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what it is
It sells renewable and conventional natural gas fuel, runs fleet fueling stations, and builds the infrastructure around them.
how it gets paid
Last year Clean Energy Fuels made $425M in revenue. Renewable natural gas fuel was the main engine at $180.0M, or 42% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 2.2% last year. Revenue was $112.3M in Q4 2025, according to the company, while consensus showed the quarter missed on earnings.
what just happened
Last quarter, CLNE posted -$0.20 EPS versus about -$0.05 expected—a large miss on a loss (magnitude ~4× worse than the consensus loss).
At a glance
C+ balance sheet — struggling to keep the lights on
35/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
-$0.37 fy2024 eps est
$416M fy2024 rev est
~-37.6% operating margin (deep loss)
xvary composite: 36/100 — weak
What they do
It sells renewable and conventional natural gas fuel, runs fleet fueling stations, and builds the infrastructure around them.
This business wins when your fleet already runs on natural gas and your routes depend on its stations. Switching means changing trucks, fueling habits, and station support. That shows up in volume: the company cited 64.1 million RNG gallons sold in Q4 2025 in its latest earnings materials.
How they make money
$425M
annual revenue · their business grew +2.2% last year
Renewable natural gas fuel
$180.0M
Compressed natural gas fuel
$135.0M
Liquefied natural gas fuel
$70.0M
Station operations and maintenance
$25.0M
Station construction and other
$14.8M
The products that matter
vehicle fuel sales
renewable natural gas
64.1M gallons sold in q4 2025
Gallons sold rose 3.4% from a year ago. That shows demand is moving. The catch is that CLNE still posted a $43M full-year net loss, so volume growth has not translated into durable earnings yet.
volume test
fleet fueling infrastructure
fueling station network
largest U.S. network
This is the scale argument in one line: the network is large enough to matter, but 5–7% estimated share says it is not large enough to dictate terms.
scale, not moat
management's main bet
2026 RNG expansion
nearly double production
This is the story now. If output rises while revenue only lands near the $420M–$440M guide, you are still looking at a business fighting for profitability instead of proving it.
execution test
Key numbers
-37.6%
operating margin
Operating margin → money left after running the business → CLNE lost about $37.60 at the operating line for every $100 of sales.
44%
debt share
Debt as a share of capital -> how much of the company is financed with borrowing -> so what: $372M of debt makes up 44% of the capital stack.
1.9
beta
Beta -> how violently a stock moves versus the market -> so what: CLNE tends to swing almost twice as hard as the market.
-$0.37
2024 EPS est.
EPS -> profit per share -> so what: the business was still expected to lose 37 cents a share in 2024.
Financial health
C+
strength
- balance sheet grade C+ — weak — may struggle to fund operations
- risk rank 4 — safer than 20% of stocks
- price stability 5 / 100
- long-term debt $372M (44% of capital)
C+ — balance sheet grade and long-term debt are flagged. this stock carries more risk than average.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for CLNE right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
missed estimates
Last quarter, CLNE posted -$0.20 EPS versus about -$0.05 expected—a much wider loss than consensus.
Revenue was $112.3M in Q4 2025, according to the company, while consensus showed the quarter missed on earnings. The quiet part out loud: revenue exists, but profits still do not.
$112.3M
revenue
-$0.20
eps
large
eps gap vs est.
the number that mattered
The number that mattered was the depth of the EPS miss versus a small expected loss, because CLNE does not have profit cushion to absorb that gap.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the main risk is simple: CLNE expands RNG output, adds gallons, and still does not earn enough money on those gallons. A company that lost $43M last year does not get credit for scale by itself.
high
chronic unprofitability
CLNE lost $43M on roughly $424.8M of 2025 revenue. Adjusted EBITDA can improve while net income still disappoints. Shareholders own the gap between those two numbers.
if losses stay large through 2026, the market will treat the EBITDA story as a presentation slide, not a turning point.
high
expansion without enough revenue lift
Management says RNG production should nearly double in 2026, yet revenue guidance is only $420M–$440M. That mismatch is the quiet part loud.
if revenue barely moves while production ramps, investors will ask whether more output is landing at weaker economics.
med
balance-sheet strain
Long-term debt is $372M, or 44% of capital, and the balance sheet grade is C+. That is workable. It is not forgiving.
if projects slip or volumes soften, you have less room for mistakes and less room to fund another reset cheaply.
med
scale without dominance
The company says it has the largest U.S. natural gas fueling network, but estimated share is still only 5–7% and larger competitors include BP and Shell.
being present in the market helps. Being smaller than rivals with deeper pockets still matters when margins are thin.
CLNE needs three things to happen at once — more gallons, better EBITDA, and a meaningfully smaller bottom-line loss. Miss one, and the equity probably stays in prove-it territory.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
the key metric
2026 adjusted EBITDA versus the $70M low end
This is the first hard test of the thesis. If CLNE misses the low end of its own $70M–$75M EBITDA guide, the turnaround case gets a lot harder to defend.
trend
gallons sold versus the annual loss
Q4 gallons rose 3.4% to 64.1M. You want that line rising while the yearly loss shrinks. If both go up together, scale is not helping you.
calendar
quarterly progress toward the $420M–$440M revenue guide
The midpoint is $430M against $424.8M last year. That is a low bar in percentage terms, which means every quarterly print tells you whether management is merely maintaining or actually improving the business.
risk
RNG production expansion execution
The company plans to nearly double RNG production in 2026. Delays, lower yields, or cost creep would hit the one part of the story the market is still willing to believe.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
35 / 100
Low predictability means the income statement is hard to model. In human-speak: you should expect uneven quarters and stock reactions that look dramatic even when the underlying business only moved a little.
risk rank
4
Risk rank 4 means this is safer than only 20% of stocks in the dataset. You are not paying for stability. You are paying for a turnaround that still needs evidence.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for CLNE is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$2
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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