Westport Fuel Systems Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
August 12, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Cespira revenue grew 125% year over year in Q2, with product, aftermarket, and service revenue all increasing; its net loss improved 65% to $2.4 million and management remains confident in reaching break-even in 2027.
  • Positive Sentiment: Cespira and Volvo signed a customer-funded agreement to develop a hydrogen fuel engine, expanding HPDI’s potential beyond LNG and renewable natural gas without requiring Westport to fund the development directly.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management expects high-pressure controls production in Canada and China to ramp during the second half after equipment relocation and facility certification, with backlog demand and plans to meet or exceed full-year volume targets.
  • Negative Sentiment: High-pressure controls revenue declined to $2.7 million from $2.9 million year over year, while gross margin remained low at 5%; management also acknowledged that the hydrogen market is growing more slowly than anticipated.
  • Negative Sentiment: Westport raised approximately $10 million in June, but the transaction included warrants that may dilute shareholders and are recorded as liabilities subject to fair-value changes; cash declined slightly to $23.9 million despite the financing.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Westport Fuel Systems Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Westport's second quarter 2026 conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please be advised today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to speaker today, Ashley Nuell. Please go ahead.

Ashley Nuell
Ashley Nuell
VP of Investor Relations at Westport

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Westport Fuel Systems conference call regarding its second quarter 2026 financial and operational results. This call is being held to coincide with the press release containing Westport's financial results issued yesterday after markets closed. On today's call, speaking on behalf of Westport will be Chief Executive Officer and Director, Dan Sceli, and Chief Financial Officer, Elizabeth Owens. Attendance on this call is open to the public, but questions will be restricted to the investment community. You are reminded that certain statements made on this conference call and our responses to certain questions may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. and applicable Canadian securities laws.

Ashley Nuell
Ashley Nuell
VP of Investor Relations at Westport

Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Please refer to Westport's filings for a more complete discussion of these risks. Before I turn the call over to Dan, I wanted to highlight that since our first quarter release in May, Westport has continued to advance several important corporate and commercial priorities, including Cespira's hydrogen development agreement with Volvo and the completion of the $10 million offering and concurrent private placement. With that, I will turn the call over to you, Dan.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Thank you, Ashley, and good morning, everyone. Q2 was an important quarter for Westport. We continued to execute against our strategy of focusing the business around high impact, scalable clean transportation solutions where our technology can deliver meaningful economic and emissions benefits without compromising performance. The quarter was also marked by important developments that strengthen our platform for future growth. First, Cespira, our joint venture with Volvo Group, signed an agreement with Volvo Group to complete development of a hydrogen fuel engine. This is an important milestone because it reinforces the relevance of HPDI technology across multiple low carbon fuels, including hydrogen, natural gas and renewable natural gas.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

It also further validates the role of internal combustion engine technology as part of the practical pathway to decarbonizing heavy-duty transport. Second, we completed a $10 million offering in June. This financing provided additional working capital to support our ongoing operations and strategic priorities as we continue to advance the business. We recognize the importance of managing capital carefully, and we remain focused on balancing investment and growth opportunities with continued financial discipline. Operationally, the quarter continued to reinforce the strategic value of our core platforms.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

At Cespira, we remain encouraged by the commercial momentum we are seeing in LNG-powered heavy-duty trucks and by the broader market context supporting adoption. The Q1 results showed strong year-over-year revenue growth, and in Q2, we continued building on that foundation through development work, customer engagement, and the hydrogen engine development agreement with Volvo. We have consistently indicated that 2027 would be the break-even year for Cespira, and the results we are seeing continue to build credibility behind that expectation.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Since inception, Cespira has delivered quarter-over-quarter revenue growth, with growth delivered in Q2 being particularly significant. That momentum, combined with continued operating leverage as volume scale, reinforces our confidence that Cespira is progressing toward the financial profile we have been targeting for next year. The message is clear. Cespira is not a single fuel opportunity. It is a platform that can support multiple lower carbon pathways for heavy duty transport while preserving the power, range, and reliability fleets require. The volume growth we are seeing is being supported by a more resilient commercial backdrop for LNG heavy duty trucking. Despite ongoing geopolitical tensions, the price differential between LNG and diesel has continued to show consistency, reinforcing the economic case for fleets evaluating lower carbon alternatives that can also support operating cost discipline.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

At the same time, recent regulatory developments in the European Union are increasing the strategic value of emissions-reducing technologies. OEMs are now able to generate additional CO2 credits in the years leading up to 2030, which may help with the compliance from 2030 onward. That creates a stronger incentive for earlier deployment of lower emission heavy duty technologies such as HPDI, where reduced emissions can translate into avoided compliance costs and potential emission credit value. In North America, our high-pressure CNG fuel system remains an important area of focus. Following our ACT Expo showcase, we continued to build awareness around a solution designed to deliver diesel-like performance with lower fuel cost potential and reduced emissions.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Over the last couple of months, we have had the opportunity to demonstrate our truck to several fleets at our Vancouver facility, giving them the opportunity to put a driver into the truck. The level of engagement we are seeing and the feedback we are receiving reinforcing that fleets are looking for practical alternatives that can work within existing operating realities rather than requiring a wholesale change in how they run the business. Our high pressure controls business also remains a key part of Westport's value proposition. With production underway at our expanded Cambridge, Ontario facility and at GFI's China Hydrogen Innovation Center and Manufacturing facility in Changzhou, China, we continue to believe this business is well-positioned to serve growing demand across hydrogen, natural gas, and industrial applications. With that, I'll ask Elizabeth to walk through the financial results in more detail. Elizabeth, over to you.

Elizabeth Owens
Elizabeth Owens
CFO at Westport

Thank you, Dan. Our second quarter financial results have demonstrated meaningful progress. From a capital perspective, the June financing strengthened our near-term liquidity profile. Westport closed the sale of 1.6 million common shares and 3.3 million pre-funded warrants in a registered direct offering, together with private placement warrants to purchase up to 4.8 million common shares. The combined effective purchase price was $2.06 per common share or pre-funded warrant and associated private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds of approximately $10 million before fees and expenses. The offering proceeds are intended for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Elizabeth Owens
Elizabeth Owens
CFO at Westport

In addition, if the private placement warrants are exercised in full for cash, Westport would receive additional gross proceeds of approximately $10 million. Although the timing and likelihood of any exercise cannot be predicted. From an accounting perspective, the warrants contain settlement features that require us to account for these warrants as liabilities rather than equity. These liabilities will be remeasured to fair value at each reporting date, with changes recorded through earnings until the warrants are exercised or expire. As at the end of June, our cash and cash equivalents position stood at $23.9 million, compared to $24.5 million at March 31st, 2026.

Elizabeth Owens
Elizabeth Owens
CFO at Westport

The slight net decrease in cash was primarily driven by our operating losses, including certain one-time costs relating to the financing activities and to our cyber incident in Q1, and by the funding of the Cespira JV and debt repayment. This was offset by proceeds from the financing transaction. In the quarter, our capital contributions to Cespira decreased to $3.5 million in the current quarter compared to Q2 2025, reflecting the improvement of Cespira's financial performance.

Elizabeth Owens
Elizabeth Owens
CFO at Westport

We anticipate this number will continue to decrease in the coming year as Cespira continues to drive volume growth. We also paid $1.0 million in debt repayments to EDC and will make our final debt repayment in Q3. Turning to our operating segments, Q2 2026 revenue for our High-Pressure Controls business was $2.7 million, compared with $2.9 million for Q2 2025. The decrease in revenue was primarily driven by lower sales volume in the quarter. That said, at the end of the quarter, we did see a backlog of demand from customers that are waiting to be fulfilled as we continue to improve the production output from our two main manufacturing plants in Canada and China. Gross profit was $0.1 million or 5% of revenue, similar to what we saw in Q2 2025.

Elizabeth Owens
Elizabeth Owens
CFO at Westport

We anticipate that as the manufacturing plants in Canada and China continue to work on localizing its supply chain and improving its manufacturing processes and output, gross profit and margin will improve. Since Cespira's beginning, we have driven quarter-over-quarter revenue growth, with Q2 2026 being the strongest at 125% as compared to Q2 2025. The broader strategic direction remains consistent with what we outlined in Q1. Cespira is benefiting from demand for practical, lower carbon, heavy-duty solutions. The hydrogen development agreement signed during the quarter, along with the work completed by the second OEM, all add important technology pathways to the existing LNG and renewable natural gas opportunity.

Elizabeth Owens
Elizabeth Owens
CFO at Westport

Product revenue was up 127% to $18.9 million, compared to $8.3 million in Q2 2025. As Dan mentioned, Cespira's growth is influenced by the favorable price differential between diesel and natural gas and government regulation support in markets like Europe. Aftermarket revenue was $5.5 million compared to $2.6 million, also driven by the increase in sales volumes. Service revenue was $2.6 million compared to $1 million in Q2 of 2025, primarily driven by the milestones achieved. Service revenue allocated to project milestones are weighted differently across the phases of an engineering service revenue project.

Elizabeth Owens
Elizabeth Owens
CFO at Westport

One of Cespira's significant long-term engineering service revenue projects is expected to complete in Q4 2026 in advance of the anticipated launch of their Euro 7 product. Gross profit was $3.8 million compared to gross loss of $1.9 million in Q2 2025. Cespira had a net loss of $2.4 million, a 65% improvement over the $6.7 million in Q2 2025 as they meaningfully increased product revenue and lowered their cost base and continued to grow and scale the business. Year-to-date, we have seen our capital contributions to Cespira decrease, a trend that we see continuing, as Dan mentioned, as they move towards an expected break-even next year. With that, I will pass the call back to Dan.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Thank you, Elizabeth. As we look ahead, Westport is focused on disciplined execution. The development since our Q1 release reinforced the progress we are making across the business. Cespira continues to advance its historic performance in heavy decarbonization. The hydrogen engine development agreement with Volvo is a statement of the rest of HPDI technology. Our high-pressure CNG solution is gaining visibility in North America, and the June financing provided additional flexibility to continue advancing our priorities. We are operating in a market where customers are not looking for theory. They are looking for solutions that can reduce emissions, lower operating costs, and maintain the performance they need today.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

That is where Westport is focused. We believe our technologies are well-aligned with the realities of commercial transportation and industrial applications, and we are committed to translating that alignment into commercial traction, improved financial performance, and long-term shareholder value. Thank you for your time today, and we appreciate your continued interest in Westport, and we will now open the call for questions.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have a question or comment at this time, please press star one one on your telephone. If your question has been answered and you wish to remove yourself from the queue, please press star one one again. We will pause for a moment while we compile our Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Amit Dayal with H.C. Wainwright. Your line is open.

Amit Dayal
Amit Dayal
Analyst at H.C. Wainwright

Thank you. Good morning, guys.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Hey, good morning.

Amit Dayal
Amit Dayal
Analyst at H.C. Wainwright

Hey, Dan. Good to see Cespira coming through in a strong way for you guys. Can you maybe give us a little bit more color on what are some of the tactical drivers? I know it is a practical solution, it is available. But in terms of any specific sales efforts or customer wins, is there anything that is supporting this trend, and how should we think about future growth for Cespira?

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Sure. I'll break the market for the current LNG system into two chunks. You've got the European Union and then you've got the other countries around the world. The European market is moving forward with its emission credit system with their new mandates. The trucking companies and OEMs and the fleets are all looking for ways to meet the new requirements that are coming up. Euro 7 is a big part of that for the new engine from Volvo with our HPDI 3.0. I think that we're going to see more and more of this increased growth. The market is finding that it's no longer a question of the technology. The technology is proven, it's reliable, and the market's accepting the benefits that come with that.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Now what we're seeing is the economic solutions are also becoming very prevalent and giving us the growth that we've been looking for and we knew would come. We think it's going to continue. Outside of the European Union, Volvo is moving and creating beachheads in South America and India. We're in 37 countries now, over 12,000 trucks on the road. That adoption is going to continue to grow rapidly, not just in Europe, but in those other global countries. Then of course, our plan to bring HPDI to North America is mission critical as well. That we're bringing a new storage system, a CNG system that will allow HPDI to run in North America. For us, it's very exciting to see this significant growth.

Amit Dayal
Amit Dayal
Analyst at H.C. Wainwright

Yes, I understand. Thank you for that, Dan. Just to follow up on the HPDI hydrogen efforts between Cespira and Volvo. There is no sort of requirement for Westport to maybe fund any of this, right? This is just going to be between Cespira and Volvo, and they are going to figure out how to fund this effort, how to bring that to market?

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Well, it's a development contract that Volvo is funding the development of the HPDI system for hydrogen. So, it is a customer-funded development program.

Amit Dayal
Amit Dayal
Analyst at H.C. Wainwright

Okay. Understood. That's all I have. I'll get back in queue, guys. Thank you so much.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

All right, great. Thanks, Amit.

Operator

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Eric Stine with Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Your line is open.

Eric Stine
Eric Stine
Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group

Good morning, everyone.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Hey, good morning, Eric. How are you?

Eric Stine
Eric Stine
Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group

Doing well. You?

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Doing all right.

Eric Stine
Eric Stine
Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group

Good. Maybe I'll just start with the High-Pressure segment. You alluded to some, I guess, unfulfilled demand as your two locations, Canada and China, ramp up. I'm just curious, is this kind of just the typical ramp up now that your equipment has been moved to both locations, or is there something else that's maybe limiting that and visibility that that's a near-term impact?

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Yeah. It is a bit of a combination. The time we had to shut down, pick up the equipment, move it from Europe to both Canada and China, install the equipment, get the facilities certified, and then up and running, that is the primary issue. It is typical transferring of capital equipment. Then obviously launching it, training people on this equipment and getting them hitting volume. So we are seeing a very typical changeover impact that has left us a bit behind on volume.

Eric Stine
Eric Stine
Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group

Is this something, once that is rectified in both locations that it means there is some upside to these numbers? This quarter is the highest High-Pressure revenue you have had in, I guess, four. Just curious, do you view that Q2 is limited in a big way on the top line or how should we think about that?

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Well, yeah, I think, Q1, Q2 were the transition periods. As we go into Q3 and Q4, it is just ramping up volume, meeting the various customer demands. I do not think we have any more roadblocks or bottlenecks that way of hitting the volumes that are in the plan.

Eric Stine
Eric Stine
Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group

Got it. Okay, and then just on Cespira, you mentioned that 2027 is when you are targeting break even. I know you have now had two consecutive quarters of positive gross margin in that joint venture. Just curious how we should think about that and once you do get to break even, curious what that does or could you remind us what that does in terms of reducing your capital contribution to the joint venture?

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Yeah. The moment they flip over to break even and do not need cash contributions, that is a huge step in the right direction for both Westport and Volvo. As we said in the talk, volumes are up 125% over the same period last year. It is fantastic. We could see that continued strong growth in all 37 countries that are buying the system today. With Volvo launching the new Euro 7 engine, which is a much improved engine, they have done a fantastic job on that engine from all aspects, combined with our new HPDI 3.0, we think that the market pull is going to be even stronger.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

We are very excited that we are crossing over that period. We figured it would be three or four years before we could get there, and with the volumes, we are getting there sooner than we thought. We are pretty happy about it. We think it is going to continue. Now it is a question of getting the HPDI system into North America and adding volume to that.

Eric Stine
Eric Stine
Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group

Yep. Just to be clear, the contributions to the joint venture, those are not necessarily dictated over a period of time. That is really dictated by getting to that break-even mark, and then once that is done, by and large, those contributions end?

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Yeah. It is really a cash need. It was not any fixed numbers that were written into the agreement. It was a case of year-by-year, quarter-by-quarter evaluating the cash needs of the business. Recall that to start the business up back in 2024, to be a certified Tier 1, we needed a fully built-out company. All disciplines, all certifications. From day one, we had the full overhead cost, and as volumes go up, that is in place. We do not have to add more of that. We are going to continue to take advantage of that volume and we will not have the cash calls as we have seen for the last two and a half years.

Eric Stine
Eric Stine
Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group

Okay. Thank you very much.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

All right. Take care, Eric.

Operator

I am not showing any further questions at this time. I would like to turn the call back to Dan for any further remarks.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Well, I would like to thank everybody for joining today. I hope you find our-

Operator

Pardon me, Dan. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. We just did have someone queue up. Did you want to go and take the question?

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Sure. Absolutely.

Operator

Sure. One moment. Our next question comes from Chris Dendrinos with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Chris Dendrinos
Chris Dendrinos
Analyst at RBC Capital Markets

Hi. Yeah, thanks for fitting me in. I apologize.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

No worries, Chris. No worries.

Chris Dendrinos
Chris Dendrinos
Analyst at RBC Capital Markets

I missed it. Maybe just to start here and follow up on a couple of the prior questions. Following on the Cespira commentary here, and you mentioned some additional work with that second potential OEM customer. Can you just expand on that a little bit, where you all are at with them and possible timing related to, I guess call it additional milestones or additional advancements in that agreement?

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Yep. So that second OEM did the original, I think it was a 200-truck trial. We are at the stage now where they are planning out the second phase of their field trials, which would be much larger than the original field trial. We are imminently awaiting to hear their planning for that. It is probably going to be another month at least before we hear what their next phase is. What we have heard so far is that Phase 1, the initial field trials went extremely well.

Chris Dendrinos
Chris Dendrinos
Analyst at RBC Capital Markets

Got it. Thank you. Maybe just to follow up on Eric's question in regards to the high-pressure systems, I am trying to nail you down on something here.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Yeah.

Chris Dendrinos
Chris Dendrinos
Analyst at RBC Capital Markets

if you all weren't call it bottlenecked on the manufacturing side of things, would you anticipate revenue growth in the back half of this year? Thanks.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

I think that the revenue growth is going to come. As I said, we lost about six months in picking up the equipment, moving it, installing it, getting the facilities recertified to the industrial and automotive standards. There's still a bit of backlog that we're filling. The market itself, the hydrogen market itself is not growing at the rate we thought it would a year ago. I think we've all acknowledged that. I think that we're going to see specifically in China as the government continues to push for the rapid growth of hydrogen across their mobility markets, we're going to see some volume increases. In North America and Europe, I think we're going to get right back to plan and we expect to beat our plan this year on volume.

Chris Dendrinos
Chris Dendrinos
Analyst at RBC Capital Markets

Got it. Thank you very much.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

All right.

Operator

That was our last question. Back to you, Dan.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

All right. Well, thank you everybody for joining the call. I hope you leave as excited as we are about the growing business for Cespira. It's finally coming to where we all thought it would. Have a great day. Thank you.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's presentation. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect and have a wonderful day.

Dan Sceli
Dan Sceli
CEO at Westport

Thank you.

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