Kodiak AI Stock Falls After Its First Earnings Report.

Kodiak AI aims to deploy its AI-trained driver-as-a-service system to make trucks autonomous. (JUSTIN SULLIVAN/Getty Images)

Key Points

• Kodiak AI reported a $270 million pretax net loss, significantly higher than the $36 million loss analysts expected, due to one-time merger charges. Its adjusted loss was about $34 million.
• Kodiak AI’s shares lost 19% on Thursday after its first quarterly report since it went public via a merger with a SPAC.
• The company, which offers AI-based ‘driver-as-a-service’ solutions, generated $770,000 in third-quarter sales. It has 10 driverless trucks deployed.

Self-driving truck technology company Kodiak AI just reported its first quarterly results since completing its merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

It didn’t land like the company hoped. The stock lost 19% on Thursday, closing at $6.52 a share. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both fell about 1.7%.

Some of the stock’s weakness, however, could be attributed to one-time factors.

The company reported a pretax net loss of $270 million late Wednesday. It looks like a miss, but there were several one-time merger-related charges included. The adjusted loss was about $34 million, close to the consensus estimates, according to Citi analyst Mike Ward. Wall Street was looking for a $36 million loss, according to FactSet.

Things looked about as expected. Ward rates shares Buy and has a $13.50 price target for the stock.

Kodiak, which completed its SPAC merger in September with shares at about $9.50 apiece, calls itself a leader in autonomous trucking. Rather than building trucks, it offers AI-based “driver-as-a-service” solutions, charging trucking companies on a per-mile or per-vehicle basis.

The company has 10 driverless trucks deployed. It generated third-quarter sales of $770,000.

Operating cash flow was a negative $33 million in the third quarter and $70 million year to date. “We expect the quarterly cash burn of $35 million to $40 million,” Ward said. “The current cash balance of $146 million provides about 12 months of funding.”

The company is on a path to deploy 100 autonomous trucks, according to Cantor Fitzgerald’s analyst Andres Sheppard. “Up next, management is targeting to launch long-haul driverless operations in the second half of 2026.”

He rates shares Buy and has a $13 price target for the stock.

“We are bullish on autonomous vehicles, particularly commercial vehicles,” Sheppard said. “And we believe that driverless trucks can result in better unit economics, improve [truck] utilization, lower costs, enhance road safety, and address the truck driver shortage in the U.S.”

That’s the vision Kodiak is driving toward. It is still a ways down the road.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com