Bloom Energy Targeted Twice in Two Days as Sadot Collapses 54%
Weekly Wrap Up: Sunday, July 12, 2026
Consolidation arrived in activist short selling this week, and so did a pile of new reports. Hunterbrook Media's acquisition of The Bear Cave was barely a week old when Hunterbrook dropped one of the most talked about reports of the year, alleging Bloom Energy's CEO has repeatedly misled investors about the company's dependence on Chinese scandium. Crossroads Capital reached a similar conclusion independently one day later, giving Bloom the rare distinction of two reports in two days. The stock finished the week down 9.3% from its pre-report close. The steepest damage belonged to Sadot Group, which lost more than half its value after Fugazi Research called it an insolvent shell with zero revenue. The Equity Dispatch questioned Opendoor's turnaround story, and Shortfinder published a paid report on NRx Pharmaceuticals. We also published our own deep dive on the Hunterbrook and Bear Cave deal and what it could mean for the future of the space. Elsewhere, India moved to make short selling easier, and Hertz found an unlikely friend in short sellers.
- Fugazi Research targeted Sadot Group Inc. (SDOT) alleging the company is an insolvent shell cycling through business pivots while diluting shareholders. Stock closed the week down 53.6%.
- Hunterbrook Media targeted Bloom Energy Corp (BE) alleging its CEO falsely claimed the company has no China supply chain for scandium. Stock closed the week down 9.3%.
- The Equity Dispatch targeted Opendoor Technologies Inc. (OPEN) arguing its house flipping model loses money even when home prices are flat. Stock closed the week down 0.6%.
- Crossroads Capital LLC targeted Bloom Energy Corp (BE) alleging a physical scandium supply wall caps its growth far below Street expectations. Stock closed the week down 3.8%.
- Shortfinder published a paid report on NRx Pharmaceuticals (NRXP). Stock closed the week up 1.9%.
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Hunterbrook Media has acquired The Bear Cave, the six year old newsletter with more than 87,000 readers, in the first deal of its kind in the space. We analyzed 123 reports across both publishers, unpacked what The Bear Cave's move from Researcher to Activist means for how its work should be read, and asked investigators whether more deals are coming.
New Activist Reports
Fugazi Research Short Report on Sadot Group Inc.
| Metric | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Close (Day Before) | $50.55 | — |
| Low (Report Date) | $40.91 | -19.07% |
| Close (Report Date) | $48.79 | -3.48% |
| Close (End of Week) | $23.47 | -53.57% |
Stock Price Impact
Sadot shares plunged as much as 19.07% on report day, touching a low of $40.91 before buyers stepped in and pared the close to $48.79, down just 3.48%. That recovery did not last. Selling resumed and accelerated through the week, and the stock finished Friday at $23.47, down 53.57% from its pre-report close. A decline of that magnitude in a single week ranks among the sharpest reactions to any report this year, and the pattern of an initial rebound giving way to a deeper slide suggests the market took time to digest the balance sheet math at the center of Fugazi's thesis.
About The Company
Sadot Group is a Texas based holding company that has cycled through identities. It began as fast casual restaurant operator Muscle Maker Grill, added the Pokemoto brand, then reinvented itself as an agri-commodity trader under the Sadot Agri-Foods banner, generating $132.2 million in commodity sales in Q1 2025. Since then, according to the report, the restaurant brands were sold for $2.9 million, a Zambia farm was lost to a court judgment with an $11.8 million write-down, and the Latin America trading subsidiary was sold in June 2026, leaving no revenue generating operations as of Q1 2026.
Key Points from the Report
- Fugazi Research alleges Sadot is insolvent, with $60.8 million in liabilities against $2.4 million in assets, roughly $409,000 of unrestricted cash covering 0.7% of current liabilities, and book value of negative $5.16 per share against a $52.34 share price.
- Q1 2026 commodity sales were $0.0 million, down from $132.2 million a year earlier, a collapse the report attributes to the cessation of the entire operating business rather than lost customers.
- The report alleges the Latin America subsidiary was sold for $1,000 despite holding roughly $250,000 in cash, a deal Fugazi says was structured to deconsolidate liabilities under ASC 810.
- Fugazi documents three reverse splits in nineteen months totaling 2,000-to-1, an authorized share expansion from 2 million to 250 million, and identifies the August 13, 2026 earnings release as the catalyst.
Read the Full Report Summary →
Hunterbrook Media Short Report on Bloom Energy Corp
| Metric | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Close (Day Before) | $269.57 | — |
| Low (Report Date) | $235.34 | -12.7% |
| Close (Report Date) | $254.29 | -5.67% |
| Close (End of Week) | $244.61 | -9.26% |
Stock Price Impact
Bloom Energy fell as much as 12.7% on report day, hitting an intraday low of $235.34 before recovering to close at $254.29, down 5.67%. The stock stayed under pressure for the rest of the week, not helped by a second report from Crossroads Capital the following day, and closed Friday at $244.61, down 9.26% from its pre-report close. For a company whose market cap peaked around $100 billion on the AI data center power thesis, a high single digit weekly decline represents tens of billions in value, and the sustained weakness suggests investors are taking the supply chain questions seriously rather than treating them as noise.
About The Company
Bloom Energy designs and sells solid oxide fuel cells, known as Bloom Boxes, that use scandium stabilized ceramic electrolytes to generate electricity for data centers and industrial customers. According to the report, the company has been positioned as a primary beneficiary of the AI data center power boom, with its stock up over 2,000% in two years on the thesis it can scale from roughly 1 GW of annual deployments in 2026 to 5 GW annually. Founder and CEO KR Sridhar, whose technology traces back to work on NASA's Mars program, has led the company for 25 years.
Key Points from the Report
- Hunterbrook alleges CEO KR Sridhar falsely claimed at least five times since February 2025 that Bloom has "no China supply chain," while the firm identified four separate China linked scandium supply routes, including a Hunan Oriental representative telling Hunterbrook directly, "We are also BE's largest supplier of scandium."
- Hunterbrook's supply model estimates Bloom would need roughly 220 tons of scandium oxide annually to hit 5 GW by 2030, against total projected global supply of about 240 tons and global demand of about 310 tons.
- The report alleges Bloom's record revenue is driven by circular financing rather than end customers, with 74% of 4Q25 revenue coming from Brookfield joint ventures Bloom part-owns, and a marketed $20 billion backlog more than 40 times its audited $492.6 million in remaining performance obligations.
- Flagship projects face multi-year delays, per the report, with Oracle's Project Jupiter lacking an approved air permit and a gas pipeline, and AEP's $2.65 billion deal slipping toward 2030.
Read the Full Report Summary →
The Equity Dispatch Short Report on Opendoor Technologies Inc.
| Metric | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Close (Day Before) | $4.79 | — |
| Low (Report Date) | $4.54 | -5.22% |
| Close (Report Date) | $4.79 | 0.0% |
| Close (End of Week) | $4.76 | -0.63% |
Stock Price Impact
Opendoor made a round trip on report day. Shares dipped as much as 5.22% to an intraday low of $4.54 before recovering every penny to close exactly flat at $4.79. The stock drifted slightly lower over the remaining sessions and finished the week at $4.76, down 0.63%. That is one of the more muted reactions we have tracked this year, and it may reflect the nature of the thesis: The Equity Dispatch is making a structural argument about the economics of house flipping rather than alleging wrongdoing, and Opendoor's challenges are already well known to a market that has watched the stock trade in the single digits.
About The Company
Opendoor Technologies buys residential homes and resells them, a business the report's public preview describes as house flipping at scale. The company earns the spread between what it pays for inventory and what it collects, less carrying costs. Per the preview, its historic strategy held inventory for longer periods waiting for better prices, and the company carries cost burdens well beyond its inventory, including sales and marketing, general and administrative expenses with significant stock compensation, technology spending, and interest expense.
Key Points from the Report
- Per the public preview of the report, Opendoor's faster turnover strategy is a trade-off, not a fix: selling inventory quickly in a slow market means lower prices and likely less gross profit, while the volume needed to offset the margin hit would increase capital intensity and interest expense.
- The preview argues Opendoor loses money even when house prices are stagnant, since flippers generally profit when prices rise quickly and the company layers heavy operating costs on top of inventory economics.
- On the AI narrative, the preview states Opendoor's software and computer assets are minimal, technology spending has been decreasing, and there is no evidence the technology has led to group profitability.
- The preview describes an unusually large stock compensation expense that it says defies justification given the company's operational performance.
The full report is available to The Equity Dispatch subscribers (subscribe here).
Read the Full Report Summary →
Crossroads Capital LLC Short Report on Bloom Energy Corp
| Metric | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Close (Day Before) | $254.29 | — |
| Low (Report Date) | $253.32 | -0.38% |
| Close (Report Date) | $257.02 | +1.07% |
| Close (End of Week) | $244.61 | -3.81% |
Stock Price Impact
This was the second report on Bloom Energy in two days, landing 24 hours after Hunterbrook's investigation, and the day-of reaction showed it. Shares barely moved, dipping just 0.38% at the low before closing up 1.07% at $257.02, a bounce that likely reflects a market that had already priced in the scandium supply question the previous session. The reprieve was brief. Bloom drifted lower through Thursday and Friday and finished the week at $244.61, down 3.81% from the close before Crossroads published. Two independent firms converging on the same supply chain thesis in the same week is unusual, and the cumulative pressure kept the stock from mounting any real recovery.
About The Company
Bloom Energy manufactures the Energy Server, a refrigerator sized solid oxide fuel cell module that converts natural gas or biogas into electricity at the point of use. According to the report, Energy Servers sell at roughly $3,000 per kW plus about $500 per kW for installation, and because fuel cell stacks require replacement roughly every five years, each sale carries a multi-decade service stream. The company shipped roughly 0.50 GW of new product in 2025, counts Walmart, Google, Intel, Oracle, and Nebius among its customers, and exited fiscal 2025 with a backlog of roughly $20 billion.
Key Points from the Report
- Crossroads calculates Bloom's 5 GW capacity ambition would consume roughly 300 tonnes of scandium oxide per year against world production of about 80 tonnes in 2025, and estimates a shipment ceiling of 1.7 to 2.0 GW in 2030 versus Street expectations near 4.5 GW.
- The firm argues CEO KR Sridhar's statement that "there is no China supply chain for us" cannot be supported by its supply math, estimating roughly two-thirds of Bloom's scandium is Chinese-origin material refined in Japan and relabeled.
- China's expanded re-export controls on scandium are set to snap back on November 10, 2026 absent an extension, which Crossroads estimates would put more than 60% of global scandium supply at Beijing's discretion.
- With legacy contracts near $800 to $1,000 per kilogram rolling toward a roughly $3,000 cost base and no pass-through mechanism, the report projects EBITDA margins compressing from roughly 20% toward 13%, less than half the Street's 30% expectation.
Read the Full Report Summary →
Shortfinder Short Report on NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
| Metric | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Close (Day Before) | $4.11 | — |
| Low (Report Date) | $4.04 | -1.7% |
| Close (Report Date) | $4.19 | +1.95% |
| Close (End of Week) | $4.19 | +1.95% |
Stock Price Impact
NRx Pharmaceuticals shrugged off the report entirely. Shares dipped a modest 1.7% to an intraday low of $4.04 before reversing to close at $4.19, up 1.95% on the day. Because the report published on Friday, the report-date close and the end-of-week close are the same, leaving the stock up 1.95% for the measurement period. Muted or positive day-of reactions are not unusual for small cap names with limited float and thin coverage, where the market may take longer to absorb a paid report whose contents are not publicly circulating. How the stock trades in the coming weeks will be the better test of the thesis.
Shortfinder published a paid report on NRx Pharmaceuticals titled "Dilute or Die." The report's findings are available to Shortfinder subscribers only (subscribe here).
Read the Full Report Summary →
Activ8 Newswire
- India moves to make short selling easier – The market regulator plans to nearly double the number of stocks eligible for securities borrowing, a structural expansion of shorting capacity in one of the world's most active markets. Source: Reuters
- Hertz gets a helping hand from an unlikely source: short sellers – The rental car company printed $100 million of new stock and loaned it out so hedge funds could short the shares, enabling a $350 million convertible bond sale that keeps it out of immediate trouble. Source: Financial Times
