Fluence (FLNC.US) receives a rating upgrade from Jefferies Financial Group Inc., bullish on improvement in profit margins and recovery prospects.

Fluence (FLNC.US) surged 13.24% in Wednesday's trading session, reaching a high of 19% in the two days since the fourth-quarter performance was announced. Its Q4 performance was mixed, but the company expects a 50% growth in revenue for the 2026 fiscal year. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. analyst Julian Dumoulin-Smith raised Fluence's rating from "Underperform" to "Neutral" and increased the target price from $11 to $16. He noted that the energy storage technology company's profit margins are "improving" and the recovery is "finally visible". Dumoulin-Smith mentioned that 2025 was a challenging year for Fluence, but with the company nearing a resolution of the AESC issue and preliminary signs of recovery in the US market, the prospects for the 2026 fiscal year are becoming "increasingly attractive". Despite a 33% year-over-year decline in new orders for the full year, the fourth-quarter data is encouraging: new orders increased by 21% year-over-year, returning to growth after three consecutive quarters of decline; gross margin exceeded expectations; the midpoint of the preliminary guidance for the 2026 fiscal year is 12%, higher than the Wall Street's general expectation of 10.9%. "We still need to make more progress, but we believe the core US market recovery of Fluence is on track and the macro headwinds are essentially a thing of the past," Dumoulin-Smith wrote. "Ultimately, based on the continuous improvement in end-market signals, we have decided to upgrade the rating."