What happened
The auto business is challenging, particularly for makers of alt-fuel craft that are not battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Tuesday morning, fuel cell truckmaker Hyzon Motors (HYZN -1.58%) reported a set of quarterly figures that starkly illustrated this struggle. Discouraged investors sold out of the company's shares as a result, and by midafternoon they were down nearly 21% in price.
So what
For its second quarter, Hyzon -- which remains at the pre-revenue stage -- booked a net loss of almost $60.3 million ($0.25 per share) against the $38.8 million profit in the same period one year ago. That deficit was quite a bit deeper than expected by analysts tracking the stock. On average, those folks were modeling a narrower loss of $0.18 per share.
In cases where a company is yet to take in revenue, investors typically keep a sharp eye on its cash position. At the end of the quarter, Hyzon held over $172 million in cash, equivalents, and short-term investments.
This represents a slide from the more than $255 million the automaker possessed at the end of 2022 and the roughly $209 million in its coffers on March 31. But Hyzon pointed out that its net cash outflow in the second quarter was at its lowest point since the fourth quarter of 2021.
Now what
Referring to the fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) it specializes in, Hyzon management sounded a note of hope for the remaining months of this year.
It quoted CEO Parker Meeks as saying that for the rest of 2023, "we are excited by the continued advancement of our commercial pipeline across our focused FCEV platforms, with commercial deployments ongoing toward our 10-20 vehicle goal this year."
"We believe our intense focus and disciplined execution of our operational milestones, as well as significant improvements to streamline our business, have positioned Hyzon well in the accelerating hydrogen industry," he added.
