NXT Stock: Nextpower Looks Beyond Solar

Despite a US administration that is openly hostile to renewables – and headlines dominated by hydrocarbon-fuelled concerns – solar power dominated global energy development in 2025. 

According to an April 2026 report from the International Energy Agency, solar contributed to 25% of the growth in global energy supply over the course of the year, ahead of natural gas at 17%. This expansion has allowed renewables to overtake coal as the world’s largest source of energy generation, and is showing no signs of stopping. 

Solar could well be the future of energy. But could Nextpower [NXT] be the future of solar? 

The Fremont, California-based company already commands top market share in solar trackers – the technology used to allow solar panels to track the Sun as it moves across the sky – at about 26% of the global market in 2024. In November 2025, however, the company rebranded from Nextracker to Nextpower, indicating that its ambitions stretch beyond that niche corner of the solar infrastructure market. Demand for simplified procurement has led the company to expand its portfolio through both increased investment and M&A, even signalling that it could be targeting a portion of the data centre maintenance and infrastructure market. 

With NXT stock trading at an all-time high in the wake of its Q4 2026 earnings call, CMC Aureon investigates what Nextpower’s recent pivot could mean for investors. 

Solar rising

Nextpower has outlined an “everything but the panel” strategy, offering foundations, which connect panels to the ground; electrical balance of systems components, or eBOS, which connect solar modules to the inverter to enable centralised power collection; and artificial intelligence-driven robotics systems for solar panel cleaning, maintenance, mapping and fire detection; as well as market-leading trackers. 

Nextpower’s balance sheet is already showing the results of this expanded focus, with its Q4 2026 earnings, reported on 12 May, marking its fourth consecutive EPS beat. Quarterly revenue of $881m was down somewhat from $909m in the previous quarter, but high booking activity pushed backlog to a record $5.25bn. Revenue for FY 2026, up 20% from the year before, reached a record $3.56bn; adjusted operating margin dipped to 23.6% from 26% in 2025, compressed by increased investment and rising costs tied to the conflict in the Middle East. 

CEO Daniel Shugar described FY 2026 as a “defining inflection point” for the company, pointing to increased adoption of its new portfolio components, with 160GW of cumulative tracker shipments globally and record bookings for eBOS systems, as well as the first booking of a bundle including robotics solutions. 

For FY 2027, the company is targeting revenue in the $3.8b-4.1bn range, and adjusted EBITDA in the $825m-900m range. Nextpower’s non-tracker business is expected to be a major driver, growing more than 40% to reach 15% of total revenue. 

With this widened product offering, Nextpower is clearly targeting more than the solar market. In the wake of the earnings call, management announced the intention to acquire Spanish energy equipment provider Zigor Corporation’s power conversion business, as well as its US-based subsidiary Apex Power, enabling both utility-scale solar power conversion and an entry into battery energy storage and data centre markets. It is also aiming to invest $130m in its power conversion business over the course of FY 2027.

Powering forward

Supported by its run of earnings beats, expanding portfolio and bullish backlog, NXT stock has had a positive, if somewhat volatile, year to date. A 16% post-earnings surge on 13 May saw the share price hit $136.37, an all-time high. That puts the stock up nearly 350% since its IPO in February 2023, and up 169.35% in the past 12 months. NXT stock has gained 56.55% in the year to date, compared to the Invesco Solar ETF’s [TAN] 29.91% increase over the same time period.

Walking on sunshine: NXT vs ARRY vs FSLR

Array Technologies [ARRY] is one of Nextpower’s closest publicly traded competitors, commanding an estimated 9% of the global tracker market in 2024. It held a larger portion in 2023, but has since been pushed to a lower rank by swiftly growing Chinese firms, including Arctech [688408:SS]. On 6 May, it recorded an EPS and revenue beat for Q1 2026, though revenue contracted 26.1% year-on-year to $223.41m. Despite this, management emphasised record executed contracts and awarded orders totalling $2.4bn, and reaffirmed FY 2026 guidance with revenue in the $1.4bn-1.5bn range and adjusted EBITDA in the $200m-230m range. 

With its newly expanded portfolio, however, Nextpower clearly has bigger fish to fry than its tracker-focused former rival; comparison to a larger solar player may be illustrative. First Solar [FSLR] specialises in the portion of the market Nextpower does not: photovoltaic solar modules. While less diversified than NXT, First Solar wins out in size and reach, though its focus on the US market has fuelled share price volatility over the past few years.

In Q1 2026, reported on 30 April, First Solar recorded net sales of $1.04bn, up 24% y/y, and adjusted EBITDA of $520m. The company’s production is fully booked for three years, indicative of strong demand, and it aims to sell between 17GW and 18.2GW worth of modules in 2026. 

Source: Yahoo Finance

NXT stock: The investment case

The bull case for Nextpower

While the bull case for solar is clear, many analysts have noted that the investment case for solar technology manufacturers is more opaque, due in part to the impact of policy – notably in the US – and competing technologies. Nextpower, however, does not seem content to limit its focus to one corner of the solar market, or even just the solar market as a whole. Its power conversion, robotics and software solutions are allowing it to offer a bundle of services for solar installation maintenance, and it could easily repurpose those solutions to cater to energy storage or data centre customers. Management has also emphasised the firm’s healthy balance sheet. CFO Chuck Boynton underlined in the Q4 earnings call that Nextpower ended the quarter with $1.1bn in cash and cash equivalents, and zero debt. 

Following earnings, Citi analyst Vikram Bagri maintained a ‘buy’ rating and raised his price target from $114 to $145, citing the company’s strategic investments in power conversion. JPMorgan’s Mark Strouse, meanwhile, maintained an ‘overweight’ rating and upped his target from $125 to $155, highlighting bullish revenue guidance and potential synergies with data centre projects. 

The bear case for Nextpower

Even if Nextpower manages to pull off a successful entry into new business areas, increased investment is likely to impact profitability in the near term, as evidenced by compressed margins in Q4. CEO Shugar was the first to admit the potential headwinds, noting in the earnings call that the firm is “intentionally leaning into investments to support this next phase of growth. While this will modestly impact near-term profitability, we expect these investments to drive accelerated growth beginning next year.”

Additionally, with falling EPS and revenue growth, there is the risk that NXT’s valuation is already stretched. As it remains dependent on tracker sales for the bulk of its revenue, the company will have to aggressively expand non-tracker deals over the next year to keep pace with investor expectations. 

Conclusion

Buoyed by strong growth in solar infrastructure and a pivot to an “everything but the panel” strategy, Nextpower could be poised to capture a number of new business lines, including potential exposure to data centre and energy storage projects. However, management is projecting near-term pressure on profitability related to investment in new capacity. Already at an all-time high, NXT’s valuation could be stretched post-earnings. 

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