The minus USD 0.11 per share was a much higher loss than the USD 0.06 that had been anticipated. The adjusted EPS is said to be at USD 0.08 per share. The company’s revenue increased to USD 32.6 million in the final quarter of 2016 – while USD 34.8 million had been expected. The net loss attributable to common shareholders (incl. large extraordinary items) added up to USD 57.6 million at USD 85.9 million in revenue. This fiscal year, GAAP revenue is expected to grow to USD 130 million. Where does the company go from here? The focus of Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) is the materials handling market, and it’s doing well on it regarding customers and bookings. Additionally, the Canadian-based business intends to earn money over the long term by selling its own hydrogen. It has already set up 40 stations to fill up hydrogen tanks. That there is no longer government support for retrofitting forklift trucks (a new regulation could be in the works, but that is a pretty unlikely scenario under Trump) should not be an important factor when evaluating the company. More than USD 325 million in new bookings speak for themselves; the same is true for liquidity, of which Plug Power has USD 46 million freely available – at a total of USD 100.6 million and a market cap of below USD 200 million.
Risk warning
Investors must understand that buying and selling shares is done at their own risk. Consider spreading the risk as a sensible precaution. The fuel cell companies mentioned in this article are small and mid-cap ones, i.e., they do not represent stakes in big companies and the volatility is significantly higher. This article is not to be taken as a recommendation of what shares to buy or sell – it comes without any explicit or implicit guarantee or warranty. All information is based on publicly available sources and the assessments put forth in this article represent exclusively the author’s own opinion. This article focuses on mid-term and long-term perspectives and not short-term profit. The author may own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article.
Author: Sven Jösting (text was written in March 2017)