Key Highlights

● American Battery Technology reported fiscal 2026 Revenue of $21.7 million, up 407% year over year, and achieved its first positive adjusted Gross Profit even as it posted a $73.4 million net loss during a costly scale-up phase.

● Aqua Metals disclosed substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a Going Concern in its first-quarter 2026 filing, reporting a $3.95 million net loss and just $6.82 million in cash after completing a 1-for-10 Reverse Stock Split in mid-2025 to regain Nasdaq compliance.

● Royal Gold posted first-quarter 2026 revenue of $469.1 million, up roughly 142.5% year over year, and authorized a $500 million share-repurchase program, converting a strong gold-price environment directly into cash without carrying Mining costs.

● Steel Dynamics delivered second-quarter 2026 Net Income of about $534 million on record steel shipments near 90% mill utilization, while its newer aluminum platform more than doubled shipments but still weighed on overall results as it scales.

From a battery-recycler turning its first positive Margin to a gold Royalty giant riding record bullion, these five Nasdaq-listed metals and materials names show just how wide the sector's risk spectrum runs this September.

A Sector Defined by Extremes

Metals and materials rarely move as one. Within the Nasdaq Composite it is possible to find a micro-cap recycler fighting a going-concern warning and, a few tickers away, a large-cap royalty company printing record cash flow. September 2026 captures that split cleanly.

The five stocks here, American Battery Technology (NASDAQ: ABAT), Critical Metals (NASDAQ: CRML), Aqua Metals (NASDAQ: AQMS), Royal Gold (NASDAQ: RGLD) and Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD), span early-stage development, distressed recycling, and mature, cash-generative production. Each is exposed to a different Demand thesis: batteries, rare earths, precious-metal royalties and steel.

The Backdrop: Critical Minerals Policy Meets a Strong Precious-Metals Tape

Two forces frame the group. First, Western supply-security policy continues to channel public money toward domestic battery-metals and rare-earth capacity, with US Department of Energy agreements and Export-Import Bank financing appearing directly in these companies' disclosures. That is a genuine tailwind for developers, but it does not remove execution, permitting or financing risk.

Second, precious metals have been strong. Royal Gold's reported revenue more than doubling year over year is itself evidence of a rich gold-price environment, even without quoting a specific spot level. Steel, meanwhile, is a cyclical read on construction, energy and autos, a very different driver from the structural battery-supply story powering the smaller names.

There is also a financing dimension that ties the smaller names together. Battery-metals and rare-earth developers increasingly depend on a blend of government cooperative agreements, export-credit support and Equity raises to bridge the gap to commercial production. That funding stack can accelerate projects, but it also introduces political timing, disbursement conditions and dilution risk that a mature producer like Steel Dynamics or a royalty holder like Royal Gold simply does not carry.

American Battery Technology (NASDAQ:ABAT): A Recycler Finding Its Margin

American Battery Technology Company is a Lithium-Ion Battery recycler and primary battery-metals developer. On 14 September 2026 it reported fiscal-year 2026 results, for the year ended 30 June 2026, and the numbers marked a genuine inflection.

Revenue reached $21.7 million, up 407% from $4.3 million a year earlier, and the company posted a positive adjusted gross profit of $1.7 million versus a prior-year loss. ABAT reported cash of $49.5 million and said it ended the fiscal year with no outstanding debt. Its recycling facility, rated at roughly 20,000 tonnes per year, achieved what management called its first positive gross margin, and a larger 100,000-tonne-per-year Facility is in development. On the primary side, ABAT published a pre-feasibility study for its Tonopah Flats lithium project in Nevada and cited a $57.7 million Department of Energy cooperative agreement toward a refinery.

The swing to positive adjusted gross profit is the story here, but the $73.4 million net loss is a reminder that scale-up is expensive. Watch throughput trends, second-facility funding and Tonopah progress. Nothing about a single strong year guarantees the next.

Critical Metals Corp (NASDAQ:CRML): A Greenland Rare-Earth Bet Gathering Ownership

Critical Metals Corp is a development-stage company advancing the Tanbreez rare-earth project in southern Greenland and the Wolfsberg lithium project in Austria. Its recent news flow has centered on consolidating control of Tanbreez.

The company announced on 17 April 2026 that Greenland government approval of the final Tranche took its Tanbreez ownership to 92.5%, with European Lithium retaining 7.5%. Tanbreez is described as hosting heavy rare-earth elements, including dysprosium, terbium and yttrium, with deep-water fjord access. In March 2026 the company reported metallurgical testing of 2.96% total rare-earth oxide, which it framed as an improvement over historical work. It has cited a $120 million Export-Import Bank letter of intent and a $30 million board-approved acceleration program, with first ore targeted for late 2028 to early 2029. Wolfsberg is described as a fully permitted European lithium mine.

CRML is a story stock. The strategic case, Western heavy-rare-earth Supply outside China, is real, and chairman Tony Sage's messaging leans into it. But letters of intent are not funded facilities, and a 2028 to 2029 production target leaves years of financing and permitting risk. Resource and timeline figures here are company disclosures, not outcomes.

Aqua Metals (NASDAQ:AQMS): A Micro-Cap Recycler With a Going-Concern Flag

Aqua Metals is a small-cap battery-recycling company that has spent the past year in survival mode. It is the highest-risk name in this group, and its filings say so directly.

In its first-quarter 2026 report the company disclosed substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern within one year of the filing date, citing continued losses and limited liquidity. It reported a first-quarter 2026 net loss of $3.95 million and cash of $6.82 million as of 31 March 2026. On the listing front, Aqua Metals executed a 1-for-10 reverse stock split in mid-2025 and regained compliance with Nasdaq's minimum bid-price requirement on 8 September 2025; it trades on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Strategically, it terminated a Lion Energy transaction in May 2026 and has explored deep-sea polymetallic-nodule processing through memoranda of understanding.

The going-concern language is the headline risk here, not a footnote. With a modest cash balance against ongoing burn, additional capital raises, potentially dilutive, appear likely, and further compliance scrutiny is possible. For a company this size, financing announcements and any renewed listing notices matter more than the technology narrative.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD): A Royalty Giant Riding Record Cash Flow

Royal Gold sits at the opposite end of the spectrum: a large-cap precious-metals royalty and streaming company that owns interests in mines it does not operate, giving it Commodity exposure without direct mining costs.

In its first-quarter 2026 results the company reported revenue of $469.1 million, up roughly 142.5% year over year, and net income of $281.1 million, or $3.30 per diluted share. Operating Cash Flow was $293.6 million, and the board authorized a $500 million share-repurchase program in May 2026 while raising the quarterly Dividend to $0.475 per share. Royal Gold reported a low net-leverage ratio and reaffirmed 2026 guidance of 290,000 to 320,000 gold-equivalent-sensitive ounces. Its 2025 acquisitions of Sandstorm Gold and Horizon Copper contributed to the top-line surge.

The royalty model is doing exactly what it is designed to do in a strong gold market: converting high prices into cash with limited cost inflation. The obvious risk is the gold price itself; a sustained pullback would compress these results. Integration of the 2025 deals and capital-return execution are the things to watch, but the leverage to bullion cuts both ways.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD): Cyclical Strength With an Aluminum Drag

Steel Dynamics is one of the largest US steel producers and metals recyclers, and it rounds out the group as a diversified, cash-generative industrial cyclical.

In its second-quarter 2026 results the company reported net income of about $534 million and revenue of roughly $6.09 billion, with record steel shipments and steel mill utilization near 90%. Aluminum shipments more than doubled year over year as the company's newer aluminum flat-rolled platform ramps, though management indicated that platform still weighed on overall results as it scales.

Steel Dynamics offers the cleanest read on physical demand across construction, energy, automotive and industrial end-markets. The record steel quarter reflects healthy spreads, while the aluminum expansion is a longer-dated Diversification bet that is not yet a profit driver. Steel pricing and volumes can turn quickly, and the aluminum ramp adds near-term cost even as it broadens the platform.

What Investors Should Watch

For ABAT, the questions are whether positive adjusted gross profit persists and how the second recycling facility and Tonopah refinery get funded. For CRML, watch whether the Export-Import Bank letter of intent converts to committed financing and whether Tanbreez holds to its production timeline. AQMS is defined by liquidity: any capital raise, strategic transaction or listing notice is material. For RGLD, the gold price and integration of its 2025 acquisitions dominate. For STLD, steel spreads and the aluminum ramp are the swing factors.

Across all five, the risk gradient is the story worth remembering. Two are large-cap cash generators; two are pre-revenue or scaling developers; one carries an explicit going-concern warning. The same sector label hides very different balance sheets.

The Gap Between Surviving and Compounding

American Battery Technology and Critical Metals are development and scale-up stories with policy tailwinds and real execution risk. Aqua Metals is a distressed micro-cap where survival, not growth, is the near-term question. Royal Gold and Steel Dynamics are established, profitable operators, one levered to gold, one to the industrial cycle.

The clearest way to read this group is by cash runway rather than by shared sector membership. Royal Gold and Steel Dynamics fund their own growth from operations; American Battery Technology is proving it can generate margin but still burns cash; Critical Metals depends on financing commitments that remain non-binding; and Aqua Metals faces a going-concern question that no amount of technology promise resolves on its own.