QuantumScape Stock Slides On Q4 Earnings: The Details

QuantumScape Corp QS reported fourth-quarter financial results Wednesday after the bell. Here’s a rundown of the report.

What Happened: QuantumScape reported a fourth-quarter loss of 23 cents per share, which beat estimates for a loss of 43 cents per share, according to Benzinga Pro.

QuantumScape said capital expenditures in the fourth quarter totaled $13.8 million, and operating expenses came in at $124.6 million.

The company said it plans to begin providing adjusted EBITDA guidance for improved comparability to other companies. QuantumScape reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $60.7 million in the fourth quarter. The company ended the quarter with $1.07 billion in liquidity.

QuantumScape highlighted key component-level improvements it made in 2023, including higher cathode loading, an efficient commercial packaging design and an improved and more scalable separator process. 

“We expect our transformation to continue in 2024, culminating in the integration of these improvements into our target first commercial product, the QSE-5 cell,” the company said in a letter to shareholders.

Outlook: QuantumScape said it’s targeting low-volume QSE-5 prototype production in 2024 and higher volumes in 2025.

Full-year 2024 capital expenditures are expected to be between $70 million and $120 million. The company anticipates a full-year 2024 adjusted EBITDA loss of $250 million to $300 million. QuantumScape also said it now expects its cash runway to extend into the second half of 2026.

“Our 2024 guidance reflects efforts to maintain our commercialization timeline while conserving cash and extending our runway, primarily by focusing on process improvement. The result is an operating plan that increases QS-0 output while holding 2024 capex to similar levels as 2023,” the company said.

QuantumScape also appointed current president Siva Sivaram to CEO, effective Feb. 15. Sivaram will also become a member of the company’s board. Co-founder and CEO Jagdeep Singh will continue to serve as the chairman of the board.

Management will hold a conference call to discuss these results at 5 p.m. ET.

See Also: Stanford Scientists Discover Extremely Simple Method To Extend Life Of Lithium-Metal EV Batteries

QS Price Action: QuantumScape shares were down 3.21% after hours at $7.42 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.

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