What happened
Hydrogen fuel-cell stocks kicked off Tuesday on a strong note, with shares of Plug Power (PLUG 4.02%), Bloom Energy (BE 5.47%), and Nikola (NKLA 0.76%) jumping 7.7%, 7%, and 5.7%, respectively, as of 2:25 p.m. ET. Multiple developments that confirm rising global interest in green hydrogen and fuel-cell technology reignited investor interest in leading hydrogen stocks today.
So what
Hydrogen may have been the focal point at the U.N.'s climate conference COP26 held in November. But many called the event a failure as it failed to attract as much commitment to hydrogen from business leaders as expected. However, that doesn't mean the world isn't paying attention to hydrogen's potential as an alternative fuel to help nations decarbonize.
Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco, for example, just announced an agreement with France-based Gaussin to build manufacturing facilities in Saudi Arabia for on-road and off-road hydrogen-powered vehicles. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is collaborating with French utility Engie to invest $5 billion to develop renewable energy and hydrogen projects with two gigawatts of capacity by 2030. The UAE aims to corner 25% of the global market share in low-carbon hydrogen by 2030.
Image source: Getty Images.
Closer to home, at least two companies announced deals in hydrogen today: Meritor announced it will partner with Hexagon Purus to develop hydrogen fuel-cell electric trucks; Hyzon Motors (HYZN 3.95%) is collaborating with Australia's Woodside Energy to develop green hydrogen-production facilities for trucks, aviation, marine, and rail in the U.S. as well as Australia. Woodside Energy already has plans to build a hydrogen facility in Oklahoma. Hyzon Motors shares, for that matter, were up 12.6% as of 2:25 ET Dec. 7.
These are just some of the latest developments in the hydrogen industry that may have caught the attention of investors in hydrogen stocks. Hydrogen is even being promoted as a breakthrough fuel source in one of the most challenging areas of transportation in terms of decarbonization: aviation. Just yesterday, the FlyZero project, led by the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) and backed by the U.K. government, unveiled a concept aircraft that could fly 279 passengers halfway around the world on green hydrogen with just one stop for refueling. Although the ATI admits a commercial hydrogen plane is still years away, it doesn't look impossible anymore.
Companies like Plug Power and Bloom Energy are going all out to establish themselves in the green energy space with their hydrogen fuel-cell technologies. So days like these when the hydrogen industry is abuzz can, unsurprisingly, attract investor attention in the stocks. Nikola is also already building hydrogen trucks, but the company may still have a long way to go to convince investors about its prospects.
Now what
There's another reason why Plug Power, Bloom Energy, and Nikola shares jumped on Tuesday: Growth stocks had a field day after a sell-off last week, and these three stocks couldn't be left behind. Investors who had paid heed to my advice last week to not sell in panic, though, must be weighing in on the long-term prospects of green hydrogen, and these stocks, today.