Palladyne AI Corp
🔔 Watch stock
Assessment
Our Rating
A journalistic assessment by our editorial team at the time of the deep dive — it rates the company, not the entry point. Not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell.
The business works in principle, but one material question is open. As long as it stays open, our findings do not carry a quality verdict.
Why this colour
Yellow, because one material operating question is open without the substance being at risk. Open: whether the AI software ever becomes a licensing business — that line stood at zero as of June 30, 2026 — and whether cash burn falls as planned from $10.6 million to $5.4 million to $7.4 million per quarter. Against the more cautious rating stand demonstrable facts: $43.7 million of cash and marketable securities, a 78 percent equity ratio, effectively no bank debt, no going concern paragraph and $24.6 million of backlog. The realistic consequence of overspending is therefore not collapse but further dilution through the running at-the-market program — a shareholder risk, not a solvency risk. Whether roughly twelve times expected 2026 revenue is a fair price is expressly not what this rating decides. The decision is yours.
What the thesis turns on
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
Palladyne AI sells an idea and earns its money from something else: the 470 percent jump to $5.783 million of revenue in the quarter ended June 30, 2026 includes $4.6 million from businesses bought only on November 14, 2025, while the AI software that gives the company its name "has no software product revenue to date" by its own account. What remains is a small defense and industrial supplier with $24.6 million of backlog and a clean balance sheet ($43.7 million of cash, almost no debt) — carrying a market value of roughly $302 million priced on a software yardstick. Not investment advice.
Backlog and revenue momentum
Backlog rose 43 percent during the quarter ended June 30, 2026 to $24.6 million, including roughly $13.0 million of new awards; revenue grew 63 percent sequentially to $5.783 million. Full-year guidance of $24.0 million to $27.0 million was reaffirmed on August 6, 2026 rather than cut.
The core promise: AI software
The quarterly report to June 30, 2026 records that the company "has no software product revenue to date". Revenue tied to the AI technology arises only through customer-funded development contracts ($1.179 million for the quarter, up 16 percent year over year) — an hours business, not a licensing business.
Where the growth comes from
Of $5.783 million of quarterly revenue, $4.6 million comes from categories that barely existed before the acquisitions of November 14, 2025. Acquiring is a legitimate route and it defused the customer concentration (73 percent with one customer in 2025). But bought is not the same as grown — annual revenue had fallen from $7.786 million to $5.246 million in 2025.
Earnings quality
The bottom line mostly measures warrant remeasurement: 2025 net income of $10.039 million against a $32.404 million operating loss (a $37.740 million gain from that line), 2024 a net loss of $72.617 million against a $26.923 million operating loss (a $46.935 million loss). The operating loss itself grew to $13.413 million in the quarter ended June 30, 2026.
Balance sheet and funding
At June 30, 2026 the company held $43.7 million in cash and marketable securities, a 78 percent equity ratio and effectively no bank debt, against $21.290 million of cash consumption in the first half alone. To hold its own $32.0 million to $36.0 million guidance, the outflow must roughly halve in the second half. There is no going concern paragraph.
Dilution
The at-the-market program with Jefferies placed 10,653,920 shares for roughly $73.3 million gross through June 30, 2026 — better than one in five of the 49,338,510 shares outstanding at July 29, 2026. Add 16,026,027 potentially dilutive securities (about 33 percent) and nearly ten million further shares approved by the annual meeting on June 8, 2026.
Worth Noting
Palladyne AI reached our research list through the Reddit hype scanner, run of August 22, 2026; no mention count survives for that run, so none is quoted. From our in-house stock scanner, as of August 22, 2026: Piotroski score 2 of 9, Altman Z-score 1.12, equity ratio 78 percent and short interest of 19.8 percent of the float. Scanner values are recalculated daily.
Identity and possible confusion: the same company was called Rotor Acquisition Corp. (a SPAC) until September 24, 2021 and Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corporation until March 18, 2024. A 1-for-6 reverse stock split took effect on July 5, 2023; all share counts in this analysis follow the post-split basis, as the SEC filings do. Alongside the common stock PDYN, Nasdaq also lists the warrant PDYNW with an exercise price of $69.00 per share, expiring September 24, 2026 — it is not a substitute for the share.
Recency note: the most recent quarterly report (10-Q) is dated August 6, 2026 and has been fully evaluated, as has the Form 8-K of the same day carrying the results release and the reaffirmed guidance. Filings after that date: on August 21, 2026, three Forms 4 and three Forms 144 from the CFO, CTO and chief legal officer covering 27,232 shares in total at $6.1589 each — around 0.06 percent of shares outstanding and therefore immaterial to this assessment. A Schedule 13G had been filed shortly before the quarterly report, on July 29, 2026. No Form 15 and no Form 25 has been filed since the quarterly report; the Nasdaq listing continues.
The market capitalization used here is dated and cross-checked: 49,338,510 shares (10-Q cover page, as of July 29, 2026) times $6.13 (closing price August 21, 2026) gives roughly $302 million; the same share count times $6.74 — the closing price documented in prospectus 424B3 for January 20, 2026 — gives roughly $333 million. The deviation of about 9 percent is far below the one fifth at which we discard a market capitalization and every figure derived from it.
Stock Watch
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Price history
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
52-week range: 4.20 $ to 10.30 $ · Last price: 5.80 $ (As of: September 17, 2026)
Key figures
Key figures at a glance
Every figure we hold for this stock, grouped by topic. The question mark next to a label explains what the number means.
Basics
Performance
Technical Indicators
Calculated from the price history · as of 09/18/2026
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
This stock currently pays no dividend.
Quality & Screener
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Comparison
Industry comparison
The stock alongside the largest companies in the same group. The median row is the middle value of the companies shown above — not of the whole industry.
Industry: Software - Infrastructure
| Company | Market cap ($B) | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross Margin % | EBIT Margin % | Sales Growth (Year) % | Perf. 1Y % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palladyne AI Corp PDYN | 0.3 | – | 0.4 | 28.7 | – | – | -20.6 |
| Microsoft Corporation MSFT | 3,632.6 | 30.8 | 17.6 | 67.9 | 46.3 | 14.9 | -1.6 |
| Oracle Corporation ORCL | 435.3 | 24.7 | 14.8 | 64.0 | 36.2 | 17.4 | -49.5 |
| Palantir Technologies Inc. PLTR | 432.5 | 199.0 | 147.5 | 84.8 | 46.2 | 56.2 | 4.7 |
| Palo Alto Networks Inc PANW | 305.7 | 302.6 | 194.0 | 70.4 | -2.5 | 14.9 | 84.7 |
| Crowdstrike Holdings Inc CRWD | 248.2 | – | 490.1 | 75.2 | -2.2 | 21.7 | 120.6 |
| Fortinet Inc FTNT | 124.2 | 61.8 | 39.6 | 80.2 | 31.3 | 14.2 | 115.0 |
| Cloudflare Inc NET | 115.1 | – | 2,805.8 | 72.6 | -9.7 | 29.9 | 56.1 |
| Synopsys Inc SNPS | 73.0 | 77.0 | 22.3 | 82.9 | 10.4 | 15.1 | -10.4 |
| Median of companies shown | 248.2 | 69.4 | 39.6 | 72.6 | 20.8 | 16.2 | 4.7 |
Based on the most recently reported figures. Only stocks from the same trading venue are lined up, so the market caps are counted in one currency. Compare in a chart →
Fiscal years
Annual Figures
Fiscal years from the audited annual reports, oldest first. EBIT is the operating profit before interest and taxes; total assets are everything the company owns.
Revenue, operating income and net income per fiscal year $M
Revenue Operating income Net income
| Fiscal Year | Revenue ($M) | EBIT ($M) | Net Income ($M) | EPS ($) | Operating Cash Flow ($M) | Equity ($M) | Total Assets ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 10 | -18 | -18 | -15.70 | -16 | 11 | 14 |
| 2020 | 9 | -21 | -21 | -1.21 | -17 | 33 | 38 |
| 2021 | 5 | -81 | -82 | -4.32 | -42 | 214 | 236 |
| 2022 | 15 | -177 | -157 | -6.42 | -65 | 144 | 168 |
| 2023 | 6 | -121 | -116 | -4.51 | -77 | 41 | 60 |
| 2024 | 8 | -27 | -73 | -2.71 | -23 | -10 | 56 |
| 2025 | 5 | -32 | 10 | 0.24 | -28 | 75 | 96 |
Quarters
Quarterly Figures
Each bar is one quarter, the last one is the most recent. Use the switch to step through the individual figures.
Revenue & Profit
Cash Flow
Balance Sheet
Margins
Per Share
Click the chart or tab into it, then use ← and → to step through the periods.
None of the selected stocks reports this metric. Pick another metric or switch between annual and quarterly.
· Total · per year
These companies report in different currencies — switch on “Indexed” or pick a margin for a fair comparison.
The figures could not be loaded right now.
Source: fundamental data
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | -1.12 | – | 1 | 2.00 | -6,960.40 | -5 | -5 |
| 2025: Q1 | 0.48 | – | 2 | -50.30 | 1,330.90 | -8 | -8 |
| 2025: Q2 | -0.16 | – | 1 | -62.60 | -737.60 | -5 | -5 |
| 2025: Q3 | -0.08 | – | 1 | -1.30 | -434.90 | -6 | -7 |
| 2025: Q4 | -0.03 | – | 2 | 118.30 | -89.90 | -9 | -9 |
| 2026: Q1 | -0.27 | -155.40 | 4 | 106.90 | -356.40 | -10 | -10 |
| 2026: Q2 | -0.27 | -68.80 | 6 | 480.00 | -212.10 | -10 | -11 |
What Do These Terms Mean?
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Screening
Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 5 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Momentum & Trend
Research
Risk & Weakness
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. Scanners marked in red are red-flag signals (risk/short scanners) — appearing there is not a seal of approval. View all scanners
Outlook
Analysts & Price Target
Combined picture of the price targets and recommendations of every analyst covering the stock. Price targets are expectations for the next 12 months, not promises — and they often follow the price rather than predict it.
Distribution of Recommendations
Estimates by Fiscal Year
| Fiscal Year | EPS Estimate ($) | EPS Range ($) | Revenue Estimate ($M) | Expected Growth | Analysts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/31/2026 | -0.93 | -0.95 – -0.91 | 25 | -487.5% | 2 |
| 12/31/2027 | -0.73 | -0.86 – -0.55 | 40 | 21.5% | 3 |
Average of the analyst estimates for the coming fiscal years. The range shows how far the most optimistic and the most cautious estimate sit apart — the wider it is, the less certain the expectation.
Valuation
What is priced in?
Free cash flow over the past twelve months is negative, which rules out a serious reverse calculation. Any growth rate only makes a negative cash flow more negative; no present value comes out of it. What the price reflects here is therefore not a stream of cash flows, but the expectation that there will be one at all.
A simplified model calculation — not a forecast and not a recommendation.
AI classification
AI Rating
Palladyne AI verkauft Autonomie-Software (Palladyne IQ, SwarmOS, Palladyne Pilot) als Kernprodukt und erzielt damit Umsatz aus kundenfinanzierten Entwicklungsverträgen, die sich laut Quartalsbericht überwiegend auf die eigene KI-/ML-Software beziehen (1,179 Mio. US-Dollar im Quartal bis 30.06.2026); Lizenzumsatz aus dem Verkauf der Softwareprodukte weist das Unternehmen bis heute nicht aus.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„Our core AI software offerings, Palladyne IQ, SwarmOS and Palladyne Pilot, consist of full-stack, closed-loop autonomy software that is intended to enhance the functionality and operational effectiveness of third-party robotic systems across a range of applications."
Unsere zentralen KI-Softwareangebote — Palladyne IQ, SwarmOS und Palladyne Pilot — bestehen aus vollständiger, geschlossener Autonomie-Software, die die Funktionalität und operative Wirksamkeit von Robotersystemen Dritter in einer Reihe von Anwendungen verbessern soll.
10-K · 2026-03-05 · View SEC filing
„Cost-type contracts – Contracts to develop, design and modify our technology and related products, including cost-plus-fixed fee and time and material contracts, relate primarily to the Company's AI/ML software and related technology."
Kostenbasierte Verträge — Verträge zur Entwicklung, Konstruktion und Anpassung unserer Technologie und der zugehörigen Produkte, darunter Verträge nach dem Prinzip Kosten plus Festhonorar sowie Zeit- und Materialverträge, beziehen sich überwiegend auf die KI-/ML-Software des Unternehmens und die damit verbundene Technologie.
10-Q · 2026-08-06 · View SEC filing
„The Company is in the early stages of its sales activities for its software products and has no software product revenue to date."
Das Unternehmen befindet sich in einem frühen Stadium seiner Verkaufsaktivitäten für seine Softwareprodukte und hat bis heute keinen Umsatz aus Softwareprodukten.
10-Q · 2026-08-06 · View SEC filing
Filings Reviewed: 10-Q 2026-08-06 · 10-Q 2026-05-05 · 10-Q 2025-11-12 · 10-Q 2025-08-06 · 10-K 2026-03-05 · 10-K 2025-02-20
Rated on August 22, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Growth
Growth Score
Ten checks against the annual reports — each one passed counts a point.
- Revenue grows by more than 15% a year over three years -28.9%
- More than 10% revenue growth is expected for the coming year no data
- Share count grows by less than 3% a year 19.8%
- Revenue growth plus cash-flow margin add up to at least 40 ("Rule of 40") -573.0%
- Gross margin at 40% or higher and without meaningful erosion 48.7%
- Goodwill from acquisitions does not grow faster than revenue 15.4%
- Net debt below twice EBITDA 36 m net cash
- Operating cash flow covers the profits of the last three years 51 m
- Return on capital at 15% or higher, or up versus two years ago -36.0%
- Insiders hold at least 10% or are net buyers failed
A criterion without figures counts neither as passed nor as failed; a score is only produced from 7 judgeable criteria upwards. Source: fundamental data. All ten criteria in detail
Quality check
AAQS
5/10The AAQS (AlleAktien Quality Score) checks 10 quality criteria on growth, profitability, and balance-sheet strength — per the methodology developed and published by AlleAktien, calculated by us from our own fundamental data. A stock counts as a quality stock from 9 out of 10 points. Where a company has a shorter listing history, we calculate over the fiscal years available (at least five).
- Sales growth 10Y > 5% -10.4%
- Exp. sales growth 3Y > 5% 176.0%
- EBIT growth 10Y > 5% –
- Exp. EBIT growth 3Y > 5% 176.0%
- Net debt < 4x EBIT –
- EBIT positive, 10Y straight 0
- Max. EBIT decline < 50% –
- Return on equity > 15% 20.3%
- ROCE > 15% -36.0%
- Expected return > 10% 148.1%
View stocks with the full AAQS score · Read the methodology at AlleAktien
Source: fundamental data
Insiders
Insider Transactions
Reportable transactions by officers and major shareholders from SEC Form 4 filings. "Other" includes things like stock grants and option exercises without a buy/sell character.
| Date | Person | Role | Type | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 8, 2026 | Wolff Benjamin G | PRESIDENT & CEO | Buy | 17,121 | 5.79 | 99,129 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | Thatcher Trevor | CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER | Sell | 4,636 | 6.16 | 28,553 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | Sonne Stephen | CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER | Sell | 5,341 | 6.16 | 32,895 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | Garagic Denis | CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER | Sell | 17,255 | 6.16 | 106,272 |
The company
About the Company
Palladyne AI Corp., ein Technologieunternehmen, entwickelt und bietet Software für verkörperte künstliche Intelligenz und kollaborative Autonomielösungen in den USA an.
- Employees
- 161
- Headquarters
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Address
- 650 South 500 West, 84101 Salt Lake City, United States
- Phone
- 888 927 7296
- Website
- palladyneai.com
- IPO Date
- 09/27/2021
- ISIN
- US80359A2050
- Stock Split
- 1:6 on 07/06/2023
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Benjamin G. Wolff J.D. | Co-Founder, President, CEO & Director | 1969 |
| Denis Garagic | Co- Founder & CTO | 1970 |
| Steve Sonne J.D. | Chief Legal Officer & Secretary | 1969 |
| Matthew Shigenobu Muta | President of Commercial & Industrial | 1970 |
| Trevor Thatcher | Chief Financial Officer | 1986 |
| Kristi Martindale | Chief Commercial Officer | 1967 |
| Doug Dynes | President of Palladyne Aerospace & Defense | – |
| Kevan Johnston | President of Palladyne Manufacturing | – |
| Michael Ross Dill | Chief Operating Officer for Palladyne Aerospace & Defense | 1966 |
| James Cook | President of GuideTech | – |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Filings
Company Filings (8-K)
An 8-K is the filing a US company must use to disclose material events immediately — takeovers, changes at the top, major contracts or payment troubles, for instance. The links open the original document at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Data as of: September 17, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.