Solid-state battery maker QuantumScape (QS 1.43%) updated investors on its path to commercialization with its fourth-quarter report last night. While it made significant progress in 2025, the volatile stock is still selling off today.
Investors expect another year of losses in 2026, but one item of note may have spooked the market. QuantumScape stock plunged more than 10% after the report and remained down 8.8% as of 11:41 a.m. ET.
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Capital-light model isn't light enough
Last week, QuantumScape announced the launch of its Eagle Line battery cell pilot production line. CEO Dr. Siva Sivaram introduced it, stating, "The Eagle Line is a powerful platform to demonstrate scalable production of our solid-state technology and serve customer demand for better batteries. This is the next major step in the commercialization of our technology."
The company also added two large global automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to its growing customer list in Q4. QuantumScape has been partnering with future customers and doing licensing deals to minimize capital spending needs and generate revenue. That led to nearly $20 million in customer billings in 2025. That metric provides insight into customer activity and future cash inflows.
But the capital-light model isn't light enough for investors. QuantumScape forecasts capital expenditures of $40 million to $60 million for 2026, with investors planning for the low end of that range. Management also guided for the full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA loss to be between $250 million and $275 million. EBITDA is short for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Wall Street projected a loss of just $201 million.
NASDAQ: QS
Key Data Points
With QuantumScape stock up by nearly 70% over the past year, some investors seem to be locking in gains today, with higher losses as well as capital spending expected in 2026.
