By Al Root
Ouster stock soared after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter numbers. Lidar technology has turned a corner.
On Monday evening, the maker of lidar, which is essentially laser-based radar, announced earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda, of $11 million from sales of $62 million.
Wall Street was looking for an Ebitda loss of $10 million from sales of $41 million, according to FactSet.
A year ago, Ouster reported an $8 million Ebitda loss from sales of $33 million.
It was a huge beat on sales, helped by $21 million in royalty payments. Excluding those payments, $41 million in sales met analysts' projections. The royalties also likely helped boost Ebitda.
Whatever the reason, shares were up 16.8% in after-hours trading at $23.65. Shares gained 6.9% in regular trading, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat and down 0.2%, respectively.
Guidance was helping, too. For the first quarter of 2026, Ouster expects sales of between $45 million and $48 million. Wall Street projects sales of about $43 million.
Ouster reported sales of $33 million in the March 2025 quarter.
Ouster's results follow strong recent numbers from lidar peer Aeva Technologies. For 2026, Aeva expects sales to be between $30 million and $36 million, up about 70% to 100% year-over-year. Analysts were projecting $28.3 million at the time.
Lidar is moving from development to production, Aeva CEO Soroush Salehian told Barron's, 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.
Ouster serves industrial markets as well as cars. Many cutting-edge technologies need ways to perceive their environment.
Coming into the week, Ouster stock was up 130% over the past 12 months.
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
March 02, 2026 18:11 ET (23:11 GMT)
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