Velo3D’s third quarter had two halves. The first looks like a turnaround working. The second quietly moves the goalposts.
What went right
Revenue for the quarter ended September 30 was $20.5 million, up about 50% from $13.6 million. Printer and parts revenue was $18.8 million, up 57%. New bookings came to $28.9 million and backlog stood at $40.1 million. The company says its Rapid Production Solutions parts business is a growing share of sales, without breaking it out.
Gross margin was 26.5%, against 3.2% a year earlier. Part of that is real, from higher prices, better mix and volume. Part isn’t. The release cites a net release of excess inventory reserves and a change in how labor and overhead are split between cost of revenue and operating expenses. Velo3D also restated Q1 and Q2 to fix an inventory reserve error, which cut its first-half net loss by about $1.6 million.
The balance sheet is much healthier. Cash was $75.7 million at September 30, up from $39.0 million at the end of 2025. Debt fell about 76% to $7.4 million. Management says there’s no longer substantial doubt about the company continuing as a going concern for the next twelve months. For a business that delisted from the NYSE and traded over the counter before moving to Nasdaq last year, that sentence matters.
What moved
The GAAP net loss widened to $16.7 million, or $0.52 a share, from $11.2 million. Operating expenses more than doubled to $22.7 million. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $9.8 million.
Full-year revenue guidance of $65 million to $75 million stayed. Other targets didn’t. The earlier goal of gross margin above 30% in the second half of 2026 is gone, replaced by a promise of sequential improvement in Q4. Capital spending was cut to $10 million to $20 million from $40 million to $50 million, mostly pushed into 2027. Positive EBITDA, which was expected in the second half of 2026, is now expected in 2028, along with positive operating cash flow.
What to watch
The Forge 1 Livermore campus opened in July and is ramping in phases. Velo3D joined the Government-Industry Data Exchange Program, which matters for defense quality work, and Mears Machine ordered its sixth Sapphire XC for copper-nickel printing. The demand side looks fine. The question is whether the factory ramp can turn that backlog into margin before the new 2028 deadline, or whether it slides again.