New York, May 21, 2026, 13:13 (EDT)
- FuelCell Energy shares rallied over 20% in Thursday’s session, building on a rebound from losses earlier this week.
- The company added cybersecurity and industrial tech veteran John Livingston to the board and scheduled its next results call for June 8.
- Fuel-cell stocks moved up as Bloom Energy’s AI-infrastructure deal with Nebius kept focus on demand for on-site power.
FuelCell Energy stock climbed in early afternoon trade Thursday, with buyers moving back to fuel-cell names viewed as possible power providers for AI data centers. Shares traded on the Nasdaq at $24.98, up 23.5%. Earlier, the stock hit $25.27. Volume was around 13.1 million shares.
The move is getting attention now as the rally swings from a wide clean-energy trade to a tighter focus on electricity supply for AI infrastructure. Behind-the-meter power, meaning power made at or near the customer’s location instead of just from the grid, is turning into a new story for the market.
FuelCell shares surged after climbing 16.47% on Wednesday to $20.22. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.54% that day. FuelCell broke a three-day slide and traded on heavy volume, MarketWatch said.
Boost from peers lifted fuel cell names. Bloom Energy picked up 11.1%, Plug Power added 14.5%, and Nebius Group advanced 16.3%. QQQ, which tracks the Nasdaq, slipped about 0.5%.
Bloom and Nebius on May 20 said they reached a deal for Bloom fuel cells to support Nebius’s AI infrastructure expansion, targeting 328 megawatts installed capacity this year for the first project. “Power remains a key constraint,” Nebius executive Andrey Korolenko said. EQS News
FuelCell announced John Livingston joined its board as of May 19. The Danbury, Connecticut-based company also said it will post fiscal Q2 results before the market opens June 8, with a call set for 10 a.m. Eastern.
FuelCell has increased its board size to nine, according to a filing. Livingston joins the Audit, Finance and Risk Committee and the Compensation and Leadership Development Committee. The same filing noted there are no reportable related-party transactions with Livingston.
FuelCell Energy CEO Jason Few said Livingston’s background is right for a market where “AI-driven demand and digital infrastructure increasingly converge.” Livingston said the company was “in the right place at the right time” for behind-the-meter power. FuelCell Energy
That’s what traders are chasing. In March, FuelCell said it would roll out standardized 12.5-megawatt power blocks for data centers and aims to boost output at its Torrington, Connecticut plant in stages from about 100 MW to 350 MW. “What’s changed is urgency,” said CEO Few at the time. Sales head Eric Strayer said buyers want “fast, phased deployment.” FuelCell Energy
Fuel cells use an electrochemical process to make electricity, not combustion. Baseload power is often mentioned in the sector as the kind of steady supply that runs 24/7. That pitch matters for data centers that need nonstop power and avoid outages.
The rally is still tied to the numbers. FuelCell posted first-quarter revenue of $30.5 million, up 61% from a year ago, but reported a net loss of $26.1 million. Backlog dropped 10.8% to $1.17 billion. The company has warned that bid awards might not turn into contracts, contracts may not turn into revenue, and it could need more financing.
June 8 is now the date to watch. FuelCell’s next update should give a read on whether the AI-power pitch is turning into real signed revenue, or if Thursday’s jump was traders chasing a theme.
