Hey there,
XBC's earnings were actually pretty solid. The fact remains that we are still very much in the early stages of the hydrogen/renewal gas space. The good news is that revenue came in above expectations - a nice change of pace for the company which has a very rocky history over the past year or so. Demand appears to be strong and the company did state that it continues to see positive leading indicators in terms of demand for its clean tech products. Not surprising, when the price of oil soars, it makes renewable technologies look more affordable.
The question is, can they capitalize. Unfortunately, they did not release Fiscal 2022 guidance - citing the current war and ongoing pandemic as reasons why. This is a little concerning but at the same time, gives them a little bit of room to manoeuvre given that they have a new CEO coming in. Speaking of which, they also announced the acceleration of the CEO transition. Jim Vounassis has been appointed President and CEO effective immediately (was previously scheduled for May 12). This is a good thing, the company needed to move on from the team that failed investors and the CEO move was that final piece.
This is still a very much - wait and see what happens. Can the new CEO turn the company around? It is well positioned as it is sitting on a record backlog of 123.8M a 23% increase over the same period last year. This was probably their best quarter since the accounting issue that destroyed their share price a little more than a year ago. Personally, I'm still holding and am willing to give the new CEO a while to sort things out. The demand for their products are there, they just need to execute.
Mat