ChargePoint finally gave the market something different
ChargePoint has spent years being tied to the same frustrating EV story: slower adoption, heavy losses and a stock that kept moving in the wrong direction.
Thursday looked very different.
Shares surged more than 50% after the company reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $116.1 million, ahead of the $105.2 million expected by Wall Street. Its loss of $0.35 per share was also far better than the $0.85 loss analysts had forecast.
The headline beat was strong, but the more interesting change is underneath it.
ChargePoint has now posted four consecutive quarters of year-over-year growth, while net losses have fallen from $125.3 million three years ago to $35.6 million in the latest quarter.
This is starting to look less like a broken EV growth story and more like a real turnaround.
The company doesn’t need EV sales to explode again
ChargePoint’s model gives it some flexibility.
Unlike charging companies that spend heavily building and owning their own networks, ChargePoint primarily sells charging hardware, software and services to businesses that operate the equipment themselves.
That reduces some of the capital burden and gives management more control over costs.
The company has spent the last three years cutting cash burn while preparing a new generation of products, including faster Level 3 chargers in Europe and updated Level 2 and Level 3 systems for the U.S.
Its recent quarter also showed better margins. A $4.2 million tariff refund helped results, but ChargePoint said normalized gross margin would still have reached a record without it.
The opportunity here doesn’t require U.S. EV adoption to suddenly return to the forecasts people were making several years ago.
ChargePoint needs continued EV adoption, better products and a cost structure capable of turning modest revenue growth into much better earnings.
That is a far more achievable setup.
A new stock just hit our radar. Get the latest WSA research straight to your inbox.
A 50% move doesn’t mean the turnaround is finished
There is still plenty to prove.
ChargePoint expects third-quarter revenue between $105 million and $115 million, implying only around 4% year-over-year growth at the midpoint. Management also has not given a firm date for profitability, although CEO Rick Wilmer says the company is approaching positive EBITDA.
So the market may have moved faster than the business.
The 50% rally appears to be pricing in confidence that revenue growth will accelerate as new products launch and that another year of cost improvement can push ChargePoint toward profitability.
We’re watching a few numbers from here:
- Gross margins without one-time benefits
- The pace of new charger deployments
- Whether revenue growth accelerates into fiscal 2028
- Progress toward positive EBITDA
If those improve together, the rerating can continue. If growth stalls while losses remain substantial, Thursday’s move will look much harder to defend.
The setup is more interesting after three years of pain
ChargePoint is still operating in an EV market that has grown much slower than originally expected. Federal incentives have disappeared, adoption forecasts have come down and plenty of charging companies have struggled.
Yet surviving that downturn may have forced ChargePoint to become a healthier business.
Losses are dramatically lower. Revenue is growing again. New products are arriving. And management no longer appears to need an EV boom just to make the numbers work.
That is the thesis worth following.
ChargePoint doesn’t need to prove that the EV slowdown is over. It needs to prove that the company can make money despite it.
If it can, Thursday’s 50% surge may end up looking less like a short-term squeeze and more like the beginning of a genuine turnaround.
Disclaimer
Wall Street Access is an independent financial publisher. Wall Street Access is not a financial advisor. No company mentioned has compensated Wall Street Access for the preparation, publication or distribution of this article. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.
Prices, market capitalizations, financial figures and other market data are based on information available as of the date and time of publication and may change without notice. Information is drawn from public sources believed to be reliable but is not guaranteed to be complete or accurate. Opinions and expectations expressed are our own and may change as new information becomes available.
Readers should conduct their own due diligence and contact a licensed financial professional before making any investment decision. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Any material ownership interest or conflict of interest, where applicable, will be disclosed separately.
