Ouster (OUST) Q2 FY26 earnings call: guidance and Q&A

Analyst asked for order of magnitude or quantification of Rev8 bookings and backlog for future revenue ramp.

Management stated strong reception to Rev8 with significant wins and million-dollar-plus orders, but did not provide exact bookings numbers for the full year. They emphasized Rev8 will fuel the core business for the next 5 years.

“So we -- it's been 1 quarter with Rev8 out being sold, and we've already racked up very significant wins with Fortune 500 companies, millions of dollars worth of orders.”

asked by Colin Rusch · answered by Charles Pacala

Analyst asked about the competitive landscape, Ouster's differentiated capabilities, bidding efforts, and pricing strategy.

Management highlighted the significant investment required in lidar and physical AI, creating a "flywheel" effect that gives Ouster a sustained edge. They believe competitors cannot easily replicate Ouster's integrated sensing, perception, compute, and software stack due to the decades of compounded investment.

“I view -- the lidar is not an easy business. Physical AI is not an easy business. These are new technologies that require significant investment. And I visualize this as almost as a flywheel of investment that gains momentum slowly, but considerably year in and year out for any company that's able to be consistent and focused in their strategy and investment over that long time period.”

asked by Colin Rusch · answered by Charles Pacala

Analyst asked if Rev8 orders were unshipped in Q2 due to availability and if Q3 guidance could be higher if more product was available.

Management stated they always carry a backlog and guide to what they can realistically ship to uphold lead time obligations. They confirmed minor prototype sales of Rev8 in Q2, with production ramp increasing quarter-over-quarter in H2.

“Well, we always carry a backlog in our business. We maintain inventory and a healthy backlog for the lidar business and increasingly for the Stereolabs camera business. And so, that's kind of a -- I can answer it technically. There could be more revenue to ship, but it's at the sacrifice of backlog, which we wouldn't want to do, and we also want to uphold our lead time obligations and shipment schedules with our customers.”

asked by Kevin Cassidy · answered by Charles Pacala

Analyst asked about exogenous factors driving an inflection in inbound interest for BlueCity beyond initial customers.

Management noted significant investment in BlueCity's go-to-market strategy and product development, with Rev8's OS1 Max advanced detection opening up about half the market due to longer range. They see a huge inflection point in the BlueCity business this year.

“Rev8, I can't stress it enough, the [ OS1 Max ] advanced detection, long-range detection opens up about half the market. And the market, as a reminder, in North America, there are 300,000 signalized intersections.”

asked by Sujeeva De Silva · answered by Charles Pacala

Analyst asked about the rationale for 100,000+ lidar capacity with Benchmark given current annualized shipments, and similar capacity dynamics for Stereolabs cameras.

Management explained the need to invest in lidar capacity due to 70% YoY unit volume growth, anticipating rapid scaling towards and beyond 100,000 units. For Stereolabs, Ouster's operations team is focused on maturing manufacturing and increasing capacity to meet "explosion in demand" from their customer base, especially in robotics.

“So the -- we need to be investing in the capacity plan for the lidar because if you actually look at our lidar unit volumes, they're up 70% year-over-year. So they're way up, and I expect that to continue.”

asked by Timothy Savageaux · answered by Charles Pacala

Analyst asked about the expected cadence and unit mix between lidar and cameras, and key upcoming catalysts.

Management expects camera unit volumes to increase and outpace lidar unit volume increases due to lower ASPs and the need for more cameras per robot. Key catalysts include the positive effects of Rev8, the ZED X Nano, and the long-term mission to transition from a hardware ecosystem supplier to a full-stack solutions provider for physical AI.

“So right now -- Stereolabs is a smaller company that's now becoming a midsized kind of entity within Ouster. And I see their unit volumes increasing and outpacing the unit volume increase of lidar just because of the dynamics.”

asked by Andres Sheppard-Slinger · answered by Charles Pacala