Airgain Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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August 5, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Q2 revenue rose 19% sequentially to $13.7 million, with adjusted EBITDA turning positive at $0.4 million as operating expenses declined and revenue increased across all markets.
  • Positive Sentiment: AirgainConnect’s pipeline reached approximately 60 Tier 1 and Tier 2 opportunities, with more than half in trial or post-trial stages; the company secured five Tier 2 design wins and expects deployments to build over the next several quarters.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management raised its growth-platform outlook, citing scheduled U.S. Lighthouse trials, an international trial, continued enterprise IoT demand, and new opportunities in robotics, drones, and data-center monitoring, although Lighthouse is viewed primarily as a 2027 revenue opportunity.
  • Negative Sentiment: Consumer revenue is expected to decline sequentially in Q3 due to memory shortages, higher component costs, and shipping delays tied to FCC-related approvals, despite management characterizing underlying demand as intact.
  • Positive Sentiment: Q3 guidance calls for revenue of $14.25 million to $16.25 million, positive adjusted EBITDA of approximately $0.7 million, and non-GAAP EPS of $0.04 at the midpoint, implying continued sequential growth and improved profitability.
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Earnings Conference Call
Airgain Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Good afternoon. Welcome to Airgain's second quarter 2026 conference call. My name is Jasmina, and I will be your operator for today's call. Joining us today are Airgain's President and CEO, Jacob Suen, and CFO, Michael Elbaz. As a reminder, this call will be recorded and made available for replay via a link found in the Investor Relations of Airgain's website at investors.airgain.com. Following management's prepared remarks, the call will be open for questions from Airgain's covering analysts. I caution listeners that during this call, Airgain management will be making forward-looking statements about future events as well as Airgain's business strategy and future financial and operating performance. Actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied by these forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business. These forward-looking statements are qualified by the cautionary statements contained in today's earnings release and Airgain's SEC filings.

Operator

This conference call contains time-sensitive information that is accurate only as of the date of this live broadcast, August 5th, 2026. Airgain undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this conference call. In addition, this conference call will include a discussion of non-GAAP financial measures. Please see today's earnings release for further details, including a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results. I'd like to turn the call over to Airgain's CEO, Jacob Suen.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. The second quarter marked another meaningful step forward for Airgain. Revenue increased 19% sequentially to $13.7 million. We achieved positive adjusted EBITDA, and we advanced important customer programs across the business. Enterprise and automotive continue their revenue growth trajectories, while consumer sales remain relatively stable, supported by Wi-Fi 7 demand and strong Tier 1 relationships. We enter the second half with a stronger foundation than we had at the beginning of the year.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

Customer engagement is deeper, our pipeline is more mature, and more programs are progressing from evaluation into trials and deployments. We are encouraged by this progress, and we are increasingly confident in the direction of the business. Our priorities are clear. Build on the momentum in our core businesses, convert the AirgainConnect pipeline into revenue, advance Lighthouse toward commercialization, and increase the operating leverage of our business model.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

Let me start with AirgainConnect. During the second quarter, we continued to expand our AirgainConnect portfolio through our work with FirstNet, built with AT&T. We added MegaFi 2 and MegaGo 2, both FirstNet trusted solutions that use high-power technology designed for demanding coverage environments. Together with AC-Fleet and Go-Kit Pro, AirgainConnect now provides multiple connectivity solutions for vehicle, fixed, portable, and rapid response applications. The portfolio serves first responders, utilities, transportation, energy, and other critical field operations. Through FirstNet, AT&T offers Airgain's HPUE vehicle solution for public safety customers. Airgain also retains the ability to offer its HPUE technology through other carrier networks globally. This broader portfolio gives customers greater deployment flexibility, simplifies installation, and improves operational readiness. It also gives Airgain more entry points with customers and more ways to support them as their connectivity needs expand.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

The AirgainConnect pipeline continued to grow since our last call and now includes approximately 60 Tier 1 and Tier 2 opportunities. Our focus is increasingly on pipeline conversion, and more than half of the pipeline is now in trial or post-trial stages, up from approximately one-third since our last call. The mix remains balanced with approximately 55% of opportunities in first responder markets and 45% in utilities and other commercial fleet applications. In Q2, we secure five Tier 2 design wins across AirgainConnect. Four are with first responder organizations and one is with a utility company. One of these wins is with a large countywide public safety customer covering fire, ambulance, and police fleets. The potential deployment spans more than 1,000 vehicles, but units are expected to be added in phases as vehicles enter service.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

This illustrates how these programs can begin modestly and grow into meaningful long-term opportunities. We are also in the final phase of the sales cycle for a Tier 1 first responder opportunity, which we are targeting to close by the end of the year. Work remains before a final award, including customer-specific certification requirements. We're making the necessary investments because the opportunity demonstrates the scale of the programs we are pursuing, and the certification can be leveraged to other lead opportunities as well. Carrier relationships are an important part of our go-to-market strategy. As announced in June, we expand our work with FirstNet, built with AT&T, across public safety, utilities, and other critical field operations. Under this model, carrier sales teams help identify and advance customer opportunities while Airgain supports product demonstrations, trials, integration, and customization. This extends our commercial reach and helps move qualified opportunities toward deployment.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

We have also developed a plug-and-play AirgainConnect configuration for the AT&T channel with the eSIM and required cabling pre-installed. The goal is to simplify evaluation and deployment for utilities, sanitation fleets, and other non-first responder customers. We're working to extend this carrier-enabled model to additional markets. We continue to strengthen our relationship with carriers and the FirstNet Authority with the support of well-respected industrial veterans. Most recently, Jim Bugel, former president of AT&T FirstNet and a member of the prestigious Wireless Hall of Fame Class of 2026, has joined Airgain as a strategic advisor. Jim will help us deepen relationships with public safety, the FirstNet Authority, and large fleet OEMs. We believe the pipeline for AirgainConnect has reached a stable level, and our emphasis is now on execution, advancing trials, supporting post-trial requirements, and helping customers move into phased deployments.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

We believe this is the right approach to build a durable AirgainConnect business. Turning to Lighthouse, we continue to prioritize the U.S. market opportunity given the ongoing geopolitical dynamics in the Middle East. We are deepening our engagement with domestic mobile network operators, service providers, enterprises, and communities. We now have two scheduled end-customer trials in the U.S. that collectively support coverage across all three major carriers. This represents meaningful progress from our prior U.S. testing, which was conducted primarily with a network provider. The first trial is with a large logistics company seeking to improve coverage across its operating environment. Our current production-ready configuration supports the mid-band spectrum used by AT&T and Verizon. The second trial is with a residential community seeking to address coverage gaps commonly experienced by large communities and HOAs.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

Our new configuration extends Lighthouse to the spectrum used by T-Mobile, and we expect pre-production samples during Q3. In Q3, we also secure an international customer trial for our integrated 4G and 5G combo solution. Initial samples are expected this quarter as well. These trials address a common problem: inconsistent cellular coverage across large operating environments and communities. Traditional solutions can be expensive, disruptive, and slow to deploy. Lighthouse is designed to provide a faster and more cost-effective alternative while giving mobile network operators control over network performance. We also continue to advance our engagement with a Tier 1 U.S. mobile network operator previously mentioned. We are now working through the final certification and approval process for its enterprise offering, and the operator has identified several customers for potential trials. Our commercial approach combines a top-down and bottom-up strategy.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

We work with the MNOs to obtain network approval and reach enterprise accounts. At the same time, we engage directly with end customers, including enterprises and communities, to validate the need and create demand. Service providers and system integrators remain important deployment partners. While we are making very good strides with Lighthouse, we view Lighthouse primarily as a 2027 revenue opportunity. Our near-term objective is to complete trials, establish reference deployments, and demonstrate a repeatable commercial model. Any revenue before then would be incremental to that plan. Now, turning to our core markets. Enterprise IoT was the main driver of our sequential growth in second quarter, and we expect it to remain an important growth driver in Q3. Demand from our longstanding end customers continues to increase, primarily in the energy monitoring applications, and we see renewed activity in the EV charging market.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

Shipments under the previously announced $4 million purchase order accelerated and are now expected to be completed by the end of this quarter. In parallel, we continue to expand opportunities in emerging applications such as robotics, drones, and data centers. Coco Robotics is preparing to launch its next generation autonomous delivery vehicles, and we expect the program to begin ramping up production shipments this quarter. Initial production shipments for a drone application are also expected to begin this quarter. The near-term revenue contribution is modest, but the program expands our presence in autonomous and mission-critical applications. Finally, we recently secured a design win for remote energy monitoring in data centers, with revenue expected to begin in early 2027. This win extends the Skywire platform into the growing data center connectivity market and creates a reference point for similar opportunities.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

IoT order patterns can be uneven, so we are not assuming the current growth rate will continue every quarter. Still, the recovery in established programs and the breadth of newer applications give us greater confidence in the long-term opportunity. The near-term picture in consumer is more mixed. Q2 revenue was relatively stable, supported by Wi-Fi 7 antenna shipments and demand from Tier 1 service providers. We're managing two distinct factors that are affecting consumer during Q3. The first is the continuing memory shortage. Rapid growth in AI infrastructure is causing suppliers to prioritize high bandwidth memory, tightening the availability and increasing the cost of the standard memory used in home gateways. The timing of improvement in the environment remains uncertain. The second factor was the FCC ruling, which affected the timing of our MNO's new product launches. Our OEM partners have recently received conditional approvals.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

As a result, this issue contributed to shipping delays in the second half. Based on our backlog and customer forecast, we expect consumer revenue to decline sequentially in Q3, which is reflected in our guidance. Importantly, these timing issues do not reflect a change in underlying demand. Our solution spans multiple OEM platforms and service providers, reducing our reliance on any one gateway supplier. Wi-Fi 7 and our Tier 1 MNO programs remain important long-term growth drivers. We have secured the inventory required to support our current AirgainConnect and Lighthouse plans into 2027. Limiting the near-term impact on these growth platforms. With that, I'll turn the call over to Michael.

Michael Elbaz
Michael Elbaz
CFO at Airgain

Thank you, Jacob. Before diving into the numbers, please note that my review of our financial results and guidance refers to non-GAAP figures. Information about the non-GAAP financial measures, including GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations, can be found in our earnings release. Let's turn to our second quarter results. Q2 sales were $13.7 million, slightly above the midpoint of our guidance range and up 0.7% year-over-year, marking our first quarter of year-over-year growth in six quarters. Sequentially, Q2 sales increased $2.2 million or 19%, driven by growth across all our markets. Enterprise sales were $6.7 million, up $1.7 million sequentially, driven by higher IoT modems and custom product sales. Automotive sales were $1.2 million, up $0.3 million sequentially, reflecting higher sales of AirgainConnect vehicle gateways. Consumer sales were $5.8 million, sequentially up $0.2 million, driven by Wi-Fi 7 antenna shipments.

Michael Elbaz
Michael Elbaz
CFO at Airgain

Non-GAAP gross margin for the second quarter was 43.6% compared to 44.2% in the prior quarter, and relatively flat year-over-year. The sequential decline was primarily due to a change in product and customer sales mix. Non-GAAP operating expenses were $5.7 million, down $0.40 million sequentially and down $0.8 million or 12% year-over-year, reflecting continued expense discipline. Separately, GAAP operating expenses included $0.6 million in severance expenses associated with the headcount reduction we mentioned on our last call. These actions align resources with our highest priority development and customer programs. In Q2, adjusted EBITDA was $0.4 million, $0.2 million higher than the midpoint of guidance. Adjusted EBITDA improved by $1.3 million sequentially on higher sales and lower expenses, highlighting the operating leverage in our business model.

Michael Elbaz
Michael Elbaz
CFO at Airgain

Non-GAAP EPS was $0.02, $0.01 above the midpoint of guidance, and an improvement of $0.10 from the prior quarter. As of June 30, 2026, our cash balance was $7.6 million, $0.5 million higher than the prior quarter. Net cash proceeds from our ATM were $1 million. Moving to our outlook for the third quarter ending September 30, 2026. As a reminder, we provide quarterly guidance for sales, non-GAAP gross margin and expenses, non-GAAP EPS, and adjusted EBITDA as we believe these metrics to be key indicators for the overall performance of our business. For the third quarter of 2026, we project sales to range from $14.25 million-$16.25 million, with a midpoint of $15.25 million. The midpoint represents an 11% sequential growth, driven by continued strength in enterprise and automotive, partially offset by the projected sequential decline in consumer that Jacob just discussed.

Michael Elbaz
Michael Elbaz
CFO at Airgain

I expect non-GAAP gross margin to range from 41.5%-44.5%, with a midpoint of 43%. The sequential change at the midpoint primarily reflects the anticipated decline in consumer market sales. We are experiencing higher component and module costs, but we have offset these increases through pricing and product cost initiatives. We project non-GAAP operating expenses to be approximately $6 million. Non-GAAP EPS is expected to be +$0.04 at the midpoint of our guidance. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be +$0.7 million at the midpoint of our guidance. I would like to turn the call back over to Jacob for his closing thoughts. Jacob?

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

Thanks, Michael. Q2 reinforced our confidence in the directions of the business. We deliver on our commitments and enter the second half with building momentum. Our Q3 outlook reflects continued sequential growth and improved profitability, with operating expenses expected to remain relatively stable. We should generate greater operating leverage as revenue scales. We are also making tangible progress across our growth platforms. AirgainConnect is producing design wins and moving more opportunities through trial and post-trial stages. Lighthouse is advancing into scheduled U.S. end customer trials as we continue working through the approval process with a Tier 1 mobile network operator. We are encouraged by our progress, but we recognize that converting these opportunities takes time and consistent execution. Our priorities are clear: deliver our Q3 outlook, convert more customer programs into revenue, and expand adjusted EBITDA through gross margin improvement and disciplined growth.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

Operator, we are now ready to take questions.

Operator

Thank you. We will now take questions from Airgain sell-side analysts. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment please while we poll for questions. Our first question is from Jaeson Schmidt with Lake Street Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Jaeson Schmidt
Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Just want to start with AirgainConnect. Obviously, it sounds like the funnel continues to expand with, I think you noted, over 50% in trials or post-trial stages. How should we think about those trials converting to orders into revenue and the timing around that?

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

Hi, Jaeson. Great questions on the AirgainConnect. Definitely, we are very encouraged about the progress. As I indicated in the call, in second quarter, we were able to convert five of those design wins, so we're hoping to be able to continue to increasing that rate. While we cannot giving you a precise number, our goal is to convert at least a third of that every quarter. That's going to be the goal. We are also really close to closing a Tier 1 opportunity. We're really wrapping up the last stage, which is just the certification. That should also really help the second half growth as a whole.

Jaeson Schmidt
Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets

Okay, that's helpful. Just following up on your comments on the drone applications, understanding its minimal revenue here in the near term, can you discuss what you're seeing in that market and if you continue to target other customers in that space?

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

Yes. Certainly, we are very excited about this particular opportunity relating to our IoT product. This particular application, it's actually using our IoT modem to help us. It's a brain, so to speak. For drone applications, we're also seeing a number of those using our automotive product, including our AirgainConnect solutions as well. In that setup, they're using our AirgainConnect actually on the vehicle to be able to improve communications with the drone. We're seeing a number of those opportunities, using our overall product.

Michael Elbaz
Michael Elbaz
CFO at Airgain

To give you more color on this, Jaeson, this is pretty exciting to see on the Skywire modem growth altogether. We've been very much entrenched with end customers that are very much into the application of energy monitoring, HVAC, you name it. It's basically very industrial. Those are very resilient type of markets. Seeing new applications such as robotics a couple of quarters ago, then drones this quarter, then we started to engage with a couple of companies on a data center remote monitoring application. That is good to see that those new market application provide future growth, specifically for 2027. At this point, in Q3, we're counting on the robotics company to start the initial shipments on production units.

Michael Elbaz
Michael Elbaz
CFO at Airgain

We expect to see production units next quarter with the drone company, and at the same time, data center should be in the early part of 2027. We're using those references points, to your point there, to really try to expand that type of a base and market applications.

Jaeson Schmidt
Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets

Got you. No, I appreciate that color. I'll jump back into queue. Thanks a lot, guys.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question is from Anthony Stoss with Craig-Hallum. Please go ahead.

Anthony Stoss
Anthony Stoss
Analyst at Craig-Hallum

Thanks. Good afternoon, Jacob and Michael. I wanted to follow up on Jaeson's questions on the AirgainConnect, the pipeline. I'm curious what you're learning so far with the companies that have been in trial and the five that you converted, what they liked. Also, maybe it'd be helpful if you know the numbers or a rough estimate, how many total vehicles are in those 60 opportunities? Just trying to get a sense of average deal size, perhaps, and anything else you might be willing to share.

Michael Elbaz
Michael Elbaz
CFO at Airgain

Yes, absolutely, Tony. In terms of the 60 deals that we are tracking, those are Tier 1 and Tier 2 deals. Tier 1, if you recall, those are 500+ vehicle fleet. Tier 2 are between 50 and 500 vehicles. We used to give a statistic on the Tier 3, which are below 50 vehicles, but those are going to go through distribution channel very quickly on that. Our focus is on Tier 2 and Tier 1, because those are going to be the meaningful path to revenue. If you recall, about a year ago, we started to also define the overall cycle time that it would take to close from first contact or first interest or expression of interest to the revenue generation. We mentioned that the Tier 2 would take about 9-15 months, so about 12 months on the average, a year.

Michael Elbaz
Michael Elbaz
CFO at Airgain

The Tier 1 would be about 12-18 months. We happen to be right on that schedule right now, with the Tier 2 starting to ramp up from a closure standpoint. Five in Q2, we're very excited about that. I believe last quarter we had one. Those five represents four first responders fleet and one utility company. What I can tell you is that the orders, as we are seeing from our POS data, is taking place on all five companies. They are starting the deployment phase. Of course, we're hoping that that deployment takes place over the next two, three quarters altogether. For the Tier 1, it is a more complex type of a sale because it has multilayer type of contacts and approval, sometimes certification from different departments, and sometimes, in many cases, executive-level approval.

Michael Elbaz
Michael Elbaz
CFO at Airgain

This is more of a consultative type of an approach, where we even bring together an overall ROI analysis, working together to be able to anticipate some of the savings and the performance improvement as well, too. Those require more trials under different type of conditions, and we're going through that. One thing that I can share as well, too, is of the Tier 1, Tier 2 of about 60 deals right now, I would say that 70% of that is Tier 2, and about 30% of that is Tier 1. Of the Tier 1, what's interesting is that the majority are non-first responders. Those are fleet that are definitely very large across the whole U.S. in many cases. At the same time, they're looking at this as an important type of decision because this is having a gateway.

Michael Elbaz
Michael Elbaz
CFO at Airgain

Whereas on the Tier 2, I would say that about 70% of that is first responders, and those are the smaller size that are looking for that simplification that we bring, or the critical range that we can offer, especially with the MegaFi 2. I hope that helps.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

Yeah. I maybe add a little bit more color to what Michael just saying about the differentiation. It's becoming really clear to us that for the non-first responder vehicle, most of them don't have that trunk space. Those are like the sanitation vehicles. Those are like pest control vehicles and other street vehicles. They don't have that trunk space. The current setup, it's a router on the back, which is not acceptable to them. Most of them are using a tablet or even just a mobile device. That doesn't give them that coverage. What AirgainConnect is able to offer to them is this all-in-one option that they are really intrigued. In working with the network operators, there was a major Tier 1 opportunity that basically AirgainConnect is the only viable solution to them.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

Also going to help them save a lot of this content. Instead of paying multiple data plan, they can consolidate. That provide them a major cost advantage and also easier to maintain, easier to manage. We've seen that as a major differentiation that it's really resonate with the prospects. I always say the overall size of those 60 opportunities is tens of thousands. That's what we're seeing at this point.

Anthony Stoss
Anthony Stoss
Analyst at Craig-Hallum

Wow, great. Thanks for all the color, guys.

Michael Elbaz
Michael Elbaz
CFO at Airgain

Thank you, Tony.

Operator

At this time, this concludes our question and answer session. If your questions were not answered, you may contact Airgain's Investor Relations team at airg@gateway-grp.com. I'd like to turn the call over now to Mr. Suen for closing remarks.

Jacob Suen
Jacob Suen
President and CEO at Airgain

Thank you for your thoughtful questions and continued interest in Airgain. We are encouraged by our progress and look forward to updating you as we execute our priorities through the second half. We appreciate your time today. Operator, you may now conclude the call.

Executives
Analysts
    • Jaeson Schmidt
      Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets
    • Anthony Stoss
      Analyst at Craig-Hallum
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