Westport Fuel Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:WPRT) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Westport Fuel Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:WPRT) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript May 15, 2026

Operator: Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Westport’s Q1 2026 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Ashley Nuell. Please go ahead.

Ashley Nuell: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Westport’s conference call regarding the first quarter 2026 financial and operational results. This call is being held to coincide with the press release containing our financial results that was issued yesterday after market close. On today’s call, speaking on behalf of Westport will be our Chief Executive Officer and Director, Daniel Sceli; and our Chief Financial Officer, Elizabeth Owens. Attendance on this call is open to the public, but questions will be restricted to the analyst community. You are reminded that certain statements made on the conference call and our responses to certain — may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. and applicable Canadian securities laws, and as such, forward-looking statements are made based on our current expectations and involve certain risks and uncertainties. With that, I will turn the call over to you, Dan.

Daniel Sceli: Thank you, Ashley, and good morning, everyone. I’ll turn to our financial results. Cespira’s momentum continues to build with revenue up 33% year-over-year in the first quarter that growth is increasingly material to Westport reflecting stronger volumes, broader market adoption of HPDI and progress with the a second OEM. Importantly, we expect this momentum to continue through 2026, supported by favorable fuel economics, tightening emissions regulations and growing OEM and fleet interest in practical low-carbon solutions. The significance for our investors is not only top line growth, but the financial read-through, as Cespira continues to scale and improve operating performance, we expect our funding requirements for the joint venture to continue to decline.

That creates a more direct link between commercial execution at Cespira and improved capital efficiency at Westport. The broader market backdrop also remains supportive Volvo Trucks recently announced it has delivered more than 10,000 gas-powered trucks globally highlighting growing adoption in key European markets. While cognitive market research projects the European LNG heavy truck market to grow at 12.5%, growth rate through [ 2031 ]. Together, those indicators reinforce our view that Cespira is participating in a market with both near-term momentum and multiyear growth potential. Our high-pressure controls business has also reflected improved results in Q1 2026 with a 21% increase in revenue compared with the same period last year. What makes it truly meaningful is how we delivered it.

Our brand GFI Control Systems provides critical components that make this system viable, while AFS ensures that the technologies come together as a complete real-world solution, enabling the performance, reliability and control our customers expect. Adding to this result, we commenced production at the expanded product development and manufacturing facility in Cambridge, Ontario and GFI’s new China Hydrogen Innovation Center and manufacturing facility in Zhangzhou, China. With production underway at all facilities, combined with strong demand from large industrial companies, we remain optimistic about its performance this year, building off this strong start. Moving on to some recent excitement at the ACT Conference in Las Vegas. I believe it provides some key insights into our experience.

Getting this truck to Las Vegas on time, show ready and performing was a complex, high-pressure effort and the fact that we delivered speaks volumes. At ACT, from the moment the show floor opened, we saw strong interest, other exhibitors, fleets and OEMs stopping to take a closer look and excited by what they saw because this is not a concept. It’s a fully integrated platform that proves we can deliver diesel performance with cleaner, more cost-effective fuel today. A focus team brought this to life, but their success reflects something bigger, our ability to execute, to integrate and to lead. As we showcased this platform, we demonstrated what sets us apart, not just innovation but the ability to bring it to market where it matters most and fleets and OEMs are starting to notice.

It was clear from the volume of interactions this year compared to previous years that this is an exciting time for Westport. We are making clear steps forward in expanding our technology reach. What we see growing demand for high-performance, lower emission alternatives. The conference success was a clear signal that we are advancing our high-pressure CNG storage solution into a North American market with real momentum, positioning Westport to capture long-term growth opportunities in the global heavy-duty transportation market. Now I’ll have Elizabeth run through some financial details, and then we’ll come back. Elizabeth?

Elizabeth Owens: Thank you, Dan, and good morning, everyone. I’ll highlight a few key milestones that Westport has achieved the first of which remains our strong cash position through the first quarter of 2026. As of March 31, 2026, our cash and cash equivalents position stood at $24.5 million compared to $27.2 million at December 31, 2025. Net cash used in operating activities from continuing operations was $3.4 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 compared to $8.6 million in the prior year an improvement of $5.2 million as a result of changes in working capital. Our capital contributions to the Cespira joint venture decreased from $4.7 million in the first quarter of 2025 to $2.9 million in Q1 of 2026, reflective of the improvement of Cespira’s financial performance.

Our total outstanding debt sits at $1.9 million, a reduction of $1 million from the $2.9 million reported at year-end 2025. This debt will be retired in the third quarter of 2026. Our High-Pressure Controls business segment saw meaningful growth with revenue for Q1 2026, increasing 21% to $2.3 million from $1.9 million reported in Q1 2025. Higher year-over-year sales volumes drove the revenue increase with gross profit of $0.5 million, consistent with the prior period. As Dan highlighted, Cespira’s revenue growth is accelerating as we enter 2026. In Q1 2026, total revenue generated was $22.2 million compared to $16.7 million in the same period last year, representing an increase of 33%, driven by higher sales volumes. Cespira product revenue of $19.5 million increased 48%, compared to $13.2 million in Q1 2025.

Cespira gross profit improved to $1.6 million compared to $0.4 million one year ago. Gross margin improved in Q1 2026 to 7% from 3% in Q1 2025. Cespira also significantly improved the bottom line with a net loss in Q1 2026 of $2.5 million, a 65% reduction from the $7.1 million net loss reported in the prior year quarter. This progress is supported by strong market adoption, including Volvo, reaching the milestone of more than 10,000 natural gas trucks on the road equipped with Cespira’s HPDI fuel system. We are also encouraged by the continued progress of a second OEM that is currently conducting truck trials, and we’re excited about the opportunities ahead as we target an improvement in Cespira’s capital requirements. With that, I’ll pass the call back to Dan.

Daniel Sceli: Thank you, Elizabeth. We are operating [indiscernible] continues to strengthen. We are seeing solid year-over-year growth in our Cespira joint venture with Volvo Group supported by increasing demand for LNG-powered heavy-duty trucks in Europe and other parts of the world and favorable fuel economics that are driving adoption. At the same time, tightening emissions regulations and the need for practical lower emission solutions are reinforcing the role of technologies like ours in the transition of the Heavy-Duty sector. Against this backdrop, Westport is well positioned to capitalize on these trends. Cespira’s HPDI fuel system technology [indiscernible] performance with lower emissions, and we are seeing growing validation through increased volumes with both Volvo and an additional OEM undergoing testing as we speak.

The momentum we demonstrated at ACT Expo highlights our ability to bring fully integrated solutions to market, and we are now focused on execution, scaling commercial volumes, advancing our high-pressure CNG solutions into North America and expanding into new regions and applications. Together, these efforts position us to build meaningful scale and capture long-term growth opportunities across the global heavy-duty transportation market. Thank you. That concludes the discussion.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] And our first question will come from the line of Eric Stine of Craig-Hallum Capital Group.

Q&A Session

Eric Stine: Maybe just starting with Cespira. So the second truck trial, I mean, it does — I know we just connected, what, a couple of weeks ago but it does feel like you’re given a more optimistic tone about that trial. So curious, am I reading that right? And with that in mind, can you remind us of next steps for that or the time line we should look for over the remainder of ’26 and into ’27?

Daniel Sceli: Sure. Yes. I do feel more optimistic. I mean the truck trial is going really well. So discussions and negotiations continue for the next phase of this, which is a higher volume. The initial truck trial, I think, was around 200 trucks. But moving on to larger volumes and commercializing this is the discussion that’s ongoing right now.

Eric Stine: Okay. And time line in terms of, I think, last time you said that you expected a decision and maybe it’s a decision as part of the negotiations you mentioned later this year. Does that still hold?

Daniel Sceli: It does. Yes, a determination on this project before year-end.

Eric Stine: Okay. And then maybe anything — you talked — you gave a lot of detail about Q4 and the end of ’25 in terms of some of the new markets that Volvo and Cespira seeing momentum on a global basis, obviously, North America, a big focus, but just curious, I mean, are there any other contributors to Q1 that are worth highlighting as awareness of that product expands?

Daniel Sceli: We do see beachheads opening up in India and Brazil. There’s already trucks in Peru and Chile. India and Brazil are 2 massive markets. And we’re seeing strong interest in those markets to move to alternative fuel. So we’re very excited about that opportunity coming to us.

Eric Stine: Got it. All right. Maybe last one for me. Just because of how things are trending with the joint venture and expectations that, that momentum continues. Can you just update us on maybe current thoughts on contributions needed to the joint venture here going forward?

Daniel Sceli: Yes. So obviously, you saw that we’ve been putting it, the contributions are going down [indiscernible] rate, simply because volumes are going up at a steady rate [indiscernible] product revenue alone [indiscernible]. And as we drove 2027 — mid-2027, [indiscernible] contribution reduced a lot more.

Eric Stine: Okay. You were cutting in and out there, but I guess I’ll take that, clarify some stuff offline.

Operator: And our next question will be coming from the line of Chris Dendrinos of RBC Capital Markets.

Christopher Dendrinos: I mean maybe just a follow up here a bit on Cespira here. A good quarter with some solid gross margin there. How are you thinking about gross margin for the remainder of the year? And I guess what I’m kind of curious about is you highlighted some deliveries to the test OEM. I’m curious what that volume looks like maybe for the rest of the year and how that’s playing out in terms of gross margin?

Daniel Sceli: Yes, sure. So I mean, as we’ve been talking about for the last few [ years ]. Cespira’s margins are going to continue to grow just in volume. We built out this business completely to be a Tier 1 to an automotive OEM like Volvo, you need to have a completely built-out and certified business. So that was day one, almost 2 years ago, all disciplines, all departments, full certifications in IATF, all of that. So the expense of building of the business was laid down. We’re now [indiscernible] forward in time [indiscernible].

Christopher Dendrinos: Got it. And then maybe just as a follow-up here, there is the service segment, and I think that project rolls off at the end of this year. Is there anything that would potentially come in and replace that?

Daniel Sceli: Yes. I mean that service is — this is really 2 [ major ] projects, HPDI 3.0, which is in conjunction with Volvo launching [indiscernible] at the end of this year. And it’s an advanced HPDI system. It’s an advanced Volvo engine. That’s the first part that we’ll be wrapping up. The second is we are still doing the development work for Volvo’s hydrogen project and they’ve recently announced the [indiscernible] road we are doing that development work over the next couple of years. So that service work is going to continue. We’re looking at additional service work, which engineering development work on a couple of other projects that we’re not allowed to talk about yet, as you can understand. And we can — we hope that we can [indiscernible].

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next question will be coming from the line of Rob Brown of Lake Street Capital Markets.

Robert Brown: Just kind of at a high level, what are the next steps in the North American market? You had good — kind of a good showing at the ACT Expo and good interest. What’s sort of the next steps in the North American market development?

Daniel Sceli: Yes. Rob, I got to tell you, it was more than successful. It was overwhelming. The excitement, the interest that we got at the ACT show we built out a truck, Volvo got us a truck and an engine. We built it out and drove it down from Vancouver to Las Vegas. The funny thing was we had a Chase card. The truck spent $280 on gas getting there more than the Chase — or less than the Chase card. And the interest is overwhelming. So there’s an awful lot of discussion right now between fleets, dealers and the OEM on what’s next. And certainly, we are planning to do more demos, fleet driven demos. There is planning to be done for the EPA certification to launch this. So that’s all activity that is picking up pace just coming out of the actual because of the interest from multiple fleets, multiple very large fleets. So we’re very excited.

Robert Brown: Okay. And then in the High-Pressure Controls business, you had a good step up in gross margin. I assume that has a lot to do with getting China production running. How is the gross margin trend in the controls business going forward?

Daniel Sceli: Yes, we expect down the road is the volume. It is a volume [indiscernible] to move that manufacturing equipment out of Italy and move it to between Cambridge and China. The China piece was really built out to focus on the China market only for localized cost, localized geopolitics. And of course, we’re going to be localizing some of the components. So we expect the margins to grow there, but we need the volume to pick up. There is still the pause in hydrogen. We’re hearing from the Chinese government that’s going to get pushed forward again. So the underlying product is a very, very [indiscernible] product that we can get good margins on what we need right now is volume, and that volume is starting to come. And we’re seeing [indiscernible] already this year. And one of [indiscernible] call earlier this week are going to [indiscernible]. And as that volume goes [indiscernible].

Operator: And I’m showing no further questions. I would now like to turn the call to Dan for closing remarks.

Daniel Sceli: Well, thank you for your time today. [indiscernible] We’re excited about where we’re headed [indiscernible].

Operator: And this concludes today’s conference. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.