Nel ASA: Orders Surge 224% as Net Loss Widens and CEO Search Drags On
Published on 07/30/2026 at 03:04 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
Nel ASA finds itself caught between two starkly different narratives. The Norwegian hydrogen specialist is booking orders at a blistering pace, yet its share price languishes near 52-week lows and the company just reported a deeper-than-expected quarterly loss. The stock closed at €0.1926 on Wednesday, barely 11% above the February trough of €0.1731 and a staggering 47% below the May high of €0.3655.
The technical picture offers little comfort. The 14-day Relative Strength Index sits at 35 to 36, inching toward the oversold threshold of 30 that chartists watch closely. With the 50-day moving average at €0.2404, the stock trades nearly 20% below that benchmark. The €0.19 level has emerged as a critical support — a break below it would likely trigger a retest of the February lows.
A Leadership Vacuum Weighs on Sentiment
Adding to the uncertainty, CEO HĂĄkon Volldal announced his departure on June 15 and is now set to take the helm at Elopak, the Oslo-based liquid packaging company. He remains at Nel during a six-month notice period, but the board has yet to name a successor. The prolonged search leaves investors guessing about the company's strategic direction at a pivotal moment.
The board insists the strategy remains unchanged, with the new pressurized alkaline electrolyzer platform — launched in May — at the center of the turnaround plan. That platform promises to cut investment costs by 40% to 60%, a critical step toward profitability. But until a permanent CEO is in place, the leadership vacuum will likely continue to cast a shadow over the stock.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Nel ASA?
Mixed Signals From the Second Quarter
The Q2 results, released in mid-July, painted a complex picture. Revenue from customer contracts fell to 153.41 million Norwegian kroner, down from 173.92 million a year earlier — a 12% decline. Total revenue dropped to 182 million kroner from 215 million.
The bottom line took a significant hit from a one-time item: an out-of-court settlement with Iwatani Corporation of America cost the company 70 million kroner. That pushed the EBITDA loss to 155 million kroner and the net loss to 189 million kroner, or minus 0.10 kroner per share — worse than the analyst consensus of minus 0.07 kroner.
The Order Book Tells a Different Story
Where the profit-and-loss statement disappointed, the order intake delivered a jolt of good news. Nel booked 230 million kroner in new orders during the second quarter, a 171% to 224% surge depending on the comparison period. Roughly 96% of that demand came from the PEM electrolyzer business.
The total order backlog stood at approximately 1.2 billion kroner at the end of June. While that's about 3% below the year-ago level, it represents a 9% increase from the first quarter of 2026 — a clear reversal of the previous downward trend.
Financial Cushion Buys Time
Nel's balance sheet provides a buffer against the current headwinds. The company holds around 1.3 billion kroner in cash and maintains a current ratio of 4.41, indicating ample short-term liquidity. That financial firepower should be enough to fund the transition to the new PA-Series platform without immediate pressure to raise capital.
Nel ASA at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.
The real test, however, lies in converting the growing order book into sustainable margins. Rising production costs and heavy investment requirements for capacity expansion continue to constrain profitability. Nel aims to reach 500 megawatts of manufacturing capacity by the end of 2026 and 1 gigawatt by 2027, with EU subsidies of 135 million euros partially supporting that buildout.
Investors will get their next concrete update on October 21, when the company reports third-quarter results. Until then, the stock's fate hinges on whether it can hold the €0.19 support level and whether the board can finally end the search for a new captain to steer this hydrogen ship through turbulent waters.
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