FLNCFluence Energy, Inc.
Industry Energy storage Updated 28 Sep 2026 Price 23 Oct 2026
If management hits its targets, one share in 12 months
$5.59 → $6.77
Promises vs. what happened
16 claims · 8 decksEvery target management put in a slide deck, and whether they hit it, missed it, or quietly dropped it.
| Promise | Made in | What happened | |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY25 adjusted gross margin 10-15% | Q4 '24 | 13.7%, a record | Held |
| ARR about $145M by end FY25 | Q4 '24 | $148M — never cut | Held |
| Smartstack's first contract delivers in FY26 | Q2 '25 | operating by May '26 | Held |
| US module and enclosure lines at capacity by end '25 | Q3 '25 | about $300M below plan | Late |
| Domestic suppliers OBBBA-compliant by end '25 | Q3 '25 | stated compliant May '26 | Late |
| First hyperscaler order in Q3 '26 | Q2 '26 | $550M in July, one month late | Late |
| FY26 adjusted gross margin 11-13% | Q1 '26 | left the slide; 9M ran about 7% | Dropped |
| ARR about $180M by end FY26 | Q4 '25 | $163M at Q3; held unchanged | Open |
| Q4 '26 order intake above $1.44B; liquidity about $900M | Q3 '26 | open — $863M at Jun '26 | Open |
| FY25 revenue $3.6-4.4B, EBITDA $160-200M | Q4 '24 | $2.26B — cut three times | Missed |
| FY25 adjusted EBITDA $180M midpoint | Q4 '24 | $19.5M, 89% below | Missed |
| Tariffs: minimal, about $10M | Q1 '25 | a $700M revenue cut, 3 months later | Missed |
| FY26 revenue growth 30%+ | Q1 '25 | guided flat, then cut; line never repeated | Missed |
| 95% of FY25 revenue covered by backlog | Q2 '25 | landed at 84% of the midpoint | Missed |
| FY26 revenue $3.2-3.6B, fully backlog-covered | Q4 '25 | cut to $2.9-3.1B, then about $2.4B | Missed |
| FY26 adjusted EBITDA $40-60M | Q4 '25 | to -$30M/+$10M, then about -$200M | Missed |
What they’re pitching
the headline page, deck by deckThe headline from each quarterly results deck over two years, so you can see what they want you to focus on, and when it changes.
'24Q1
'25Q2
'25Q3
'25Q4
'25Q1
'26Q2
'26Q3
'26
Domestic contentOff page one Q4 '25
GuidancePage one since Q1 '26
BacklogPage one since Q2 '25
TariffsOff page one Q4 '25
OBBBAOff page one Q4 '25
Data centresPage one since Q3 '26
SmartstackOff page one Q2 '25
Order intakeNew Q4 '25 · Page one since Q2 '26
MarginsOff page one Q3 '26
on the headline page further in the deck not in the deck▲ onto page one▼ off page one● first mentionTap a mark for the quote.
US domestic content and supply chain
“Rapid Innovation o Strengthening US domestic offering to meet customer demand Executive Summary”
Deck Q4 FY2024 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
US domestic content and supply chain
“U.S. demand and our domestic content advantage.”
Deck Q1 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
US domestic content and supply chain
“Long-term advantage from US domestic content strategy”
Deck Q2 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
US domestic content and supply chain
“First U.S. domestic content-compliant storage system delivered”
Deck Q3 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
US domestic content and supply chain
“Leading Domestic Content with Ability to Deliver 100% Non-Chinese Product 10© Fluence Energy, Inc. All rights reserved.”
Deck Q4 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 10 ·
US domestic content and supply chain
“Strengthening Our Domestic Supply Chain Advantage 8”
Deck Q1 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 8 ·
US domestic content and supply chain
“Second domestic cell supply secured for FY2027”
Deck Q2 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 10 ·
US domestic content and supply chain
“Bankable Domestic Content”
Deck Q3 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 9 ·
Guidance cut, held or reaffirmed
“FY 2025 financial guidance lowered primarily due to customer-driven delays in signing certain contracts and to competitive pressures.”
Deck Q1 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Guidance cut, held or reaffirmed
“FY25 revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance lowered accordingly”
Deck Q2 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Guidance cut, held or reaffirmed
“Expect to be at bottom end of revenue guidance range of $2.6B primarily due to slower US production ramp than expected and shifting of expected revenue to FY26”
Deck Q3 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 5 ·
Guidance cut, held or reaffirmed
“Reiterate FY2026 guidance ranges”
Deck Q1 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Guidance cut, held or reaffirmed
“Reaffirming FY2026 Revenue, ARR, and adjusted EBITDA guidance ranges”
Deck Q2 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Guidance cut, held or reaffirmed
“FY26 guidance reduced for revenue and adjusted EBITDA, primarily driven the ramp up of new contract manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and internationally”
Deck Q3 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Record backlog and pipeline
“Backlog Grew 55% Year-Over-Year”
Deck Q4 FY2024 Earnings Presentation · p. 6 ·
Record backlog and pipeline
“Record Backlog Grew 38% Year-Over-Year Providing Continued”
Deck Q1 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 7 ·
Record backlog and pipeline
“Robust liquidity ($1B+) and ~$4.9B backlog to support navigation of current environment”
Deck Q2 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Record backlog and pipeline
“$2.5B of FY’26 revenue now secured in backlog;”
Deck Q3 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 5 ·
Record backlog and pipeline
“Record year-ending backlog of ~$5.3 billion 13.7% adjusted gross margin2 for FY’25, an all-time high”
Deck Q4 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Record backlog and pipeline
“Record backlog of ~$5.5 billion”
Deck Q1 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Record backlog and pipeline
“A Record Level with upside”
Deck Q2 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Record backlog and pipeline
“Q3’26 ending backlog of $6.4 billion, ~14% growth over Q2’26 and a company record”
Deck Q3 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Tariffs on Chinese batteries
“FLNC Sees Minimal Tariff Exposure in 2025; Domestic Content”
Deck Q1 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 10 ·
Tariffs on Chinese batteries
“Certain US project execution and order intake paused due to US tariff uncertainty”
Deck Q2 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Tariffs on Chinese batteries
“All paused U.S. contracts reactivated after tariff/regulatory clarity”
Deck Q3 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Tariffs on Chinese batteries
“Current Tariffs on Chinese Battery Imports 3.4%”
Deck Q4 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 24 ·
Tariffs on Chinese batteries
“Current Effective Tariffs Through September 20261”
Deck Q1 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 21 ·
Tariffs on Chinese batteries
“Imports On or Before 7/24/26 38.4% 10%”
Deck Q2 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 23 ·
Tariffs on Chinese batteries
“On Imports as of 7/25/26 40.9% 12.5%”
Deck Q3 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 19 ·
OBBBA and PFE compliance
“Favorable outcome for energy storage in recently passed legislation (OBBBA);”
Deck Q3 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 5 ·
OBBBA and PFE compliance
“Advancing our Strategy to Secure OBBBA-Compliant Battery”
Deck Q4 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 11 ·
OBBBA and PFE compliance
“Prohibited Foreign Entity (PFE)”
Deck Q1 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 8 ·
OBBBA and PFE compliance
“OBBBA, Including PFE Restrictions 10”
Deck Q2 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 10 ·
OBBBA and PFE compliance
“PFE Restrictions for Manufacturing are Complex but Workable 21”
Deck Q3 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 21 ·
Data centers
“U.S. electricity demand1 is projected to rise ~15-20% in the next decade, driven primarily by AI, data center growth, domestic manufacturing, and sector-wide electrification.”
Deck Q4 FY2024 Earnings Presentation · p. 5 ·
Data centers
“At least $8.5 Billion Additional TAM from Behind-The-Meter”
Deck Q3 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 10 ·
Data centers
“Over 30 GWhs1 of data center projects currently in pipeline or leads”
Deck Q4 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 7 ·
Data centers
“~36 GWhs1 of data center projects currently in pipeline or leads as of today”
Deck Q1 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 7 ·
Data centers
“Master supply agreements (MSA) executed with 2 major hyperscalers”
Deck Q2 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 6 ·
Data centers
“Secured ~$850 million of data center business including the Company’s first large, behind-the-meter order signed during the quarter and awards from a hyperscaler in July”
Deck Q3 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Smartstack product
“Breakthrough technology offering to be launched on Thursday, Feb 13.”
Deck Q1 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Smartstack product
“SmartstackTM: Leading Safety, Cost, and Density”
Deck Q2 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 9 ·
Smartstack product
“Fluence Awarded 4 GWh Project; Largest Battery Storage”
Deck Q4 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 6 ·
Smartstack product
“Smartstack’s density well-positioned to compete in this segment”
Deck Q1 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 7 ·
Smartstack product
“First Smartstack Project Commences Operation 9”
Deck Q2 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 9 ·
Smartstack product
“Smartstack 10 announced 1 2 3 4”
Deck Q3 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 9 ·
Order intake momentum
“Q4’25 Record”
Deck Q4 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 5 ·
Order intake momentum
“Over $750 million of Order Intake Driven by Steady Increase In”
Deck Q1 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 5 ·
Order intake momentum
“Order intake of ~$2 billion through May 6, 2026, more than double the same period in 2025”
Deck Q2 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Order intake momentum
“Q3’26 order intake of ~$1.44 billion, a record quarter for Fluence”
Deck Q3 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Margin records
“First Profitable Year; Delivered Profitable Growth”
Deck Q4 FY2024 Earnings Presentation · p. 12 ·
Margin records
“Strong Q3 performance driving margins above target”
Deck Q3 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 5 ·
Margin records
“Record year-ending backlog of ~$5.3 billion 13.7% adjusted gross margin2 for FY’25, an all-time high”
Deck Q4 FY2025 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
Margin records
“Q2’26 adjusted gross margin1 of 11.1%”
Deck Q2 FY2026 Earnings Presentation · p. 4 ·
What they keep talking about · 11
The themes that show up deck after deck, and the ones that disappear.
- Domestic content
- On the headline slide of all four FY25 decks, then demoted to a later page from Q4 '25 — the same quarter the US factories started missing their plan.
- Guidance
- A guidance change leads six of the eight decks, and four of them are cuts. The one word that never appears on a headline slide is a raise.
- Backlog
- Record backlog in all eight: $4.5bn to $6.4bn. Coverage of the revenue guide was given at 65%, 85%, 95%, 98% and then "fully covered" — before each of the cuts.
- Tariffs
- "Minimal... about $10 million" in February '25; the next deck paused US projects and took $700M off the guide. The tariff table moved to the appendix from Q4 '25.
- OBBBA
- New in Q3 '25 when the law passed, with a compliance date of end-2025. The May '26 deck states the US supply chain fully compliant, one to two quarters late.
- Data centres
- A demand statistic in FY25, its own slide from Q4 '25, and the lead in Q3 '26 with about $850M of orders — the first new story in two years that is not a cost.
- Smartstack
- Launched February '25, a 4 GWh European award in November, first project operating by May '26, Smartstack 10 announced in August. The one roadmap that ran on time.
- Order intake
- Became a lead theme in FY26, exactly as the revenue guide was being held and then cut: about $2bn through May, then a record $1.44bn quarter.
- Margins
- On the headline slide when the quarter was 15.4% or 13.7%, absent when it was 5.6% or 5.9%.
- New
- Q3 '26: the first behind-the-meter data-centre order, a hyperscaler award, and a planned international cell supply agreement said to offer "increased margin visibility".
- Quiet
- The FY26 margin range, the rolling twelve-month margin chart, the opex table, the free-cash-flow chart and the backlog split all stopped. The margin range went without a word.
Every quarterly report we’ve saved · 8
The press releases and shareholder letters behind this page.
- Q2 2026 release · 8-K 5 Aug 2026
- Q2 FY2026 release · 8-K 6 May 2026
- Q1 FY2026 release · 8-K 4 Feb 2026
- FY2025 release · 8-K 24 Nov 2025
- Q3 FY2025 release · 8-K 11 Aug 2025
- Q2 FY2025 release · 8-K 7 May 2025
- Q1 FY2025 release · 8-K 10 Feb 2025
- Q2 2024 release · 8-K 7 Aug 2024
Archived as text; the links open the copies filed on EDGAR or the investor-relations site.
What analysts asked them
8 calls · Q4 24 – Q3 26The last eight earnings calls: what analysts kept asking about, which questions got dodged, and how much the CEO did the talking.
Share of questions by topic, call by call. A topic that suddenly dominates is usually the problem. The last row is how much of the answering the CEO did, rather than the CFO or others.
| Share of questions about… | Q4 24 | Q1 25 | Q2 25 | Q3 25 | Q4 25 | Q1 26 | Q2 26 | Q3 26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demand & customers | 28% | 23% | 26% | 56% | 33% | 31% | 24% | 53% |
| Growth & sales | 13% | 15% | · | 17% | 19% | 9% | 24% | 21% |
| Pricing & margins | 21% | 54% | 6% | 28% | 33% | 19% | 16% | 16% |
| Guidance & outlook | 15% | 38% | 10% | 22% | 24% | 16% | 4% | 26% |
| Capacity & supply | · | 12% | 16% | 22% | 57% | 41% | 52% | 53% |
| Capital & financing | 5% | 4% | 3% | · | 5% | 12% | 12% | · |
| Competition | 8% | 15% | 6% | · | 10% | 12% | 4% | 16% |
| Products & technology | 3% | 15% | · | 17% | 5% | 3% | 16% | 11% |
| Macro & regulation | 3% | 12% | 19% | 33% | 5% | 16% | · | 5% |
| Other | 54% | 15% | 61% | 11% | 10% | 34% | 20% | 16% |
| Questions | 39 | 26 | 31 | 18 | 21 | 32 | 25 | 19 |
| How much the CEO talked | 79% | 89% | 77% | 90% | 80% | 93% | 89% | 92% |
Who’s in charge, who’s selling
read from the filings · 1 Oct 2026Shareholder votes against the board and pay, plus which executives have been selling their own shares.
Tier 1 · stable
59% of the vote on 22% of the shares, and three governance exemptions taken
Class B-1 carries five votes a share and AES Grid Stability holds all of it — 66.1% of the combined vote at the January 2026 record date, 59.1% after the May secondary, on 22.4% of the economics. AES and Siemens each nominate up to three directors, Qatar Holding one. Four of the twelve elected in March 2026 were affirmatively independent, and the board relies on Nasdaq's controlled-company exemptions from a majority-independent board, a wholly independent compensation committee and independent nominations. The charter waives the corporate-opportunity doctrine for those holders and their designees, opts out of DGCL section 203 and needs 66 2/3% of the vote to amend.
Tier 1 · stable
A quarter of revenue is bought by the controlling shareholder
AES affiliates bought $555.1M of the $2,262.8M of fiscal 2025 revenue, 24.5% of it, and owed $199.9M at year end. Siemens affiliates run the other way, supplying $79.8M of cost of goods. The contracts are back-to-back: Fluence signs with AES or Siemens, who have signed with the end customer. The chief executive, chief financial officer, chief legal officer, chief customer officer and the new chief operating officer all came from AES. The SEC's investigation is understood to cover "certain service contracts with related parties".
Tier 1 · live
An SEC investigation into the one number a holder cannot check
A formal SEC investigation into financial reporting, open since 2024 and still open at 30 June 2026, is understood to cover revenue recognition, a material weakness, software capitalisation and related-party service contracts — the subjects of a February 2024 short-seller report. Ernst & Young's single critical audit matter for fiscal 2025 is percentage-of-completion revenue on $2,172M of storage sales. A class action was dismissed without prejudice in March 2026; derivative suits followed in July.
Tier 2 · worsening
Half the share count is registered for resale, and $480M was sold at $21
The May 2026 shelf registers about 94.7M founder shares, roughly half the 184.6M economic count, to May 2029. Three days after filing it AES sold 10,066,414 shares at $21.00, Siemens Pension Trust 10,066,414 at $20.53 and Qatar Holding 2,867,172 at $21.00; the insider data sets count $480.1M of sales and no purchases in the year to June 2026, 0.3% of it pre-planned. Class A was $23.82 in January and $7.55 at the end of September. Officers and directors together hold under 1%.
Tier 3 · worsening
Six of eight reported measures stopped, the margin guide among them
KPI persistence across the eight decks is 0.25: the adjusted EBITDA headline tile, the annual margin range, the rolling twelve-month margin chart, the opex table, the backlog split and the pipeline-by-market table all went. The fiscal 2026 margin range of 11-13%, given with "clear visibility" in February 2026, left the guidance slide in May without being withdrawn, while the nine-month margin ran about 7%.
Where shareholders voted no
At each annual meeting shareholders vote on who sits on the board, what the executives are paid and whether the company may create more shares. These are the votes that drew the most "no"s at the last two meetings: the shares voted against (or withheld) each year, then what share of all votes cast that was. Under each one, what the vote was about and what a no means.
| 2025 | 2026 | Share 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Falú (AES designee)A board seat. Shareholders vote to keep this person on the board, the group that hires, pays and can fire the CEO. A no, or a withheld vote, says they want this director out, often because of the committee they sit on or a decision they signed off. | 15.0M | 26.4M withheld | 7.8% |
| Meier (Siemens designee)A board seat. | 18.2M | 20.1M withheld | 5.9% |
| Bulls (independent chair)A board seat. | 13.8M | 17.0M withheld | 5.0% |
| Nebreda (chief executive)A board seat. | 12.6M | 11.4M withheld | 3.4% |
| Say on payExecutive pay. Shareholders say whether they accept what the top executives were paid. The vote is advisory: the board can ignore it, but a large no is a public rebuke and boards usually change the pay plan after one. | 7.4M | 2.9M against | 0.9% |
Insiders who sold the most stock
Reported sales by executives and directors, biggest first.
| Form 4s and the SEC insider data sets, Jul '25-Jun '26 | Sold | Note |
|---|---|---|
| AES Grid Stability | $211.4M | 10,066,414 shares at $21.00 in the 15 May secondary; 41.4M Class B-1 held after |
| Siemens Pension Trust | $206.7M | 10,066,414 at $20.53, then a code-J disposal of 20,462,735 on 6 Jul |
| Qatar Holding | $60.2M | 2,867,172 at $21.00; 11,801,103 held after |
| All insiders, counted | $480.1M | 9 sales by 5 holders and not one purchase — 0.3% of it pre-planned |
| After the cut | two buys | the chairman 10,000 and the audit chair 7,000 shares at $7.36 on 21 Sep |