Detailed narrative
Record quarter caps a transformational year
AMSC reported a record Q4 with revenue of $86.4M (+30% YoY) and closed fiscal 2025 (year ended March 31, 2026) with revenue of nearly $300M, up 34%, of which roughly 25% was organic core growth. It delivered three record revenue quarters during the year (>$72M in Q1, >$74M in Q3, >$85M in Q4) and now has 7 consecutive quarters of GAAP and 11 of non-GAAP profitability.
Management repeatedly framed the year as 'transformational,' noting revenue was ~$30M per quarter only three years ago.
Orders and backlog inflect higher on utility and traditional-energy demand
Q4 orders reached nearly $100M, a record, driven by utility and traditional-energy demand (LNG, natural gas, large industrial power, mining), with roughly 10% from data centers (up from ~5% the prior quarter). The 12-month backlog rose ~40% to over $280M from $200M a year earlier, and total backlog is about $375M.
Full-year new orders were ~$290M; average quarterly orders exceeded ~$70M versus about $60M in the prior year (adjusting for a one-time📎 Royal Canadian Navy order of more than $70M). Lead times of 9–12 months let AMSC keep adding to the forward four-quarter book.
Grid vs Wind and end-market diversification
Grid revenue was $73.7M in Q4 (+33% YoY) and rose 34% for the year to represent 84% of total, aided by organic growth plus the Comtrapo acquisition; Asia-Pacific grid revenue grew nearly 6x YoY on large renewable projects and semiconductor/materials demand.
Wind revenue was $12.7M in Q4 (+15%) and grew 34% for the year (16% of total) on Inox ECS shipments. By end market, traditional and renewable projects combined were over half of FY sales, materials over 15%, and military and utility over 10% each.
Contrave/Comtrapo acquisition and Latin America strategy
AMSC closed the acquisition of a Brazilian transformer maker (rendered variously as Contrave/Comtrapo/COMTRAPO by ASR), broadening its transformer portfolio and expanding into Brazil and Latin America; management said total available market rose about 50%. The plan is a three-step focus: capture the Brazilian utility/industrial and mining opportunity, expand the combined offering across Latin America, then qualify the large power transformers for North American utilities over time⏳.
Purchase-accounting/noncash amortization of ~$1.5M per quarter (~170 bps in Q4) and a $4.2M contingent-consideration loss are the near-term optical drags.
Data center entry becomes a one-two punch
Direct-to-data-center wins are principally power-quality solutions (managing voltage and harmonics as data centers scale), analogous to AMSC's semiconductor-fab work, delivered during data center construction. Management also sees opportunity for power supplies and transformers sold into data centers, complemented by continued utility-side demand as data-center clusters strain the grid — shifting AMSC from a 'second-order' beneficiary to supporting both the data center directly and the utilities around it.
It cited a robust pipeline of future data-center orders.
Military/naval franchise
AMSC completed delivery of another Ship Protection System (SPS) for the U.S. Navy's San Antonio-class aboard the USS Richard McCool Jr., its fourth of five SPS deliveries (after USS Fort Lauderdale, USS Harrisburg, USS Pittsburgh). SPS reduces vessel visibility to threats, and AMSC power supplies also power critical ship systems and shipyard/docked vessels.
First delivery to the Royal Canadian Navy is expected in fiscal 2026, and management sees broader opportunity extending power solutions through energy infrastructure to ports.
Profitability, cash and the shift to a 'more mature' P&L
Q4 gross margin was 27.3% (vs 26.5%), held back ~170 bps by $1.5M of Comtrapo purchase-accounting adjustments; full-year gross margin expanded 270 bps to 30.5%. Q4 GAAP net income was $4.5M ($0.10) and non-GAAP $14.1M ($0.31), the latter aided by a $5.3M deferred-tax valuation-allowance release; full-year GAAP net income was $133.8M and non-GAAP $158.1M, both inflated by a $118.4M valuation-allowance release.
The company ended with $147.6M cash and generated $23.1M of operating cash flow for the year, and warned that regular tax expense will now recur as NOLs are consumed.
Capacity, headcount and capital deployment posture
Headcount grew from 569 to 1,195 during the year, a record, largely reflecting the acquisition. U.S./North America capacity is designed to scale principally by adding labor (more shifts and days), which is already beginning in some factories, while Brazil capacity will be expanded for the transformer business.
On further M&A, management said it is still digesting the recent deal (only ~4–6 months in) and would 'see' on another acquisition this year, emphasizing the combined Latin America product offering as the bigger near-term prize given its strong cash balance.