Polestar's core vehicle economics are value-destructive, evidenced by a structural return to negative gross margins at -8.5% in 2026Q2, while fixed SG&A expenses averaging over $215M per quarter amplify operating losses that reached -$314.4M in the same period.
Polestar Automotive Holding UK PLC (PSNY) annual income statement — 7-year revenue, gross profit & net income history
| Metric | TTM | Dec'25 | Dec'24 | Dec'23 | Dec'22 | Dec'21 | Dec'20 | Dec'19 |
|---|
| Sales/Revenue | 3.03B | 3.06B | 2.03B | 2.38B | 2.44B | 1.34B | 610.25M | 92.42M |
| Revenue Growth % | 25.47% | 50.33% | -14.48% | -2.55% | 81.66% | 120.18% | 560.33% | - |
| Cost of Goods Sold | 3.13B | 4.14B | 2.91B | 2.79B | 2.34B | 1.34B | 553.72M | 39.79M |
| COGS % of Revenue | - | 135.44% | 143.07% | 117.37% | 95.97% | 99.48% | 90.74% | 43.06% |
| Gross Profit | -102.24M | -1.08B | -876.17M | -413.08M | 119.44M | 11.06M | 56.52M | 52.63M |
| Gross Margin % | -3.38% | -35.44% | -43.07% | -17.37% | 4.89% | 0.82% | 9.26% | 56.94% |
| Gross Profit Growth % | - | -23.71% | -112.11% | -445.84% | 980.35% | -80.44% | 7.4% | - |
| Operating Expenses | 1.67B | 902.6M | 937.14M | 1.07B | 1.03B | 971.69M | 499.49M | 244.53M |
| OpEx % of Revenue | - | 29.51% | 46.07% | 44.85% | 42.34% | 72.32% | 81.85% | 264.6% |
| Selling, General & Admin | 856.27M | 813.85M | 890.7M | 949.68M | 864.6M | 686.96M | 314.93M | 210.57M |
| SG&A % of Revenue | - | 26.61% | 43.79% | 39.93% | 35.42% | 51.13% | 51.61% | 227.85% |
| Research & Development | 69.67M | 77.64M | 38.35M | 158.41M | 170.99M | 234.02M | 183.85M | 34.39M |
| R&D % of Revenue | - | 2.54% | 1.89% | 6.66% | 7.01% | 17.42% | 30.13% | 37.21% |
| Other Operating Expenses | 4M | 11.11M | 8.09M | -41.2M | -2.18M | 50.72M | 712K | -425K |
| Operating Income | -1.78B | -1.99B | -1.81B | -1.48B | -913.96M | -960.64M | -440.49M | -191.91M |
| Operating Margin % | -58.67% | -64.96% | -89.14% | -62.22% | -37.44% | -71.5% | -72.18% | -207.66% |
| Operating Income Growth % | - | -9.55% | -22.52% | -61.93% | 4.86% | -118.08% | -129.53% | - |
| EBITDA | -1.76B | -1.93B | -1.76B | -1.36B | -773.15M | -749.06M | -224.41M | -159.36M |
| EBITDA Margin % | -58.23% | -63.23% | -86.4% | -57.37% | -31.68% | -55.75% | -36.77% | -172.44% |
| EBITDA Growth % | 15.85% | -10.02% | -28.81% | -76.49% | -3.22% | -233.79% | -40.82% | - |
| D&A (Non-Cash Add-back) | 13.48M | 52.72M | 55.72M | 115.44M | 140.81M | 211.58M | 216.08M | 32.55M |
| EBIT | -1.01B | -1.99B | -1.72B | -942.33M | -370.32M | -927.68M | -442.97M | -177.02M |
| Net Interest Income | -273.77M | -367.59M | -314.54M | -174.16M | -69.82M | -43.82M | -23.31M | -7.91M |
| Interest Income | 0 | 7.64M | 21.09M | 32.28M | 7.66M | 1.4M | 3.2M | 13.29M |
| Interest Expense | 91.19M | 375.23M | 335.41M | 206.48M | 77.48M | 45.2M | 26.5M | 21.19M |
| Other Income/Expense | -385.34M | -374.42M | -245.75M | 278M | 836.1M | -49.89M | -30.84M | -4.97M |
| Pretax Income | -2.16B | -2.36B | -2.06B | -1.2B | -449M | -1.01B | -471.32M | -195.96M |
| Pretax Margin % | -71.4% | -77.2% | -101.22% | -50.53% | -18.4% | -75.21% | -77.23% | -212.04% |
| Income Tax | 64.16M | -3.69M | -9.17M | -7.14M | 29.76M | -3.08M | 13.54M | 2.02M |
| Effective Tax Rate % | -2.97% | 0.16% | 0.45% | 0.59% | -6.63% | 0.3% | -2.87% | -1.03% |
| Net Income | -2.18B | -2.36B | -2.05B | -1.19B | -479.02M | -1.01B | -484.86M | -197.97M |
| Net Margin % | -72.09% | -77.08% | -100.77% | -50.23% | -19.63% | -74.98% | -79.45% | -214.22% |
| Net Income Growth % | -12.36% | -14.99% | -71.56% | -149.43% | 52.45% | -107.78% | -144.91% | - |
| Net Income (Continuing) | -2.23B | -2.36B | -2.05B | -1.19B | -477.45M | -1.01B | -484.86M | -197.97M |
| Discontinued Operations | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Minority Interest | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| EPS (Diluted) | -16.45 | -25.48 | -29.10 | -17.10 | -6.60 | -13.80 | -8.70 | -29.70 |
| EPS Growth % | 21.23% | 12.44% | -70.18% | -159.09% | 52.17% | -58.62% | 70.71% | - |
| EPS (Basic) | - | -25.48 | -29.10 | -17.10 | -7.20 | -13.80 | -8.70 | -29.70 |
| Diluted Shares Outstanding | 132.63M | 92.5M | 70.34M | 70.34M | 70.31M | 70.51M | 56.05M | 6.67M |
| Basic Shares Outstanding | 132.63M | 92.5M | 70.34M | 69.87M | 67.51M | 70.51M | 56.05M | 6.67M |
| Dividend Payout Ratio | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Quick answers to the most common questions about buying PSNY stock.
For fiscal year 2025, Polestar Automotive Holding UK PLC (PSNY) reported total revenue of $3.06B. This represents a 3209.1% increase compared to $92.4M in 2019.
Polestar Automotive Holding UK PLC (PSNY) reported a net loss of $2.36B for the fiscal year ending 2025.
Polestar Automotive Holding UK PLC (PSNY) reported an operating income of $-1986.5M, resulting in an operating profit margin of -65.0%. This margin reflects the operational efficiency of the business before interest and taxes.
Polestar Automotive Holding UK PLC (PSNY) generated $-1083.9M in gross profit for the year, representing a gross profit margin of -35.4%. This demonstrates the company's core pricing power and production efficiency.
Key Metrics
Top Statement Risk
Negative gross margins with value-destructive scaling
Revenue Growth Masks Value Destruction
While Polestar's revenue grew 50.3% YoY in 2025Q2, the company's financials show a concerning deceleration to -4.4% growth in 2026Q2, with the growth trajectory appearing increasingly volatile and unreliable.
The revenue pattern shows large swings, from triple-digit growth in 2025Q1 to negative growth by 2026Q2, suggesting the growth is not driven by stable, organic demand but by lumpy delivery cycles and model transitions. This volatility, combined with the most recent negative growth figure, indicates that the high top-line expansion seen in 2025 may not be durable and could be a function of prior-year comparables rather than sustained market share gains.
Structural Negative Gross Margin Trap
Based on reported filings, Polestar's gross margin has deteriorated to -8.5% in 2026Q2 from a briefly positive 1.4% in 2025, indicating the core vehicle business is currently unprofitable at the unit level.
The company's gross margin profile is highly erratic, swinging from deeply negative (-75.2% in 2024Q4) to slightly positive and back to negative. This suggests an inability to control direct production costs or set sustainable pricing, likely due to a combination of high contract manufacturing fees to Geely/Volvo, inventory discounting, and a product mix skewed toward the lower-margin Polestar 2. A permanent margin recovery appears dependent on successful scaling of the Polestar 3 and 4, which remains unproven.
Fixed SG&A Overwhelms Gross Losses
As reported in the income statement, SG&A expenses have remained stubbornly high, ranging from $212M to $259M per quarter, which exacerbates the operating losses when gross profit is negative.
The cost structure reveals a major operational challenge: a high, relatively fixed SG&A base that does not scale down with revenue volatility. With R&D expenses fluctuating significantly quarter-to-quarter (from $7.5M to $23.2M), this creates an unpredictable operating expense profile. The lack of meaningful operating leverage is evident; as gross profit turns negative, the fixed overhead translates directly into deeper operating losses, with the operating margin hitting -46.2% in the most recent quarter.
The Scaling Paradox and Liquidity Cliff
The most significant analytical challenge is that Polestar's revenue growth appears to be actively destroying value, as evidenced by the -35.44% gross margin in the latest quarter, which suggests each incremental vehicle sold increases the company's cash burn.
This dynamic represents a severe counter-narrative to the growth story: scaling operations is not leading to positive unit economics. The company is caught in a potential death spiral where it must continue spending on SG&A and R&D to launch new models, while its core product generates negative gross profit. The latest quarter's EPS loss of -$3.18, despite a 62.1% YoY improvement from a deeply negative base, still represents substantial value erosion per share. Investors should monitor whether the path to profitability requires a reduction in scale, which would invalidate the entire investment thesis.
Brief Positive Margin Spark Fizzles
The most notable inflection point was the brief return to a positive gross margin of 1.4% in 2025Q1 and Q2, which proved unsustainable and quickly reversed to -8.5% by 2026Q2.
This fleeting inflection suggests that achieving gross margin break-even may be possible under specific, favorable conditions (e.g., higher pricing, better mix, lower input costs), but the company lacks the operational control to sustain it. The rapid reversal indicates the positive margin was likely a temporary artifact of specific sales or cost recognition events, not a structural improvement. This failed inflection point is more damaging to the long-term narrative than a steady loss, as it demonstrates the business model's inherent fragility.