ChargePoint Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CHPT) just delivered one of its sharpest single‑day moves in months. After reporting fiscal Q3 2026 results that showed a return to top‑line growth, improved margins and a major debt reduction, the EV‑charging stock surged more than 20% on Friday, December 5, 2025 — even though the company remains deeply unprofitable. [1]
The rally comes only a few months after ChargePoint executed a 1‑for‑20 reverse stock split to avoid NYSE delisting, a stark reminder of how far the stock had fallen during its multi‑year slide. [2]
Below is a detailed look at what moved CHPT today, what the latest numbers actually say, how Wall Street is reacting, and what the current forecasts imply for investors considering this high‑risk EV charging play.
How ChargePoint Stock Traded on December 5, 2025
By the closing bell on Friday, ChargePoint shares finished around $10.43, up roughly 22% on the day, with after‑hours trading ticking slightly lower. [3]
Intraday, data from QuiverQuant showed:
- ~25% one‑day gain at the time of their snapshot
- ~$25.5 million in trading volume
- CHPT ranked as the 103rd most‑searched ticker on their platform out of more than 10,000 symbols. [4]
Benzinga’s midday report also pegged the stock up about 26–27% as investors digested the earnings release and updated guidance. [5]
Even after this spike, CHPT still trades far below its split‑adjusted 52‑week high of $30 and only modestly above its $7.30 low, according to MarketBeat data — a reminder that today’s bounce is happening off a heavily depressed base. [6]
Q3 Fiscal 2026: Revenue Beat, Losses Narrow
ChargePoint’s fiscal Q3 2026 (quarter ended October 31, 2025) was the first in a while that felt like a genuine step forward rather than just “less bad”:
- Revenue: $105.7 million, up 6.1% year‑over‑year and roughly 10% above Wall Street expectations in the mid‑$90 million range. [7]
- GAAP net loss: $52.5 million, or –$2.23 per share, versus a loss of $77.6 million (–$3.56 per share) a year ago. [8]
- Non‑GAAP EPS: –$1.32 vs. –$2.00 in the prior‑year quarter, slightly better than consensus estimates around –$1.35. [9]
Margin improvement was the standout. Based on the company’s own filings, total gross profit rose to $32.5 million on $105.7 million of revenue, implying a gross margin of roughly 31%, up from about 23% a year earlier — an expansion of nearly eight percentage points. [10]
Revenue mix also leaned more toward recurring business:
- Networked charging systems: $56.4M
- Subscriptions: $42.0M
- Other: $7.3M
Subscriptions grew from about $36.4M a year ago and now represent close to 40% of revenue, a positive shift toward higher‑margin, recurring sales. [11]
On the cost side:
- Operating expenses fell to $76.8M from $91.0M in Q3 last year, as management’s restructuring and cost‑cutting programs began to show up in the income statement. [12]
- Adjusted EBITDA loss improved to –$19.5M, an –18.4% margin, representing a 32% year‑over‑year improvement. [13]
CEO Rick Wilmer described Q3 as a “return to growth,” pointing to stronger partnerships with automotive and fleet customers, cost reductions, and lower cash burn, while emphasizing a focus on operational excellence to drive further margin improvement. [14]
Guidance: Modest Growth and a Path Toward Positive EBITDA
For the fourth fiscal quarter ending January 31, 2026, ChargePoint guided:
- Revenue:$100–110M
- Midpoint of $105M, roughly 2.5% above prior Street estimates (~$102.4M). [15]
Management also reiterated a goal of reaching positive non‑GAAP adjusted EBITDA in the coming year, leaning on:
- Continued cost discipline
- A growing base of subscription revenue
- Margin benefits from shifting more hardware production to lower‑cost manufacturing partners in Asia. [16]
However, not everyone buys the “inflection” narrative just yet. JPMorgan analyst Bill Peterson maintained an “Underweight” rating and $8 price target, warning that:
- Q3 outperformance was partly driven by pull‑forward of U.S. EV sales ahead of a consumer tax credit expiration, particularly boosting residential billings.
- He does not expect a “step‑change” in growth as those credits roll off and EV sales normalize.
- Margin improvement may take “several quarters”, given ChargePoint’s reliance on product mix and clearing lower‑margin inventory before higher‑margin hardware and software take over. [17]
In other words, the company is guiding to better numbers — but execution risk remains high.
Balance Sheet: Heavy Losses, But Debt Load Just Got Lighter
One of the most important developments behind the earnings headline is ChargePoint’s deleveraging move in November.
On November 18, 2025, ChargePoint announced that it had exchanged $329M of its convertible notes due 2028 for:
- A new $157M senior secured loan (the “New Loan”)
- Up to $55M in cash
- Approximately $10M in warrants
This transaction:
- Cut total debt from $340M to $168M — more than 50% reduction
- Eliminated an $82M change‑of‑control repayment premium
- Is expected to reduce annual interest expense by about $10M
- Extended the main debt maturity from 2028 to 2030. [18]
The New Loan carries a 12% interest rate and is secured by substantially all of ChargePoint’s assets, underscoring that lenders are still pricing in meaningful risk. [19]
From the Q3 balance sheet:
- Cash & cash equivalents: $180.5M (down from $224.6M at the start of the fiscal year)
- Inventories: $212.2M (slightly higher than in January)
- Total assets: $848.0M
- Stockholders’ equity: just $38.4M, down from $137.5M at the beginning of the year as losses accumulated. [20]
This combination — shrinking equity, ongoing losses, and still‑significant leverage even after the exchange — is exactly why management is pushing both cost cuts and revenue growth so hard.
Reverse Stock Split: A Lifeline, Not a Cure
On July 28, 2025, ChargePoint implemented a 1‑for‑20 reverse stock split, consolidating every 20 existing shares into one new share. The move:
- Was designed to boost the share price to meet NYSE’s minimum listing requirements after CHPT traded below $1
- Reduced the share count from roughly 467 million to about 23.4 million
- Left shareholders’ percentage ownership unchanged, except for rounding out fractional shares. [21]
An in‑depth AI‑assisted analysis from AInvest characterized the reverse split as a “technical fix, not a cure,” noting that:
- Fiscal 2025 revenue fell sharply vs. the prior year (StockAnalysis data show revenue dropping from about $506.6M in FY 2024 to $417.1M in FY 2025, a decline of roughly 18%). [22]
- The company continued to post sizeable EBITDA losses and burn cash, with operating expenses far outstripping gross profit. [23]
In short: the reverse split and debt exchange bought ChargePoint time. They did not solve the core challenge of turning a capital‑intensive, hardware‑heavy business into a sustainably profitable one.
Wall Street’s Take on December 5: Cautious, Not Euphoric
Friday’s analyst updates paint a picture of cautious, measured responses to the Q3 print and rally:
- RBC Capital (Christopher Dendrinos)
- Rating: Sector Perform
- Price target: cut from $10 to $9 [24]
- Roth Capital (Craig Irwin)
- Rating: Neutral/Hold
- Price target: cut from $11 to $8.50 [25]
- JPMorgan (Bill Peterson)
- Rating: Underweight
- Price target: $8, reiterated [26]
Other firms had already moved earlier in the year:
- TD Cowen cut its target from $30 to $11 (Hold). [27]
- UBS sits at $12 (Hold). [28]
- Benchmark slashed its target from $40 to $20 but kept a Strong Buy stance, implying it still sees big upside if the turnaround works. [29]
Consensus picture (StockAnalysis / Finnhub data):
- 10 analysts currently cover CHPT
- Consensus rating:“Hold”
- Average 12‑month price target:$13.15, implying roughly 26% upside from today’s close
- Target range: $8 (low) to $20 (high). [30]
MarketBeat, using a slightly different aggregation, classifies ChargePoint as a “Reduce” (effectively a soft Sell), based on 1 Buy, 7 Hold and 3 Sell‑equivalent ratings, with an average target near $13.56 — broadly consistent with the StockAnalysis numbers on price but harsher on sentiment. [31]
Forward estimates tell the real story: analysts do not expect a straight‑line recovery:
- FY 2026 revenue: ~$403M, down 3–4% from FY 2025
- FY 2027 revenue: ~$454M, up about 13% from FY 2026
- EPS: still negative, but improving from roughly –$5.28 this year to –$3.42 next year. [32]
So even in the bullish scenario, profitability is still some distance away.
Signals from Big Money: Institutions vs. Insiders
Institutional and insider activity around ChargePoint sends mixed signals.
Institutions are quietly adding
QuiverQuant’s tracking of 13F filings shows: [33]
- 114 institutional investors increased their CHPT positions in the most recent quarter
- 46 institutions decreased their stakes
Among the notable buyers:
- Vanguard Group added more than 1 million shares
- BlackRock, Millennium Management, Geode Capital, Invesco and Citadel all reported meaningful new or increased positions. [34]
Separately, MarketBeat reports that XTX Topco Ltd:
- Increased its stake by 75.5%, buying 368,418 shares
- Now holds 856,654 shares, about 3.7% of the company, valued around $600,000
- Overall, hedge funds and institutions own roughly 37.8% of ChargePoint’s stock. [35]
Insiders are selling, not buying
On the other hand, both QuiverQuant and MarketBeat highlight net insider selling:
- QuiverQuant logs 8 open‑market insider trades over the past six months — all sales, no purchases, including disposals by the CFO, Chief Revenue Officer, and other senior leaders. [36]
- MarketBeat notes that insiders sold 7,426 shares last quarter, with corporate insiders owning about 3.5% of outstanding shares. [37]
Insider selling isn’t automatically a red flag (executives sell for many reasons), but the absence of any insider buying at current depressed levels will not go unnoticed by risk‑conscious investors.
Business Fundamentals Beyond the Headline Numbers
Subscription and software momentum
ChargePoint’s long‑term bull case depends heavily on shifting more revenue to high‑margin subscriptions and software:
- Q3 subscription revenue was $42.0M, up from $36.4M a year earlier, and now accounts for a substantial share of total sales. [38]
- StockStory’s Q3 deep‑dive notes that subscription growth, combined with restructuring‑driven cost cuts, was a major driver of the improved adjusted EBITDA and is central to management’s plan for margin expansion. [39]
Next‑generation platform and manufacturing shift
ChargePoint is also betting on technology and supply‑chain changes to boost profitability:
- The company is rolling out a new generation of its software platform that can manage virtually any EV‑charging operation — from fleet depots and municipal installations to employee parking and multi‑family housing — with backward compatibility for existing hardware. [40]
- Management expects more meaningful margin improvement starting mid‑2026 as new manufacturing partnerships in Asia ramp, lowering hardware costs while subscription margins expand with scale. [41]
Strategic contracts and brand positioning
Recent corporate developments add some fundamental support:
- A Sourcewell cooperative purchasing contract gives ChargePoint a preferred position to supply EV charging infrastructure to public agencies in the U.S. and Canada. [42]
- The company continues to roll out ultra‑fast charging sites, such as a new location in metro Detroit with Dabaja Brothers Development Group. [43]
- CEO Rick Wilmer’s inclusion in the 2025 TIME100 Climate list underscores ChargePoint’s profile as a climate‑tech leader. [44]
These wins help the narrative — but they must ultimately translate into sustained revenue and margin growth.
Competitive and structural headwinds
Analysts remain keenly aware of the challenges:
- AInvest and other commentators stress that ChargePoint is still losing ground in key fast‑charging segments to players like Tesla and ABB, which benefit from larger integrated ecosystems and economies of scale. [45]
- ChargePoint’s business is still hardware‑heavy, which exposes it to pricing pressure and cyclical swings. While subscriptions are growing, they’re not yet large enough to fully offset hardware volatility. [46]
- The broader EV market is in a transition phase: U.S. tax credit changes are distorting demand, and there is fierce competition for both public grants and private capital in charging infrastructure. [47]
Bull vs. Bear: How to Read ChargePoint After the Rally
The bullish case for CHPT
Supporters of ChargePoint can point to several positives after Q3:
- Return to growth & revenue beat
- Q3 revenue grew 6.1% year‑over‑year and beat estimates by nearly 10%. [48]
- Significant margin improvement
- Gross margin expanded from ~23% to ~31%; adjusted EBITDA loss shrank meaningfully. [49]
- De‑risked balance sheet
- Debt cut by more than half and major maturities pushed to 2030, reducing interest expense and bankruptcy risk in the near term. [50]
- Growing recurring revenue & new platform
- Subscriptions are rising, and a new, more flexible software platform should deepen customer lock‑in and boost margins over time. [51]
- Institutional interest
- Large asset managers and hedge funds are adding to positions, suggesting some belief in a multi‑year turnaround. [52]
- Asymmetric upside for risk‑tolerant investors
- With a sub‑$200M market cap and high operating leverage, any sustained improvement in revenue and margins could, in theory, drive outsized equity returns — if execution is strong. [53]
The bearish case for CHPT
Skeptics counter with equally powerful arguments:
- Still deeply unprofitable
- ChargePoint lost $52.5M in Q3 alone and is expected to post negative EPS for at least the next two fiscal years. [54]
- Annual revenue still trending down
- FY 2025 revenue dropped roughly 18% from FY 2024, and consensus expects FY 2026 revenue to fall again before recovering in FY 2027. [55]
- Leverage remains high & costly
- Even after the exchange, the new loan carries 12% interest and is secured by most of the company’s assets; if the turnaround stalls, equity holders could be squeezed. [56]
- Reverse split optics
- The 1‑for‑20 reverse split is a classic distress signal, often associated with weak underlying fundamentals and, historically, poor future returns across many companies. [57]
- Insider selling & cautious analyst sentiment
- Management is selling, not buying, and consensus ratings hover around Hold/Reduce with only one strongly bullish analyst left. [58]
- Macro and sector risks
- A slower‑than‑expected ramp in EV adoption, delays in infrastructure funding, or more aggressive competitors could all derail the path to positive EBITDA. [59]
Bottom Line: A High‑Risk Turnaround Story
After today’s earnings‑driven spike, ChargePoint is still very much a speculative turnaround stock, not a steady EV growth franchise.
- If you’re bullish, the story is about inflection: improving margins, rising subscription revenue, a cleaner balance sheet and a huge addressable market in EV charging.
- If you’re bearish, it’s about fragility: repeated annual revenue declines, persistent losses, expensive debt, insider selling and intense competition in a capital‑hungry sector.
Analyst targets suggest moderate upside from current levels, but they also overwhelmingly point to continued losses and execution risk over the next two years. [60]
For most investors, CHPT likely belongs — if at all — in the speculative corner of a diversified portfolio, sized small enough that a further drawdown won’t be catastrophic, but meaningful enough that a successful turnaround would move the needle.
Disclosure: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, tax advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always do your own research and consider consulting a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.
References
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