Boston, MA 03/12/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ:PLUG) has seen spectacular rises in its stock price previously during the dot com bubble and that came to no good as it eventually lost 99.9% of its value. It’s seeing huge trading volume and a bubble-like increase in valuation again.
Nothing has changed in the fundamentals and a long-term investor won’t give the stock a second look.
Forklifts Are Not Rocket Science
It’s as if some people go by the dictum: ‘if you wait around long enough, the bubble will return again.’ The dot com bubble should have taught people lessons. The value investors like Warren Buffett talk about ‘fundamentals’ and building ‘moats’ around companies.
Plug Power does not hold up on closer scrutiny. Not every player in the ‘green energy’ space is a Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) that will revolutionize an entire industry, even if CNBC reporters mention both Plug and Tesla in the same sentence or same breath.
Remember that Tesla uses Lithium-ion batteries (so far made by Panasonic), the same batteries that power laptops and The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) 787 Dreamliners.
Plug Power’s hydrogen fuel cells typically power forklifts and it has recently received multi-million dollar orders to supply its hydrogen fuel cells to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) which will power forklifts in Wal-Mart’s warehouses.
Plug has underperformed compared to its peers in the Electrical Equipment industry with decrease in both net income and revenue.
Plug Power does not hold any exclusive technology patents nor does it boast of a strong product pipeline. It does not manufacture something so high-tech, like for example semiconductor chips which require factories costing billions of dollars, that others cannot replicate Plug’s manufacturing prowess.
Just as China has become a world leader in solar panels with its cost competitiveness, Plug too can be easily overtaken by a cheaper manufacturer.
Most analysts rate Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ:PLUG) as a “Sell”.
