What happened
It’s a busy day for fuel cell stocks on Tuesday, with Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) 15% higher shares with news of a new 50-50 joint venture to place Plug fuel cells in Renault commercial vans in Europe.
Plug’s announcement pulled the entire sector up at the beginning of the trading session, but as the day goes on, we are seeing a little shake, with FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ: FCEL) still maintaining an impressive 13.7% gain and Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ: BLDP) up to 18% from 11:40 am EST. In contrast, Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE) stocks are disappearing rapidly, falling below a 2% gain around 11 am and currently rising only a fraction of one percent from yesterday’s close.
Image source: Getty Images.
And
What explains the different directions of these stocks? Plug’s shares are clearly benefiting from claims that its new JV with Renault will dominate 30% of the European fuel cell light commercial vehicle market, and its promise to have a “pilot fleet” of fuel cell vans on European roads before the year is over.
Ballard Power, however, had news of his own this morning. UK-based fuel cell company Arcola Energy is buying Ballard’s “FCmove-HD fuel cell modules” to power a demonstration version of “Scotland’s first hydrogen-powered train” to be shown in Glasgow in November 2021, says the company.
FuelCell Energy, on the other hand, seems to simply be riding the wave. Having no news of its own to report, however, does not appear to be slowing the stock down. Simply growing enthusiasm for the prospects of hydrogen fuel cell companies in general seems to be more than enough to maintain their momentum.
What now
But what about Bloom Energy, which seems to be the stranger in all this enthusiasm?
Bloom’s sudden weakness, after enjoying a nearly 7% rise in early trading, is explained by a downgrade reported this morning by TheFly.com. Specifically, Morgan Stanley today cut its rating of Bloom’s shares from overweight to equal weight. this did raise the target price of Bloom’s shares a bit – but only by $ 2, to $ 34 per share – and that’s, in fact, a few cents Any less than what Bloom Energy’s stock costs today.
Despite the analyst’s praise for the company’s growth potential and the “unique barriers to entry” it sees for potential competitors, reports TheFly.com, Bloom’s 265% price increase last year adequately captures how much the shares are probably worth it – and Morgan Stanley thinks there is little room left for Bloom’s shares to manage.