In the face of small revenues and high expenses, the company’s $233 million cash balance back in 2005 has largely been frittered away. As the prospect of bankruptcy began to come into focus, management pursued a radical revamp of the business: Over the past few years, they have “exited a money-losing joint venture, sold non-core businesses, ended a low-margin contract manufacturing deal, turned speculative R&D work into profitable business lines, reduced product costs by 70%, and right-sized operations,” note analysts at Lake Street Capital Markets.

Though Ballard isn’t abandoning OEM relationships (it is currently co-developing fuel cell technology with Volkswagen, Belgian bus maker Van Hool, and China’s Azure Hydrogen), the company is also starting to build its own proprietary power systems for use as backup power or in off-the-grid applications. Indeed, a sales relationship with Nokia Solutions Network is opening many doors in places like India, which is now enabling to sales to grow at an annual rate of $15 million to $20 million.

Rising sales, coupled with a steady migration toward 30% gross margins, are helping to slow the quarterly cash burn rate to less than $3 million. Ballard could become cash flow positive by early 2015. Simply proving that it can live within its means will be a key milestone for some investors.

But for others, it is still the very bright promise of hydrogen-based fuel cells that remains in focus. Ballard is now working with so many partners in the technology’s development, with each of these niches representing market sizes in the hundreds of millions, that just one or two key success would be a game changer. Ballard will be releasing fourth-quarter results Feb. 24, and management is likely to discuss the path to break-even and the latest developments in the technology’s development.

Capstone took a long time to get sales traction: Sales finally reached the $100 million mark in fiscal 2012, yet analysts now see revenues reaching $175 million in the fiscal year that begins in April. Equally impressive: Gross margins that have doubled in the past six quarters, to around 20%.

Why are margins firming? Because deal sizes are growing. The average selling price per micro-turbine rose from $158,000 a year ago to a recent $184,000. “Capstone used to be considered primarily for 1- to 5-megawatt opportunities or installations, so we migrated up in project size, so that Capstone is now being considered frequently as a solution for projects that are in 25-megawatt range,” said CEO Darren Jamison in a recent call with analysts.

Firmer pricing and margins means that Capstone’s long streak of money-losing quarters may be coming to an end. The quarterly loss fell to just $2 million in the most recent quarter, down from quarterly losses that routinely exceeded $8 million in recent years. The current $31 million cash balance suggests that the company won’t need to raise money in 2014. Management believes that Capstone will hit quarterly break-even in the current fiscal fourth quarter (which ends in March).

Still, shares have pulled back roughly 10% since third-quarter results were announced, as revenues came in a bit lower than analysts had expected. The fact that backlog rose $10 million sequentially to $160 million softens that blow. As was the case with Ballard Power, Capstone Energy just got to the market too soon, burning too many investors in the process. Yet the long-awaited growth spurt, and a long-awaited move to break-even results, sets the stage for much better days ahead.