Orion Reports Improvement in Gross Margin and Profitability in Q2 2026; Reiterates FY 2026 Outlook

MANITOWOC, Wis., Nov. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Orion Energy Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: OESX) (Orion Lighting), a provider of energy-efficient LED lighting, electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and maintenance services solutions, today reported results for its fiscal 2026 second quarter (Q2’26) ended September 30, 2025. Orion is scheduled to discuss these results in an investor call today at 10:00 a.m. ET (details below).

Q2 Financial Performance

Q2 Financial Highlights

Orion’s Q2’26 revenue was $19.9M vs. $19.4M in Q2’25 and $19.6 in Q1’26. Orion’s maintenance services segment achieved significant growth despite allowing the lapse of unprofitable contracts earlier in FY’25.

Q2’26 gross profit margin grew 790 basis points to 31.0% vs. 23.1% in Q2’25 driven by changes in mix in both the EV and Maintenance segments.

Net loss improved $3.0M to $(0.6)M in Q2’26 compared to $(3.6)M in Q2’25.

The Company achieved Q2’26 adjusted EBITDA of $0.5M — marking its fourth consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA — compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $(1.4)M in Q2’25.

Orion reiterated its FY 2026 outlook for revenue growth from FY 2025 of approximately 5% to $84M, the achievement of which should position it to approach or achieve positive adjusted EBITDA for the full fiscal year.

Commentary from CEO Sally Washlow

I am extremely pleased to report earnings for my first full quarter as CEO of Orion.

Q2 featured solid accomplishments in our three business lines, as well as positive guideposts for the rest of the fiscal year.

— In Lighting, we continued our solid performance in Q2, typified by significant new business wins — exemplified by $11 million in public sector lighting and up to $7 million in LED lighting for facilities belonging to some of the biggest names in the automotive industry. And we see macro tailwinds in this business, illustrated by a recent Dodge Momentum Index report that commercial, industrial and public-sector construction planning is 33% ahead of year-ago levels.

— In EV Charging, we saw a welcome bounce-back from the uncertainty that the entire EV sector experienced in the first few months of the year. A particular Q2 highlight was booking $8.5 million in EV charging work in Massachusetts. We also saw a confidence-boosting federal clarification reassuring the availability of $5 billion in government EV-charging funds, with new standards mirroring those Orion already has in place.

— In Maintenance, these and other engagements feature ongoing managed services that ramp recurring revenue and assure a close, continuous and expanding relationship with our enterprise customers.

In Operations, prudent management in Q2 resulted yet again in increasing gross margin percentage — Q2’s 31% represents a one-third YOY jump —and the fourth straight quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA.

Now, as we pass the mid-point of our fiscal year, we see a second half of steeper growth in both revenue and profitability, and we reiterate our full-fiscal-year expectation of 5% revenue growth — to $84 million — coming in at or near positive adjusted EBITDA.

“As we look to the next six months and beyond, we see continuing growth, increasing profitability and expanding opportunity for Orion,” said Ms. Washlow.

Q2 2026 Business Highlights

“The hard work, focused execution and financial discipline of recent months is continuing to show results for Orion,” Ms. Washlow said. “As our Q2 earnings report shows, we are recording measurable progress in cost containment and, especially, profitability. And we anticipate top line growth in the back half of the year, as indicated by the numerous wins we have highlighted throughout the quarter.”

— An LED lighting, electrical infrastructure and EV charging engagement representing revenue of up to $11 million for a longtime government agency customer. The projects, which were secured through a Super energy service company (Super ESCO) partner, are expected to be completed over the next several fiscal quarters. Orion expects additional work for this customer, which is in the midst of a multi-year initiative to modernize its distribution facilities and refurbish its parking lots throughout the U.S.

— Two announcements representing a combined $8.5 million in revenue that illustrate Orion/Voltrek’s centrality to the deployment of EV charging stations and related infrastructure throughout Massachusetts: 1) The installation of 90 EV charging stations and related infrastructure in the Boston Public School system as part of multiple contracts valued at $6.5 million. 2) The installation of four High Power DC EV chargers and related infrastructure at two sites for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation as part of a contract valued at $2 million. Orion/Voltrek is involved in dozens of installations for Boston Public Schools, which has plans to electrify 100% of the district’s 750 school buses in the largest school-bus electrification initiative in the Northeastern United States. The Company is also critical to MassDOT’s five-year plan to deploy EV chargers throughout the Commonwealth.

— LED lighting engagements representing revenue of up to $7M in FY 2026 from long-time automotive industry customers in North America. Deployments and upgrades of LED Lighting and Electrical Infrastructure, along with ongoing managed services, have begun in several manufacturing and distribution facilities in North America. The facilities are owned primarily by three major automotive industry customers, including two global leaders that are among the most prominent automakers in North America. The engagements are part of an ongoing updating of the LED lighting and electrical infrastructure of manufacturing and distribution facilities operated by all three customers. The contracts illustrate Orion’s long-term incumbency as a key lighting and electrical contracting provider to the top tier of North America’s automakers.

— The expansion of Orion’s Voltrek EV Charging field sales and service presence to the Southeastern United States. Orion/Voltrek division is establishing a Jacksonville, FL., office, headed by William B. Rigsby, Director of Inside Sales and Customer Service. Orion/Voltrek’s arrival in the Southeast expands the division into its third region in the nation. The expansion builds on the Orion Energy Systems 12-year presence in Jacksonville.

— Orion commented in a public announcement that it supported new federal guidance directing $5 billion in public funds to EV charging locations that best provide dependable charging infrastructure. The company observed that the government directive effectively prescribes quality standards that Orion/Voltrek have already put in place for its public and private enterprise customers.

Financial Results

Orion’s Q2’26 revenue was $19.9M vs. $19.4M in Q2’25, while Q2’26 gross profit margin increased 790 basis points to 31.0% vs. 23.1% in Q2’25. Net loss was $(0.6)M in Q2’26 compared to $(3.6)M. The Company achieved Q2’26 adjusted EBITDA of 2.1% — marking its fourth consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA — compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of -12.4% in Q2’25.

Orion reported Q2’26 revenue of $19.9M compared to $19.4M in Q2’25, based on the following segment performance:

• LED lighting revenue decreased approximately $0.2M compared to $10.8 M in Q2’25, reflecting increases in turnkey and distribution activity offset by lower sales activity in the ESCO business. Orion’s expanded project pipeline as well as efforts to drive growth in its distribution business are expected to contribute to higher FY’26 LED lighting revenue compared to FY’25.
• Maintenance services revenue increased $0.7M to $4.5M in Q2’26 from $3.8M in Q2’25, reflecting the benefit of new customer contracts as well as the expansion of certain existing customer relationships.
• EV charging solutions revenue was $4.8M, which was relatively flat to Q2’25. Given current uncertainty around the near-term scope, pace, and funding availability for EV charging projects, Orion currently expects segment revenues to be relatively flat to slightly lower in FY’26 vs. FY’25.
  
  

Orion’s Q2’26 gross profit percentage increased 790 basis points versus 23.1% in Q2’25 primarily due to product and project mix and cost improvements across all three segments.

Total operating expenses declined to $6.4M in Q2’26 from $7.7 M in Q2’25, reflecting ongoing efforts to reduce infrastructure and personnel expenses. Q2’26 included $0.1M of expenses related to the reverse stock split which was executed in August, 2025.

Primarily reflecting stronger gross margin and lower operating expenses, Orion’s Q2’26 net loss improved to ($0.6M), or ($0.17) per share, versus a net loss of ($3.6M), or ($1.10) per share, in Q2’25. Orion’s adjusted EBITDA improved significantly to $0.5M in Q2’26 compared to ($1.4M) in Q2’25, reflecting the benefit of the company’s financial discipline.

Balance Sheet and Cash Flow

Orion has generated $1.3M of cash from operating activities in the first six months of FY’26 vs. a $2.5M use in FY’25, principally due to significantly improved bottom line results in the current year. Orion has also paid down $1.25M on its revolving credit facility in FY26, bringing outstanding borrowings under the facility to $5.75M as of September 30, 2025. Orion is currently in arbitration over the final amount owed for the Voltrek earnout.

Webcast and Call Details

Date / Time: Wednesday, November 5^th at 10:00 a.m. ET

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About Orion Energy Systems

Orion provides energy efficiency and clean tech solutions, including LED lighting and controls, electrical vehicle (EV) charging solutions, and maintenance services. Orion specializes in turnkey design-through-installation solutions for large national customers as well as projects through ESCO and distribution partners, with a commitment to helping customers achieve their business and environmental goals with healthy, safe, and sustainable solutions that reduce their carbon footprint and enhance business performance.

Orion is committed to operating responsibly throughout all areas of our organization. Learn more about our sustainability and governance priorities, goals and progress , or visit our website at . 

Non-GAAP Measures

In addition to the GAAP results included in this presentation, Orion has also included the non-GAAP measures, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), and Adjusted EBITDA (EBITDA adjusted for stock-based compensation, acquisition related costs, deferred financing costs, restructuring and severance costs, asset impairment and, earnout expenses). The Company has provided these non-GAAP measures to help investors better understand its core operating performance, enhance comparisons of core operating performance from period to period, and allow better comparisons of operating performance to its competitors. Among other things, management uses these non-GAAP measures to evaluate the performance of the business and believes these measurements enable it to make better period-to-period evaluations of the financial performance of core business operations. The non-GAAP measurements are intended only as a supplement to the comparable GAAP measurements and Orion compensates for the limitations inherent in the use of non-GAAP measurements by using GAAP measures in conjunction with the non-GAAP measurements. As a result, investors should consider these non-GAAP measurements in addition to, and not in substitution for or as superior to, measurements of financial performance prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

Consistent with Regulation G under the U.S. federal securities laws, the non-GAAP measures in this press release have been reconciled to the nearest GAAP measures, and this reconciliation is located under the heading “Unaudited EBITDA Reconciliation” following the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows included in this press release.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain matters discussed in this press release are "forward-looking statements" intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements may generally be identified as such because the context of such statements will include words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would" or words of similar import. Similarly, statements that describe our future outlook, plans, expectations, objectives or goals are also forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from those expected, including, but not limited to, the following: (i) our existing liquidity and capital resources may not be sufficient to allow us to fund or sustain our working capital requirements or pay our contractual or debt obligations; (ii) our payment of our remaining Voltrek acquisition earnout obligations may involve either payments in cash or our issuance of our common stock, which could materially affect our liquidity and/or result in significant dilution to our shareholders; (iii) the amount of our remaining Voltrek acquisition earnout is subject to resolution by an independent accounting firm, and such finally determined earnout amount may exceed our current accrued liability for such earnout amount and could materially affect our liquidity; (iv) we may need to raise additional equity capital or subordinated or convertible debt to provide us with additional liquidity and capital resources to help fund our operations, pay our senior debt obligations and pay our remaining Voltrek earnout obligations; (v) over the past several years, we have incurred substantial net losses and negative cash flow, and if these trends continue, our liquidity and financial condition will be further materially adversely affected; (vi) we are experiencing ongoing increasing pressures to reduce the selling price of our lighting products and incur the related negative impact on our gross margins, driven largely by the ongoing increase in competition from foreign competitors; (vii) our previously effected reverse stock split may result in decreased trading volume and liquidity for our shares; (viii) our ability to achieve our budgeted fiscal 2026 revenue expectations, and related public fiscal 2026 revenue guidance, will have a significant impact on our cash flow and stock price and ability to fund our operations and satisfy our debt obligations; (ix) government tariffs and other actions have adversely affected, and may continue to adversely affect, our business, resulting in increased costs and reduced gross margins; (x) the reduction or elimination of incentives from the United States government for investments in electric vehicle (“EV”) charging infrastructure may reduce demand for public EV charging products, in addition to reducing overall demand for EVs; (xi) we do not have major sources of recurring revenue, and we depend upon a limited number of customers in any given period to generate a substantial portion of our revenue. The reduction of revenue from our most significant customer over the past several fiscal years has had, and the potential future loss of other significant customers or a major customer would likely have, a materially adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows; (xii) the reduction or elimination of investments in, or incentives to adopt, light emitting diode (“LED”) lighting or the elimination of, or changes in, policies, incentives or rebates in certain states or countries that encourage the use of LEDs over some traditional lighting technologies, including due to federal funding restrictions in the United States, could cause the demand for our lighting products to slow; (xiii) we are currently implementing a new ERP system, which will involve substantial cost and potential disruption to our normal operations, and our inability to successfully manage the implementation of our new ERP system could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and otherwise negatively affect our financial reporting and the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting; (xiv) a substantial portion of our revenues is derived from major project-based retrofit work that is awarded through a competitive bid process. It is generally difficult to predict the timing of projects that will be awarded, which can impact our ability to achieve our expected financial results; (xv) our continued emphasis on indirect distribution channels to sell our products and services to supplement our direct distribution channels has had limited success to date; (xvi) goodwill and other intangibles acquired through acquisitions could be impacted by our continued net losses and low levels of liquidity, thus resulting in a potential valuation impairment; (xvii) our products use components and raw materials that may be subject to price fluctuations, shortages or interruptions of supply, particularly resulting from tariffs and other trade restrictions; (xviii) we increasingly rely on third-party manufacturers for the manufacture and development of our products and product components; (xix) we are subject to the risk of a cybersecurity breach; (xx) macroeconomic pressures in the markets in which we operate may adversely affect our financial results; (xxi) adverse conditions in the global economy have negatively impacted, and could in the future negatively impact, our customers, suppliers and business; (xxii) the success of our LED lighting retrofit solutions depends, in part, on our ability to claim market share away from our competitors; and (xxiii) the other risks described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Shareholders, potential investors and other readers are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements made herein are made only as of the date of this press release and we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. More detailed information about factors that may affect our performance may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at  or at in the Investor Relations section of our website.

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ORION ENERGY SYSTEMS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

UNAUDITED EBITDA RECONCILIATION

(in thousands)