Why (most) fuel cell stocks have popped up today

What happened

It’s a busy day for fuel cell stocks Tuesday, with Connect the power (NASDAQ: PLUG) shares up 15% following the announcement of a new 50-50 joint venture to install Plug fuel cells in Renault vans in Europe.

Plug’s announcement pushed the entire industry up early in the session, but as the day progresses we see a slight upheaval, with FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ: FCEL) still hanging on to an impressive 13.7% gain and Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ: BLDP) up 18% at 11:40 a.m. EST. On the other hand, Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE) The stock is fading quickly, falling below a 2% gain around 11 a.m. and currently up a fraction of a percent from yesterday’s close.

So what

What explains the different directions of these stocks? Plug’s shares clearly benefit 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 the market. European routes before the year is over.

Ballard Power, meanwhile, had his own news this morning. UK fuel cell company Arcola Energy purchases Ballard ‘FCmove-HD fuel cell modules’ to power a demo version of ‘Scotland’s first hydrogen train’ to be on display in Glasgow in November 2021, according to the company .

FuelCell Energy, meanwhile, just seems to be coming for the ride. Having no news to report, however, does not seem to slow the action down. The mere increase in enthusiasm about the prospects for hydrogen fuel cell companies in general seems to be more than enough to keep the momentum going.

Now what

But what about Bloom Energy, who seems to be the odd man in all this excitement?

Bloom’s sudden weakness, after benefiting from a surge of nearly 7% at the start of the session, can be explained by a downgrade reported this morning by TheFly.com. Specifically, Morgan Stanley today downgraded its rating on Bloom stock from overweight to equal weight. he made raise his Bloom stock price target a bit – but only $ 2, to $ 34 a share – and that’s actually a few cents 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, TheFly.com reports, the 265% rise in the share price of Bloom during the past year correctly reflects the probable value of the share. – and Morgan Stanley thinks there is little room left for Bloom’s stock.