What happened
Another day, another good day for hydrogen fuel cell stocks. As of 11:15 a.m. EST Tuesday, shares of fuel cell star Plug Power (PLUG -6.95%) are up 2.6%, while its hydrogen-powered peer FuelCell Energy (FCEL -6.06%) is doing a bit worse (up only 2%), and Bloom Energy (BE -1.93%) is doing quite a bit better, up 13.8%.
Curiously, however, the news that appears to be driving these stocks higher today is not really news at all.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
If you recall, it was exactly one week ago that Plug Power announced plans to sell just under 44 million new shares of stock at $22.25 apiece, raising a total of $1 billion in new cash to fuel its growth plans.
Today, Plug is playing up this development and trying to milk it for just a wee bit more momentum, announcing that it has "completed" the aforementioned stock sale and boasting that the deal has become "one of the largest bought equity deal transactions in the broader clean-tech sector" -- putting the company in control of a grand total $1.7 billion cash hoard at last count.
Now what
Plug is not alone among green energy companies raising cash. Just this morning, in fact, another fuel cell company -- Ballard Power Systems this time -- announced that it is pricing 13 million new shares at $19.25 each, raising a cool $250 million to fuel its own growth.
Still, with an equity offering four times as big, Plug says that its share sale is unique, and that it "uniquely positions Plug Power to execute and accelerate on its green hydrogen strategy," paying for the construction of "five regional green hydrogen facilities in the United States" over the next four years.
I'm honestly not sure why investors in FuelCell Energy and Bloom Energy (or even Ballard for that matter) would think that this is good news for their stocks, however. Seems to me, the fact that Plug Power now has $1.7 billion in cash to play with actually makes it a stronger competitor in this new hydrogen energy sector -- and to make Bloom, FuelCell, and Ballard weaker competitors in comparison.
Whether or not you think Plug stock should be "going up" today (on news that is, when you get right down to it, a whole week stale), I'm pretty sure that shares of Bloom Energy and FuelCell should actually be going down.
