Yahoo Finance QuantumScape Corp (QS) (Q1 2024) Earnings Call Transcript Highlights: Navigating Through EV ...
Capital Expenditures (CapEx): $14.1 million in Q1, with full year guidance between $70 million and $120 million.
GAAP Operating Expenses: $131.9 million for Q1.
GAAP Net Loss: $120.6 million for Q1.
Adjusted EBITDA Loss: $76.2 million for Q1, with full year guidance between $250 million and $300 million.
Liquidity: Ended Q1 with $1.01 billion.
Cash Runway Forecast: Extends into the second half of 2026, with potential extension from capital markets activity.
Release Date: April 24, 2024
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
Q & A Highlights
Q: Could you give investors any initial impressions after your first few months as CEO? A: (Siva Sivaram - President, CEO & Director) It's been an exciting 8 months since I joined QuantumScape. The team's depth of knowledge and commitment to revolutionizing energy storage is extraordinary. The level of partnership and customer intimacy is genuinely exciting. I see many similarities with my prior experience in semiconductors in scaling the technology. Despite current headwinds in the EV market, the fundamental thesis of the company is getting validated.
Q: Has the macro environment and sentiment around EVs impacted QuantumScape's growth plans or customer conversations? A: (Siva Sivaram - President, CEO & Director) There is some cyclicality in the marketplace due to macroeconomic reasons and geographic variabilities. However, the secular demand for EVs is undeniable. Automotive customers are still uncomfortable with the EV value proposition versus traditional combustion vehicles, especially regarding range and charging capability. Our technology platform aims to make EVs a compromise-free choice for the majority of the mobility marketplace.
Q: Can you explain how Alpha-2 fits into your big picture development roadmap? A: (Siva Sivaram - President, CEO & Director) Alpha-2, which we began shipping in Q1, has almost all the same characteristics as QSE-5 other than the Raptor films and the final cell capacity. This allows our prospective launch customer to evaluate and give rapid feedback on the performance capabilities of the cell so we can methodically iterate and improve. Alpha-2 is a stepping stone to achieving B sample production by the end of this year.
Q: How does our current capital runway align with our product development roadmap? A: (Kevin Hettrich - CFO) We ended Q1 with over $1 billion of liquidity and reiterated our guidance of cash into the second half of 2026. Our capital is being invested into creating value, such as developing the QSE-5 product and deploying our Raptor and Cobra fast processes. We expect capital efficiency to improve with subsequent facilities due to operational benefits of larger scale equipment and process maturity.
Q: What are the details regarding the commercialization roadmap, particularly the timelines for Raptor and Cobra processes? A: (Siva Sivaram - President, CEO & Director) We are focused on both short-term deliverables and longer-term planning. We are working closely with our prospective launch customer, and the guidance we can give is for all of calendar '24 and '25. At the end of calendar '24, we aim to have done low-volume B samples, and next year we would go into high-volume QSE-5 B sample prototypes.
Q: How is cycle-life impacted under the fast charge testing protocol? A: (Siva Sivaram - President, CEO & Director) We have demonstrated substantial fast charge data and cycling together. Our core innovation includes ensuring that the ceramic separator, along with lithium metal plating in an anode-free configuration, can be done repeatedly over and over again at a reasonably fast charging cycle. This is one of the major differentiators of our technology.
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
