Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT) reported a strong finish to fiscal 2026, with executives pointing to record backlog, growth in its core solar tracker business and a broader push into power plant technology as key themes for the year ahead.
Chief Executive Officer and Founder Dan Shugar said the company delivered 20% year-over-year revenue growth, strong profitability and a backlog of more than $5.25 billion. He said demand remained healthy, supported by what he described as “a flight to quality” among customers.
Fiscal 2026 Revenue Rises 20%
Chief Financial Officer Chuck Boynton said fourth-quarter revenue was $881 million, down 3% sequentially but above the company’s expectations due to strength in North America and execution in its TrueCapture business. Boynton noted that the quarter included the impact of a new Middle East joint venture that Nextpower does not consolidate, reducing reported revenue by about 300 basis points.
For the full fiscal year, revenue rose 20% to approximately $3.56 billion. Boynton said the company finished “well above” its initial plan, primarily because of a strong U.S. market and Nextpower’s leadership position in the global solar tracker market.
Fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA was $202 million, representing a 23% margin. Full-year adjusted EBITDA was $854 million. Adjusted free cash flow totaled $154 million in the quarter and $514 million for the fiscal year. Nextpower ended the quarter with approximately $1.1 billion in cash and cash equivalents and no debt, and Boynton said the company achieved an investment-grade credit rating during the year.
Bookings and Backlog Reach Records
President Howard Wenger said fiscal 2026 was a record year for bookings and backlog, with one of the company’s strongest quarters to date. He said 79% of fiscal 2026 bookings came from the U.S. and 21% from the rest of the world.
Wenger said the U.S. market continued to show strong demand, while Europe posted record fiscal-year bookings. He also cited growing activity in the Middle East, India, Africa and Australia.
“Our bookings and backlog are based solely on firm orders and contracts,” Wenger said. “We do not include awards or late-stage negotiations in our backlog or bookings numbers.”
Wenger said overall average selling prices increased modestly year over year, partly because of higher attach rates for non-tracker products and services in the U.S. He said individual product pricing, including trackers, continued to align with the broader solar cost reduction curve.
Platform Strategy Expands Beyond Trackers
Nextpower executives emphasized the company’s strategy to provide what they called a complete solar technology platform, or “everything but the panel.” Wenger said customers increasingly want integrated solutions that simplify procurement, design and execution while improving system performance.
The company said its Tracker Plus foundation products are already being deployed at multi-gigawatt scale, with an annualized bookings run rate exceeding $100 million. Wenger also said Nextpower’s eBOS business, which expanded through the acquisition of Bentek about a year ago, posted record quarterly bookings and more than 40% year-over-year bookings growth.
Other product highlights included initial purchase orders for the NX PowerMerge eBOS solution and another multi-year, gigawatt-scale steel module frame agreement with Jinko Solar for U.S.-manufactured steel frames. Wenger said the company also surpassed 50 gigawatts of cumulative sales for its XTR terrain-following tracker and more than 30 gigawatts for its NX Hail Pro tracker solutions.
Power Conversion Acquisition Aims to Accelerate Growth
Shugar said Nextpower is expanding its platform through an agreement to acquire key power conversion product lines that are ready to ship, along with a planned U.S. manufacturing footprint. The deal remains subject to foreign direct investment approval by the Spanish government and other customary closing conditions.
The company views power conversion as important for solar plant yield, battery storage integration and power quality management, including applications tied to data centers. Wenger said the acquired central inverter system has a rating of 4.5 MVA for solar applications and 5.2 MVA for storage and data center use cases. The units are in UL and IEC certification testing, which is expected to be completed by next quarter.
Wenger said Nextpower has signed a conditional letter of intent with a key customer for more than 100 megawatts of power conversion products and expects the business to generate revenue in the current fiscal year. In response to analyst questions, Shugar said bookings are expected in the near term, with small revenue later this fiscal year and a ramp “as quickly but prudently as possible.”
Boynton said Nextpower plans to invest about $130 million to accelerate its power conversion business, including $50 million of incremental cost of goods sold and operating expenses and up to $80 million tied to the asset purchase agreement. He said the company expects the strategy to drive incremental revenue and gross margins in fiscal 2028.
Fiscal 2027 Outlook Raised From Prior Targets
For fiscal 2027, Nextpower guided for revenue of $3.8 billion to $4.1 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $825 million to $900 million. Boynton said the company expects the U.S. to account for a revenue mix in the high 70% range, with the rest of the world in the low 20% range.
The company expects more than 40% growth in non-tracker revenue in fiscal 2027, bringing non-tracker products to about 15% of total revenue. For the first quarter, Nextpower expects low-single-digit sequential revenue growth and gross margins in the low 30% range, including elevated freight and logistics costs tied partly to disruptions in the Middle East.
Boynton said operating expenses are expected to be elevated as Nextpower invests in platform expansion, with operating expenses projected at approximately 10.5% to 11.5% of revenue. The company continues to target adjusted EBITDA margins in the low 20% range and expects adjusted free cash flow of $450 million to $500 million in fiscal 2027.
During the question-and-answer session, executives said project timing remained manageable overall and that they were not seeing tax equity as a bottleneck for the industry. Wenger said some projects move out and others accelerate, but the pattern remains consistent with historical experience.
Executives also discussed the company’s Middle East joint venture, which Wenger said launched in January with more than 2 gigawatts of orders contributed by Nextpower. Shugar said geopolitical developments and higher fossil fuel costs could create additional tailwinds for solar demand globally, while Boynton said related freight and shipping cost impacts were included in the company’s outlook.
About Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT)
Nextpower, formerly known as Nextracker, is traded on NASDAQ under the symbol NXT and is a leading provider of advanced solar tracking solutions for utility-scale and distributed energy projects. The company specializes in the design, engineering and manufacturing of single-axis tracker systems that optimize the capture of solar energy by following the sun’s trajectory throughout the day. Nextpower’s core hardware offerings aim to enhance energy yield, reduce balance-of-system costs and simplify installation and maintenance for downstream solar developers and operators.
In addition to its tracker hardware, Nextpower provides a suite of digital software and analytics tools to maximize asset performance.
