What happened
Shares of hydrogen fuel cell stocks are rising today. As of 11 a.m. EST, shares of Plug Power (PLUG 1.26%) were up 13%, while Bloom Energy (BE 10.99%) and FuelCell Energy (FCEL 3.38%) both jumped 9%.
Shares in the renewable energy companies are getting a boost with news from Plug Power and Walmart (WMT -0.08%).
So what
Plug Power announced this morning that it is expanding its partnership with Walmart. Plug Power has been providing Walmart with its hydrogen engines and fueling since 2010. Walmart uses about 9,500 Plug Power fuel cell vehicles for material handling at 37 of its North American distribution centers.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now the companies say that Plug Power will be expanding its hydrogen and fuel cell solutions to Walmart's e-commerce network into 2021.
Now what
The expansion of Plug Power's relationship with Walmart is somewhat of an affirmation of the fuel cell technology, which explains the jump in price for the related company stocks.
But while the news is certainly good for Plug Power, it doesn't necessarily mean the value of Bloom Energy and FuelCell Energy should grow today. In fact, both have recently had news drive their shares down.
Bloom Energy was recently the target of a critical article in The Wall Street Journal. And earlier this month, FuelCell Energy raised new capital, which diluted existing shareholders. Investors sold on that news, driving shares down almost 30%. These stocks tend to move together, and each has recovered since early December. All three are up between 10% and 20% since Dec. 2 when FuelCell announced its share sale.
Today's moves are similar in that there is really no news on FuelCell or Bloom Energy specifically. But a growing relationship with the world's largest retailer certainly does benefit Plug Power.
