Al Root
Lidar maker Aeva Technologies reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales and gave very strong guidance for 2026.
Still, shares were down in after-hours trading. Regardless of price reaction, it appears lidar technology has hit a positive inflection point.
Thursday evening, Aeva reported a fourth-quarter operating loss of $23.8 million from sales of $5.6 million. Wall Street was expecting a $28 million loss on sales of $4.3 million. A year ago, Aeva reported a $31 million loss from sales of $2.7 million.
For 2026, Aeva expects sales to be between $30 million and $36 million, up about 70% to 100% year-over-year. Analysts project $28.3 million.
The numbers look solid. Still, Aeva stock was up just 0.5% at $13.71 in after-hours trading. Shares were flat at $13.64 in regular trading, while the S&P 500 fell 0.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a small gain.
Regardless of the muted market reaction, lidar technology -- which is essentially laser-based radar -- used by cars and machines to visualize their environment, is maturing.
Lidar is moving from development to production, says CEO Soroush Salehian, helped by the proliferation of advanced driver assistance systems, self-driving robo-taxis from Waymo and others, and Nvidia's commitment to AI-trained self-driving cars.
Aeva's lidar is a little different from others, using "frequency modulated continuous wave" technology, which means it's more immune to glare and sunlight and easier to use to calculate the velocity of objects.
The technology differences are hard for laypeople to understand, but Nvidia made Aeva's lidar the " reference sensor" for its DRIVE Hyperion platform for autonomous vehicles.
The partnership is one reason Aeva stock was up 273% over the past 12 months through Thursday trading.
That gain is also one reason shares aren't reacting much to 2026 guidance. A lot of good news is already reflected in Aeva Technologies' shares.
However the stock trades on Friday, results show that Aeva's and lidar's momentum will continue in the months to come.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 26, 2026 17:25 ET (22:25 GMT)
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