New York, May 22, 2026, 05:08 EDT
Plug Power shares were indicated slightly higher before Friday’s regular Nasdaq session after a 14.2% jump to $3.78 on Thursday, a sharp move for a hydrogen stock still trying to prove it can turn scale into profit. Nasdaq’s regular trading day runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
The move mattered because it was not built on a fresh Plug Power announcement on Thursday. It rode a broader fuel-cell trade after Bloom Energy struck an AI data-center power deal, while Plug’s own latest contract news gave traders a second reason to look again at the stock.
Bloom Energy and Nebius said on May 20 that Bloom fuel cells would help power Nebius’s AI infrastructure, with 328 megawatts of installed capacity planned to be operational this year. “Power remains a key constraint,” said Andrey Korolenko, Nebius’s chief product and infrastructure officer. The systems are “behind the meter,” meaning they generate electricity on site rather than waiting on the public grid. Nebius
Plug’s company-specific news came a day earlier, when it said the 30-megawatt Barrow Green Hydrogen project in Britain had reached final investment decision — the formal go-ahead to move into spending and construction. Plug will supply six 5-megawatt GenEco PEM electrolyzers, machines that use electricity and a membrane to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The project is expected to supply about 100 gigawatt-hours of green hydrogen a year to Kimberly-Clark’s Barrow plant and cut the site’s natural gas use by up to 50%, the company said.
Jose Luis Crespo, Plug’s chief executive, said Barrow was “moving our largest UK project from award into execution.” Eric Adams, hydrogen director at Carlton Power, called Plug “a strong partner” as the British project moves ahead. The plain market read: investors now have a live industrial hydrogen project to weigh, not just a long pipeline. Plug Power
The backdrop is Plug’s first-quarter report. Revenue rose 22% from a year earlier to $163.5 million, while GAAP gross margin — the share of sales left after production costs — improved to negative 13% from negative 55%. Crespo said the quarter showed progress “improving the underlying economics” of the business. GlobeNewswire
Still, the rally sits on a thin cushion. Plug reported a first-quarter net loss attributable to the company of $245.3 million, wider than $196.7 million a year earlier, and ended March with $802.0 million in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash. It also used $150.0 million of cash in operating activities during the quarter.
That is the risk paragraph investors will not skip. Plug is targeting positive EBITDAS in the fourth quarter — earnings before interest, income tax, depreciation, amortization and share-based expense — but the target depends on better margins, lower cash use, asset monetizations and project timing. If hydrogen projects slip, financing tightens, or costs rise again, Thursday’s gain could unwind fast.
The competitive tape was strong. MarketWatch reported that Plug outpaced the broader market Thursday as the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.09% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.55%; Ballard Power Systems, another fuel-cell name, rose 14.08%. Plug’s volume hit about 115 million shares, above its 50-day average.
Bloom is the peer most tied to the latest move, because its Nebius deal put fuel cells back into the AI power debate. Ballard’s rally showed the trade was not isolated to Plug. The difference is that Plug’s story remains more about hydrogen production, electrolyzers and warehouse fuel-cell systems than about confirmed AI data-center power orders.
Friday’s session will test whether buyers treat the move as a one-day sympathy trade or a broader re-rating of hydrogen names. The clock matters: U.S. equity markets are open Friday, but Nasdaq’s 2026 calendar lists Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, as a market holiday.
