Plug Power
Many believe that PLUG's fuel cell technology can be commercialized and applied for a variety of settings beyond forklifts like passenger transportation, commercial transportation, backup power, and power data centers. It's also benefited from Democrats winning the Presidency and control of Congress which should bring more favorable policy. However, shares are off by more than 40% over the last couple of weeks due to a risk-off sentiment for frothy stocks and signals that the Senate is going to be less progressive than anticipated.
Inside the Numbers
In Q4, Plug Power reported a loss of $476.3 million, or $1.12 a share, which was a major increase from last year's $18.3 million loss or $0.07 a share. In contrast, analysts were expecting a loss of $0.12 per share.
Due to some accounting issues of customer warrants, revenue was actually negative $316.3 million while analysts were expecting a loss of $87.2 million. Costs were also higher than expected at $456 million.
Gross billings for the full year were $337 million including $96.3 million in Q4. The company also said that it exceeded its 2020 target and was raising its estimates for 2021 to $475 million from $450 million.
Plug Power also increased its 2024 billing target by more than 40% to $1.7 billion. The company also issued an update regarding its joint venture with South Korea's SK Group saying that it completed its $1.6 billion capital investment to bring its fuel cell technology to Asian markets. It also said that the company will likely pursue more joint ventures in 2021 similar to SK Group.
Stock Price Outlook
Plug Power has been selling off like a lot of high-multiple stocks in February. This isn't entirely surprising given that the stock was up 2,720% from its March 2020 low at its recent high. Even if Plug is going to continue gaining, it's likely to have some pullbacks and shakeouts on the way.
However, Plug Power has a $21 billion market cap with no clear path to profitability. This valuation cannot be sustained by its legacy forklift business but reflects investors' hopes that its fuel cell technology can be applied to other purposes. However, the recent results show that this is not guaranteed by any means.
