What happened
Shares of Plug Power (PLUG -3.11%) popped 3.7% in early trading Wednesday after the fuel cell stock attracted a huge analyst upgrade following the announcement of a new partnership.
So what
Today morning, Plug Power signed a memorandum of understanding with renewable green hydrogen producer Lhyfe at HyVolution, a two-day green hydrogen event being held at Paris.
Plug Power and Lhyfe plan to jointly develop green hydrogen plants in Europe with an operating capacity of 300 megawatts (MW) by 2025, along with developing a production site with a capacity of 1 gigawatt. The companies will target on-road and off-road mobility markets, and may also consider building a U.S.-based offshore wind electrolyzer plant later.
A Plug Power fuel cell in a forklift. Image source: Plug Power.
Plug Power and Lhyfe first collaborated earlier this year when Plug Power was chosen to provide 1 MW of capacity to the world's first offshore hydrogen production project, being developed by Lhyfe. The facility will run on wind energy.
Soon after the partnership announcement, Roth Capital raised its price target on Plug Power stock to $45 a share, representing nearly 30% upside from the stock's opening price Wednesday. Analyst Craig Irwin believes Plug Power's "tangible points of progress in green hydrogen" will serve as "important trading catalysts" for the stock in the coming quarters.
Now what
Today's announcement is one of several deals that Plug Power has announced in recent weeks after a long dry spell that lasted several months. In October alone so far, Plug Power has announced a partnership in Australia to build an electrolyzer gigafactory, collaborations with energy giant Phillips 66 and aerospace companyr Airbus, an alliance with Israel-based HevenDrones, and a joint venue with South Korea's SK Group, among other things. These developments also reflect Plug Power's initiative to expand hydrogen technologies beyond its niche materials-handling equipment.
With Plug Power's impressive sales guidance for 2022 and 2025 announced at its annual analyst event on Oct. 14 also attracting the attention of several analysts in recent days, investor interest in the hydrogen stock seems to be rising by the day.
