Energy Vault Backlog Swells as CFO Departs Amid Revenue Swings
Energy Vault Holdings (NRGV) flagged a material increase in contract backlog even as quarterly revenue swung from $153.3 million to $21.9 million between successive quarters.
Energy Vault Holdings (NRGV) disclosed a material increase in second-quarter 2026 contract backlog alongside an improved full-year outlook, deferring specifics to an August 11 earnings call, even as the energy-storage and infrastructure developer prepared for a change atop its finance function.
Nitin Dahiya, a former BlackRock executive, will become chief financial officer effective July 27, 2026, succeeding Michael Beer, who is departing. The transition arrives as Energy Vault's backlog and managed-capacity figures have climbed sharply: contract backlog reached $1.35 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 108% from a year earlier, building on $1.3 billion at the end of 2025, which itself had risen 42% sequentially and more than 300% year-over-year. Global megawatts under management followed a similar arc, surging to 1.1 gigawatts in the first quarter of 2026 from 440 megawatts the prior quarter, up more than 500% year-over-year, after finishing 2025 at 540 megawatts of contracted, in-operation and under-construction capacity, itself up from 65 megawatts a year earlier.
Revenue told a more uneven story. First-quarter 2026 revenue rose 156% year-over-year to $21.9 million from $8.5 million, but that figure marked a sharp sequential drop from the $153.3 million Energy Vault reported in the fourth quarter of 2025, a decline attributed to the lumpy, project-driven timing of revenue recognition. Profitability moved with it. Adjusted EBITDA turned positive at $9.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, a $23.2 million improvement from a year-earlier loss, before reverting to a loss of $13.6 million in the first quarter of 2026, wider than the $11.3 million loss a year earlier. GAAP net loss widened sequentially to $32.5 million in the first quarter of 2026 from $20.7 million in the fourth quarter, linked to higher depreciation, interest expense and a debt-extinguishment charge, even though the year-over-year comparison narrowed only modestly from a $21.1 million loss.
Gross margin showed a comparable split between sequential and annual trends. GAAP gross margin was 21.9% in the first quarter of 2026, up from 20.6% in the fourth quarter of 2025, but down from 57.1% a year earlier, a period that benefited from IP-related revenue that made the comparison non-representative. Adjusted gross margin of 27.9% rose in absolute dollar terms by 25% year-over-year despite the smaller revenue base. For full-year 2025, gross margin reached 23.6%, up from 13.4% in 2024, lifting GAAP gross profit nearly eightfold to $48.0 million. Energy Vault's guidance for 2026 puts gross margin in a 15%-25% range, a step down from the 2025 actual as the company scales a broader project mix.
Energy Vault expanded into new geography and infrastructure categories over the period. In the first quarter of 2026, the company proposed the acquisition of an 850-megawatt battery-storage IPP portfolio in Japan, with 350 megawatts in advanced-stage development, expected to close in the second quarter; by the anchor release, the acquisition was completed. It also continued building out artificial-intelligence and data-center infrastructure disclosures first introduced in the fourth quarter of 2025, when it detailed a Crusoe modular data-center partnership of up to 25 megawatts and roughly 500 acres of powered land in the U.S. Southwest. The first-quarter 2026 release added 100 megawatts of powered-land and powered-shell projects, which could generate more than $65 million in annual recurring EBITDA within 12 to 18 months, and the anchor release noted additional project wins in the same category.
Energy Vault has raised its long-term guidance for recurring earnings from its "Own & Operate" portfolio twice in as many quarters. The fourth-quarter 2025 release noted roughly $60 million of visibility into recurring adjusted EBITDA, accelerating to $100 million-$150 million by 2029; the first-quarter 2026 release raised that figure to more than $180 million in annual recurring EBITDA once the portfolio surpassed 1 gigawatt. Full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $225 million to $300 million, implying roughly 30% growth at the midpoint, was first issued alongside fourth-quarter 2025 results and reaffirmed unchanged in the first-quarter 2026 release.
Cash continued to build through the period, rising for a fifth consecutive quarter to $117 million at the end of the first quarter of 2026, up from $103.4 million at the close of 2025 and 67% higher than the third-quarter 2025 level. The final fourth-quarter 2025 results, reported in March 2026, came in at or above the high end of preliminary estimates issued in February, with revenue of $153.3 million, gross margin of 20.6% and adjusted EBITDA of $9.8 million against preliminary ranges of $150 million-$155 million, 18%-22% and $5 million-$10 million, respectively.
With the CFO transition set to take effect this month and detailed second-quarter figures withheld until the August 11 call, Energy Vault's near-term results will be measured against a backlog and capacity base that have expanded far faster than quarterly revenue has followed.