New York, July 12, 2026, 12:08 EDT
Plug Power Inc. NASDAQ:PLUG shed roughly $570 million in market value last week, using Friday’s market cap and keeping the share count steady. This came despite the company announcing a big electrolyzer order out of Australia. With U.S. cash markets closed Sunday, the latest quote is still Friday’s close at $2.23, down 15.53% across five sessions. Plug Power finished the week valued near $3.10 billion.
The gap stands out. The 50-megawatt deal with Orica Ltd. ASX:ORI is almost one-sixth of the 320 megawatts Plug says it has rolled out worldwide. But Plug didn’t say how much the contract is worth or when delivery happens, so investors can’t plug the order size into revenue, margin or cash flow forecasts.
Plug shares dropped, but losses weren’t the biggest in the group. FuelCell fell almost twice as much, and Ballard didn’t drop as far. All four hydrogen and fuel-cell stocks lagged behind the Nasdaq Composite, even as the market climbed.
| Asset | Five-day move | Gap versus Nasdaq |
|---|---|---|
| Plug Power Inc. | dropped 15.53% | lagged by 17.23 points |
| Bloom Energy Corp. NYSE:BE | fell 17.10% | under by 18.80 points |
| FuelCell Energy Inc. NASDAQ:FCEL | sank 29.26% | trailed 30.96 points |
| Ballard Power Systems Inc. NASDAQ:BLDP | slipped 10.98% | behind 12.68 points |
| Nasdaq Composite | up 1.70% | — |
Moves over the last five sessions ending July 10.
Analysts stayed cautious on the stock. On Friday, Susquehanna’s Biju Perincheril kept a Neutral call but lowered his 12-month price target by about a third to $2.50. The day before, Arthur Sitbon at Morgan Stanley NYSE:MS bumped up his target to $1.65 from $1.50, keeping his Underweight rating. That suggests Morgan Stanley still sees the shares underperforming peers.
| Analyst and firm | Rating | New target | Previous target | Implied move from $2.23 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biju Perincheril at Susquehanna | Neutral | $2.50 | $3.75 | +12.1% |
| Arthur Sitbon at Morgan Stanley | Underweight | $1.65 | $1.50 | -26.0% |
StreetInsider.com reports here.
Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub got the FID green light, clearing the way for spending on the project. Plug is set to deliver PEM electrolyzers, which split water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity. When running at full capacity, the hub should make around 4,700 tonnes of renewable hydrogen per year, cutting about 7.5% of Orica’s natural gas use at the Kooragang Island plant.
Plug CEO José Luis Crespo called Australia “a key part of our global growth story.” Orica’s Germán Morales said Plug was picked for its “proven track record in delivering large-scale PEM systems.” GlobeNewswire
Plug is struggling to turn its growing project scale into cash. First-quarter revenue climbed 22% to $163.5 million, and gross margin, which measures sales left after direct costs, improved to negative 13% from negative 55%. Still, operations burned roughly $150 million in cash, and Plug finished the quarter with $223 million in unrestricted cash. The net loss attributable to Plug came in around $245 million.
Crespo said the aim is to turn scale into steady financial results. Management kept its goal for positive EBITDAS in the fourth quarter. EBITDAS leaves out interest, tax, depreciation, amortization and stock-based comp.
The outlook could get tougher if project delays hit, gross margin stays negative, or funding gets tighter. Plug used up about two-thirds of its unrestricted cash just in first-quarter operations. The company in its disclosures listed risks like liquidity, supply chain issues, and policy shifts. Another misstep on execution could push it to look for capital with worse terms.
This week, investors are watching for a round of key U.S. economic data before any new project news. The government will post June consumer-price data on Tuesday, July 14, with producer prices set for Wednesday and retail sales on Thursday, all at 8:30 a.m. EDT. A run of strong numbers could lift market rates and hit unprofitable growth names, while weaker stats might help those stocks.
If Plug wants a stronger rebound, just posting another megawatt figure probably won’t cut it. Markets want details: contract values, when deliveries are set, what these add to gross margin, and proof cash outflows are easing. The signal last week was clear: it’s simple to tally up megawatts, harder to show what they really earn.
Related articles: NASDAQ:PLUG
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