Vanguard Discloses 5.09% Stake in FuelCell Energy at End of September
Key Facts
Vanguard Capital Management disclosed beneficial ownership of 4,071,593 shares in FuelCell Energy, equivalent to 5.09% of its class of shares, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing identified September 30, 2026, as the date of the event requiring disclosure, and Vanguard signed it on October 30, 2026. The figures show a stake above the 5% threshold, but do not establish that the company recently bought the shares. The company said the securities were acquired and held "in the ordinary course of business," and not for the purpose of changing or influencing control of FuelCell Energy.
The breakdown of authority shows a gap between beneficial ownership and voting rights over the entire holding. Vanguard reported sole voting power over 600,649 shares, compared with sole dispositive power over 4,071,593 shares. The filing reported no shared voting power or shared dispositive power. Vanguard can therefore dispose of more shares on its own than it can vote on its own. The disclosure covers holdings of Vanguard funds and clients, as well as affiliates and business divisions named in the filing.
The disclosure covers more than one Vanguard entity, listing companies including Vanguard Asset Management Limited, Vanguard Fiduciary Trust, Vanguard Global Advisers and Vanguard Investments Australia. These names appear among the affiliates or business divisions covered by the filing. The disclosure also stated that no other person's interest in the reported securities exceeded 5%. These details place the disclosed holding within a group of related accounts and entities without changing the reported aggregate percentage. Vanguard reiterated that its holding of the shares was not intended to influence control of the company.
The disclosed holding comes as the company reported revenue of $33.001 million in its third fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2026, down 29% from $46.743 million in the year-earlier period. In the same period, its loss per common share narrowed to $0.64, compared with a loss of $3.78 a year earlier. Contracted backlog stood at $1.3 billion on July 31, compared with $1.24 billion on the same date in 2025, an increase of about 4.1%. The indicators present a mixed picture for the period: an annual decline in revenue, alongside a narrower per-share loss and higher contracted backlog. The stake disclosure does not link these results to any specific investment decision by Vanguard.
In September, FuelCell Energy announced it had signed its first capacity reservation agreement with a data center operator for a planned 75-megawatt project in Texas. According to the announcement, the upfront payment provides priority access to manufacturing capacity while final agreements are completed. On financing, the quarterly report said the second tranche of EXIM financing was expected to be disbursed in October 2026, subject to customary closing conditions. The report said the interest rate is fixed at 5.85% and the bond is repayable over 7 years from the date of the first debt payment. The forecast in the report alone does not confirm that the tranche was disbursed.
The company's shares, which trade under the ticker FCEL, closed at $12.18 on October 29, 2026, according to EL7 data. The supplied data do not include the session's low or high. This remains the latest share price reading in the materials available for the story. It came one day after Vanguard signed its filing, but the filing identifies September 30 as the date of the reported event. The timing of the filing's publication therefore does not by itself establish that a new market purchase occurred in October.