By Al Root

Shares of advanced aircraft maker Beta Technologies dipped early Tuesday after the company reported better-than-expected sales. The company's 2026 loss is going to be larger than management initially expected. But that's because the startup's business is growing faster than expected.

Tuesday morning, Beta reported an Ebitda loss of $97.2 million from sales of $10.1 million. (Ebitda is short for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.) Wall Street was looking for a $127 million loss from $8.7 million in sales, according to FactSet.

Beta is still a new company, making electrified propulsion systems for aircraft, charging infrastructure, and electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, aircraft, among other products. It completed its initial public offering in November. Sales and business development matter more than bottom-line earnings at this point

Sales topped Beta's own guidance range of $7 million to $10 million.

For 2026, Beta still expects revenue to be in the $39 million to $43 million range. Wall Street projects 2026 sales of about $40 million.

The company sees an Ebitda loss of $355 million to $445 million for the full year. That is wider than prior guidance, which was for a loss of between $305 million and $395 million. Wall Street projects a 2026 Ebitda loss of $373 million.

Beta stock was down 0.4% in premarket trading at $18.51, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively

The loss is widening because more business is happening sooner. Beta was selected for seven of the eight projects in the Transportation Department's eVTOL integration pilot program, or eIPP.

eVTOLs are quiet, relatively low-cost aircraft, sometimes referred to as flying cars, that potentially open up new urban air taxi markets. The eIPP is designed to bring eVTOLs to consumers faster, in part by providing opportunities for real-world testing.

More eIPP work means building more aircraft. Along with the eIPP, Beta added 16 sites to its nationwide eVTOL charging network, and won additional contracts for undersea propulsion with General Dynamics.

"We've created a complete system to bring electric aviation to market, including training pilots, building aircraft, and designing support systems," said CEO Kevin Clark in a news release. "This strategy has led the best operators in the world to choose Beta as their partner and translates into tangible progress."

Beta ended the quarter with about $1.6 billion in cash. Wall Street sees the company using about $1.2 billion cumulatively in 2026, 2027, and 2028, before positive free cash flow in 2029, when sales hit an estimated $2.4 billion.

Coming into Tuesday trading, Beta stock was down 34% this year.

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

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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May 12, 2026 07:15 ET (11:15 GMT)

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