Revenue at American Battery Technology Company (ABAT) rose more than 400% to $21.7 million in fiscal 2026, and the company recorded an adjusted gross profit of $1.7 million, its first ever, against a $6.2 million loss the prior year. The case for an operational inflection is real. The risk is a U.S. Department of Commerce directive that effectively bans the export of black mass, a key recycling byproduct that ABAT is now storing on-site while an exception request awaits a formal response.
The operating inflection
CEO and CTO Ryan Melsert pointed to higher throughput at the company's first battery recycling facility, designed to process about 20,000 tons per year, as the driver of the revenue surge. Cost of goods sold grew roughly 67%, well below the revenue rate. Cash spend on operations fell about 16% even as throughput more than quadrupled. By the end of June, ABAT carried approximately $49.5 million in cash, no long-term debt, and total assets of about $133 million. The margin swing from negative $6.2 million to positive $1.7 million in adjusted gross profit is the first sign the recycling model holds at scale.
Feed mix has shifted toward grid-scale battery storage systems serving domestic data centers and artificial intelligence training operations, alongside electric vehicles, cell manufacturing scrap, and consumer electronics.
The counterargument
The Commerce directive is the variable that deserves the most weight in any portfolio read here. ABAT submitted an exception request. Commerce replied with follow-up questions. As of the September 14 call, Melsert said there is no formal resolution. Black mass sits in on-site storage, introducing cost and cash flow drag the revenue line does not yet capture. An unfavorable ruling would force a structural shift in how the recycling business monetizes that material.
On balance, the expansion story carries funded support that runs independent of that outcome. A $150 million Department of Energy grant backs the company's second recycling facility in the Southeast, designed for about 100,000 tons per year. The Bureau of Land Management accepted ABAT's plan of operations for the Tonopah, Nevada claystone-to-lithium-hydroxide project just weeks before the call, moving it into full NEPA review. President Trump's National Energy Dominance Council and the FAST-41 Permitting Council designated the Tonopah project a priority, which Melsert said results in streamlined federal permitting across agencies. A separately reinstated DOE grant continues to fund the first processing train at that site.
The line to watch is how Commerce rules on black mass exports. That is the variable the adjusted $1.7 million gross profit cannot price in yet.