Bloom Energy Defends Supply Chain, Calls Hunterbrook Report "False And Misleading"

Bloom Energy is responding forcefully against allegations made by short seller Hunterbrook Capital, rejecting the firm's claims about its accounting, supply chain and growth prospects a day after a report sent shares sharply lower.

The clean energy company said Thursday that Hunterbrook's assertions regarding its financial reporting and access to critical raw materials are "false and misleading," according to a statement reported by Bloomberg.

The response comes after Hunterbrook published an investigation on July 8 that questioned Bloom's independence from Chinese suppliers and argued that the company's long-term manufacturing ambitions may be constrained by global scandium availability. Hunterbrook disclosed that it stands to benefit if Bloom's shares decline through a short position.

Bloom specifically defended its financial reporting, saying allegations concerning its accounting are contradicted by its audited financial statements. The company also disputed Hunterbrook's central thesis surrounding scandium oxide, the specialty material used in Bloom's solid oxide fuel cells.

Bloom said it has sufficient scandium oxide supply to meet both current production needs and its existing customer backlog. It added that its scandium supply is not dependent on China, either for current operations or future demand growth. Looking further ahead, Bloom said it has visibility across its supply chain sufficient to support production capacity of 25 gigawatts of fuel cells annually, adding that it expects to continue expanding that capacity over time.

Hunterbrook's report, published Wednesday under the title Bloom's Big Lie, argued that Bloom's public messaging about its supply chain conflicts with trade data and supplier relationships. According to the investigation, multiple international trade routes appear to connect Bloom's supply chain to Chinese sources of scandium despite repeated statements from CEO K.R. Sridhar that the company has "no China supply chain."

Hunterbrook said its research relied on global shipping records, corporate filings and satellite imagery. The report also cited a representative from Chinese producer Hunan Oriental Scandium who allegedly identified Bloom as one of its largest customers.

The report further argued that Bloom's long-term manufacturing targets face a fundamental resource constraint. Hunterbrook estimated that producing five gigawatts of fuel cells annually would require roughly 220 tons of scandium oxide each year, nearly the entire projected global supply of approximately 240 tons, raising questions about whether the company's expansion plans are feasible.

Hunterbrook also challenged Bloom's reported order backlog. The firm argued that while Bloom has discussed an approximately $20 billion backlog, audited contractual performance obligations are substantially smaller, at roughly $492 million, suggesting investors may be overstating the visibility of future revenue.

The report helped send Bloom shares down roughly 6% on Wednesday. Bloom's Thursday response marks its formal rebuttal to the allegations, with the company maintaining that its audited financial statements, supply chain and access to scandium fully support its current operations and future growth plans.

Recall, back in 2019 now-defunct short seller Hindenburg Research also took on Bloom, highlighting "trick accounting", claiming "Bloom’s technology is not sustainable, clean, green, or remotely profitable" and raising a question to the company about how important the price and supply of scandium was to the company's supply chain. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/09/2026 - 09:40

Porsche Sales Tumble To Weakest In Six Years As Chinese Demand Plummets

Days after Germany's top financial newspaper, Handelsblatt, reported that Porsche AG is planning more than 4,000 job cuts, the sports-car maker on Thursday revealed first-half sales figures that were the weakest in six years, with its China business falling off a cliff.

For the January to June period, Porsche reported 122,306 vehicle deliveries across global markets, a 16% decline from the same period a year earlier.

The first-half slump marked Porsche's weakest sales performance since 2020, with its top market, North America, seeing a 13% decline in vehicle sales, while China suffered an outright 32% decline.

Softening luxury demand in the West and China's deepening slowdown are increasingly concerning for the high-end automaker.

"With around 122,000 customer deliveries in the first half of 2026, we are below the same period last year but in line with our expectations," Matthias Becker, Member of the Executive Board for Sales and Marketing at Porsche AG, wrote in a statement.

Porsche blamed the slowdown in North America on several issues:

Among the sales regions, North America remains at the top with 37,712 deliveries. The decline of around 13 per cent can be attributed, among other factors, to the expiration of tax incentives for electric and hybrid vehicles as well as the end of production of the combustion-engined 718.

Dismal delivery figures follow a report by Handelsblatt that said Porsche was considering eliminating as many as 4,000.

Porsche's profit eroded further in the first quarter as the automaker faced mounting pressure from tariffs, geopolitical turmoil, and gaps in its model lineup. The emergence of Chinese EV giants like BYD and Chery in Europe has been a troubling development not just for Porsche but other legacy EU automakers.

Porsche is part of the Volkswagen Group, where the VW CEO recently warned that more than 100,000 jobs could be eliminated as part of a massive overhaul.

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/09/2026 - 09:20