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what it is
Ouster makes lidar sensors and software that help machines, vehicles, and infrastructure see the world in 3D.
how it gets paid
Last year Ouster made $169M in revenue. OS scanning sensors was the main engine at $84M, or 50% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 52.5% last year. Gross margin at 42.9% matters most because hardware growth without decent unit economics is just more expensive disappointment.
what just happened
The latest quarter printed on the order of ~$42M revenue (vs ~$169M TTM in the table)—still a loss, so mix and path to operating leverage matter.
At a glance
B+ balance sheet — decent shape, but not bulletproof
45/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
-$2.08 fy2024 eps est
$111M fy2024 rev est
~-43.7% operating margin — still losing money at the operating line
xvary composite: 58/100 — below average
What they do
Ouster makes lidar sensors and software that help machines, vehicles, and infrastructure see the world in 3D.
Ouster sells to more than 850 customers across about 50 countries. That scale matters in a company with just 192 employees. Switching costs (changing vendors means redoing hardware and software integration) are real here, so once your system is built around a sensor stack, ripping it out is expensive.
How they make money
$169M
annual revenue · their business grew +52.5% last year
OS scanning sensors
$84M
DF flash sensors
$34M
analog lidar sensors
$17M
software solutions
$13M
royalty and other revenue
$21M
The products that matter
3D sensing hardware
Digital lidar sensors
7,200+ sensors shipped in a recent quarter
This is the core business. Shipping over 7,200 sensors in a quarter helped drive 12 straight quarters of product revenue growth, which is the cleanest proof that demand exists beyond the headlines.
12 straight growth quarters
sensor data software
Perception software
software-attached bookings doubled in 2025
Software is the margin expansion story. Doubling software-attached bookings in 2025 matters because hardware alone rarely gets you the kind of recurring economics investors want.
higher-margin mix shift
Key numbers
$169M
ttm revenue
This is the proof the business is real, not a lab project. You are buying a company with actual scale, not a slide deck.
~-43.7%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit after paying to run the company → so what: Ouster was still spending well above operating profit on each sales dollar in this feed.
$8M
long-term debt
Long-term debt → money owed over years → so what: debt is just 1% of capital, which means the balance sheet is not the main problem.
2.1
beta
Beta → how hard a stock swings versus the market → so what: Ouster tends to move about twice as violently as the index.
Financial health
B+
strength
- balance sheet grade B+ — solid but not elite
- risk rank 2 — safer than 80% of stocks
- price stability 5 / 100
- long-term debt $8M (1% of capital)
B+ — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for OUST right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
missed estimates
Revenue near ~$42M in the latest quarter (vs ~$169M TTM), but the company still posted a loss and the quality of sales matters.
EPS came in at -$1.17 on gross margin of 42.9%. Prior copy mixed a $107M headline with the TTM table—that would not annualize to ~$169M; use the filing quarter label.
~$42M
revenue (Q · approx.)
-$1.17
eps (Q)
42.9%
gross margin (Q)
the number that mattered
Gross margin at 42.9% matters most because hardware growth without decent unit economics is just more expensive disappointment.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
The #1 risk is royalty normalization masking reported gross margin. The latest quarter on this page prints 42.9% gross (hero)—some vendor quarters near ~60% gross line up with ~$21M of high-margin royalties in the bridge; that bucket is expected to fall toward <$5M, which drags the headline margin even if product demand holds.
med
Royalty cliff
The cleanest number in the quarter was also the least repeatable. If royalties drop from roughly $21M to under $5M, Ouster loses at least $16M of high-margin revenue support.
That directly pressures reported gross margin and makes future comparisons look worse even if product demand holds up.
med
Growth target credibility
Management is targeting 30–50% annual revenue growth. That's ambitious when the strip shows a ~$111M FY2024 rev est. while the TTM table anchor is ~$169M—different periods/feeds; check which year the est. actually refers to.
If the next few quarters do not rebuild that revenue arc, investors stop treating the dip as temporary and start treating it as the business.
med
No moat in a volatile market
This company operates in a competitive lidar field, and the snapshot data does not show a dominant scale advantage, sticky installed base, or profitability cushion.
With a 2.1 beta, 5/100 price stability, and a $6–$42 52-week range, disappointment tends to get priced in the loud way.
If royalty income falls below $5M as expected, reported gross margin loses a high-margin crutch—do not confuse that normalization with a collapse in the 42.9% product read unless the filing says so.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
calendar
q1 2026 earnings
Management guided to $45–48M in revenue. This is your first cleaner read on the business after the royalty-heavy quarter.
metric
gross margin after royalties fade
Reported 60% gross margin looked strong. You want to see how much of that survives once royalty income drops toward the under-$5M level.
trend
software-attached bookings
This metric doubled in 2025. If it keeps climbing, the business mix gets better. If it stalls, Ouster stays mostly a hardware story.
risk
30–50% growth target
That target is the promise holding the valuation together. Miss it for long enough and the market stops granting the benefit of the doubt.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
45 / 100
In human-speak: analysts do not think the next few quarters will be easy to model.
risk profile
2
This ranking reads safer than the stock trades because the balance sheet is decent even while the share price acts like a trampoline.
beta
2.1
Beta measures how hard a stock swings relative to the market. At 2.1, small moves elsewhere can become big moves here.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for OUST is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$24
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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