Ballard Power Stock and Plug Power Stock – Two top fuel cell manufacturers with potential

• Investors are interested in clean energy production
• Ballard Power and Plug Power remain interesting despite the price decline
• Perseverance required from investors

For clean energy generation, the alternative “fuel” hydrogen is considered by many to be a good complement to wind and solar energy. Because while the power generation in the latter two is of a fluctuating nature, hydrogen can help to stabilize the power grid, as it enables stable, reliable power generation. Bank of America is therefore even anticipating that the global hydrogen market could reach a volume of 11 trillion dollars by 2050. Against this background, it is hardly surprising that there has also been a real hype about hydrogen shares on the stock exchange. With Ballard Power and Plug Power, Aditya Raghunath, financial journalist at “stocknews.com”, took a closer look at two industry giants.

Ballard Power stock

The Canadian Ballard Power Systems was founded in 1979 and has since established itself in the fuel cell market. Last October, the company stated that electric vehicles powered by Ballard had already clocked up more than 100 million kilometers.

Their emission-free PEM fuel cells are used in buses, commercial vehicles, trains, seagoing vessels, passenger cars and forklifts. In addition to these versatile application options, Aditya Raghunath also positively emphasized that Ballard Power is also regionally broadly positioned and serves the markets of Europe, North America and China. The Canadians would focus on market segments where the value proposition for fuel cells is robust and barriers to refueling infrastructure are lowest.

The market cap is currently around $3.29 billion. At currently $10.96 (closing price on the NASDAQ on March 2, 2022), Ballard shares are well below the high of $40.99 reached in February 2021 (based on the closing price). However, analysts are assuming strong growth at Ballard Power for the current year. The average analyst estimates sales for 2021 at 103.1 million US dollars and for 2022 at 145.0 million US dollars – after 104 million US dollars in 2020.

Plug Power stock

The US fuel cell manufacturer Plug Power was founded in 1997. Its hydrogen fuel cell systems are used in electromobility, in industrial trucks and in stationary emergency power systems. He also supplies customers with hydrogen and constructs systems for hydrogen storage and hydrogen dispensing systems.

Aditya Raghunath sees it positively that Plug Power is not just concentrating on the car market, where electric drives seem to be gaining ground as an alternative form of drive. In November, for example, the hydrogen specialist received an order to set up a 100-megawatt electrolysis plant in Egypt. The PEM electrolyser is expected to be the largest in the world when it goes online.

The market cap is currently around $14.32 billion. At currently USD 25.27 (closing price on the NASDAQ on March 2nd, 2022), the Plug Power share is also listed well below the record price of USD 73.18 reached in January 2021 (based on the closing price). According to Aditya Raghunath, Plug Power stock could be a good contrarian buy — an investment strategy where you buy stocks cheaply when others are getting out.

Long-term opportunities

For Aditya Raghunath, both Ballard Power and Plug Power could be good investment opportunities for investors with a long-term investment horizon and a high risk appetite. He points out that both companies are in a capital-intensive industry and will likely need a lot of capital before they become profitable. However, it is positive that both companies also have huge cash reserves.

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Image sources: Pavel Kapysh / Shutterstock.com, Plug Power Inc.