Morgan Stanley opened this morning to find that Plug Power ($PLUG) has the fast growth potential and is positioned for long-term growth, following Friday’s Plug Power annual virtual symposium. Sufficient attention was paid to: developments, figures, upgrades and long-term goals. Which has led Stephen Byrd – a well-known analyst – to upgrade the PLUG-share from ‘equal-weight’ to ‘overweight’ with an increased price target from $10.25 to $14,- per share.
As a result, the hydrogen and fuel cell company got off to a good start today with an increase of quickly 11%. Expected developments have led to the share showing an upside with estimated sales of $1.3 billion in 2024, driven by increased expected volumes in both vehicle and green hydrogen sales, Morgan Stanley reports. Byrd adds that after 2024, Plug Power’s turnover is likely to increase by an average of 21% until 2030. The fact that the European Union has also set various targets up to 2050, which are favorable for the developments surrounding hydrogen fuel cells, is a great gain for the market potential of Plug Power.
Not only Morgan Stanley praises Plug Power after the symposium. FBR analyst Christopher Souther also reiterates a ‘buy-rating’ on Plug Power with a price target of $13 following last Friday’s new information and announcements. The reason for this assessment is the confidence of the experts who say Plug Power is still on track for its targets of 2024. Finally, Barclays analyst Moses Sutton last week raised the price target for Plug Power from $12 to $13, while keeping an equal weight rating on the shares.
Plug Power is being looked at with great interest, since it is increasingly being claimed that green hydrogen will be economically feasible more quickly than initially thought. Named as market leader in the field of hydrogen, with a very favorable position thanks to their expertise and large number of customers and relations, that uses green hydrogen economically in important products spread over several large markets. The energy that applies here is becoming very affordable, which means that the transport and industry are getting more in contact with renewable energy. As a result, we see that the carbon emission profiles are significantly reduced.
What has proven to be the added value of the virtual symposium and what makes the analysts so optimistic? It is believed that Plug Power will continue to expand and improve their commercial vehicles, stationary power and hydrogen production over the next four years. It was also announced at the symposium that Plug Power has sold an amount of fuel cell vehicles to the German chemical company Linde, that it has partnered with Apex to secure affordable American renewable energy, and that the figures about European growth opportunities and electrolysis technology are looking positive on the short- and long-term.
The criticism that is often made on Plug Power is that the company is still not profitable. Wall Street now expects the company to make an annual profit for the first time in 2023, which is a strong improvement on previous predictions. The share is trading for nearly nine times its estimated 2022 sales. In the past six months, gross bills worth over $200 million have been closed. Plug Power’s mission to build five to six new hydrogen plants in North America in the coming years could lead to another $500 million in investment. The company plans to develop the first mega-factory with proton exchange membrane technology (aka – PEM, a component of fuel cells). The mega-factory will generate an annual capacity of approximately 1.5 gigawatts, which will be used to power over a thousand of new heavy trucks per year.
The fuel cell powered forklifts and medium to heavy trucks are completely in the picture again, thanks to the attention it receives on stock platforms such as Robin Hood and Stocktwits. We also noticed a lot of activity on Twitter mentioning Plug Power. It is more than just interesting to follow the developments around the company to see how much the share can rise.
Neither PSN nor its owners, members, officers, directors, partners, consultants, nor anyone involved in the publication of this website, is a registered investment adviser or broker-dealer or associated person with a registered investment adviser or broker-dealer and none of the foregoing make any recommendation that the purchase or sale of securities of any company profiled in the PSN website is suitable or advisable for any person or that an investment or transaction in such securities will be profitable. The information contained in the PSN website is not intended to be, and shall not constitute, an offer to sell nor the solicitation of any offer to buy any security. The information presented in the PSN website is provided for informational purposes only and is not to be treated as advice or a recommendation to make any specific investment. Please consult with an independent investment adviser and qualified investment professional before making an investment decision.