, Wade. Turning now to our first quarter financial results. Net sales were $9.7 million, including $5.8 million in OEM net sales and $3.7 million in DTC net sales, reflecting the softer demand environment in the RV market. Gross margin was 17.6%, reflecting lower volumes. We expect meaningful improvement in Q2 as trucking revenue scales and fixed cost absorption improves. Operating expenses totaled $7.4 million compared to $9.8 million, primarily driven by our targeted cost reduction measures. Net loss attributable to common shareholders was $7.7 million or $0.64 per diluted share, and adjusted EBITDA was negative $4.6 million. Looking ahead to the second quarter, we expect net sales of approximately $13.2 million, representing sequential growth of 36% as we begin to realize meaningful trucking revenue.

For adjusted EBITDA, we anticipate a loss of approximately $1.9 million, representing a sequential improvement of $2.7 million, reflecting a higher revenue run rate and the cost actions we implemented in Q1 flowing through the business. We continue to target positive adjusted EBITDA at an annualized net sales run rate of approximately $70 million. With a more efficient cost structure in place and commercial momentum building across both our trucking and RV businesses, we believe we are well positioned to reach this target and deliver long-term value for our shareholders. We view 2026 as a pivotal year for Dragonfly. Over the past year, we have both greatly improved our capital structure and reduced our cost base. Importantly, our Board and executive team now operate under a compensation structure weighted toward equity, closely aligning their interest with those of our long-term shareholders.

We are also beginning to see the tangible benefits from our investments in the trucking market with material commercial orders and believe our momentum in the market will continue to increase as other carriers and OEMs follow suite, especially against the backdrop of higher fuel prices. With a stronger balance sheet, a leaner cost structure and accelerating commercial traction in trucking, we believe Dragonfly Energy is strongly positioned to capitalize on the opportunities in front of us. We look forward to seeing many of you at upcoming meetings and conferences. In closing, I would like to thank our employees, customers and stockholders for their continued support of Dragonfly Energy. Operator, we would like to open the call for questions.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Chip Moore with ROTH.

Alfred Moore: So nice to see this commercial momentum on the trucking side. Wondering maybe if you could expand a bit on — I think you — Wade, you talked about some of the efforts there and conversations you’ve been having. But any way to help think about the pipeline of opportunities similar to the order you outlined, what’s the addressable opportunity? And how far are some of those conversations?

Q&A Session

Wade Seaburg: Yes. The pipeline is really strong, Chip. Thanks for the question. We’ve been, for the last 3 years since we’ve entered this market, we’ve been iterating product solutions and lining that up with OEMs and a lot of fleet trials that are happening in the marketplace over the last 3 years. And a percentage of those fleets have now started to order trucks. I mean just I saw on transport topics yesterday that truck orders are up 200% again. I think the second straight month has been up triple digits. So you’re seeing it at the OEM level where fleets are starting to now order trucks again. And as they’re ordering those trucks, they’re taking into account all of the technologies that they’ve been testing over that time.

This is one of the reasons why on the previous call, we talked about Werner announcements that we had at the end of last year. And that announcement was significant because at the time, they weren’t spending any money on really anything. So to be able to get them to spend capital on technology at that point was a real significant marker for us within the heavy-duty truck market. So as far as total addressable market, they’re building 250,000 trucks every single year and about half of those have sleeper cabs and need some sort of driver comfort feature. So the overall market is really strong for the solutions that we’re putting out there.

Alfred Moore: That’s great. That’s helpful, Wade. And maybe for my follow-up, maybe Denis, around dry electrode and solid state, obviously, capital being a priority and preserving the balance sheet. But any updates there or anything capital light or anything else being explored around those assets?

Denis Phares: Yes. I mean we’re still obviously, the top priority, as I mentioned, is revenue cost structure and getting back to profitability. But we do have some, obviously, minimal spend to maximize what we can do in terms of developing the dry electrode, the solid state, continuing the development of IP. So what we’re doing really just in the background, we’re developing partnerships. We have interested parties, obviously, in what we’re doing. It’s a tricky time in terms of batteries. It’s — what’s happening outside of China is becoming more and more difficult. So having technology is very important, and it’s not lost on anyone trying to do something domestically. So we continue to develop the supply chain to develop the partnerships, and we look forward to being able to announce something really meaningful in the future here.

Operator: [Operator Instructions]. There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Denis Phares for closing remarks.

Denis Phares: Thank you all for joining us today. We look forward to sharing more updates with you in the coming quarters.

Operator: This concludes today’s call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.