What happened
Fuel-cell stock Bloom Energy (BE -1.93%) kicked off the last day of 2021 on a solid note, surging 4.9% in the first one hour of trade before losing some ground. Bloom Energy shares were still up about 1.3% as of 2:20 p.m. ET. An analyst's bullish assessment is mainly responsible for the stock's positive end to the year.
So what
In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, analyst Pavel Molchanov from Raymond James picked Bloom Energy as one of his top energy stocks for 2022.
Image source: Bloom Energy.
Molchanov is excited about Europe's ambitions to phase out fossil fuels altogether and believes Bloom Energy is one of the best stocks to play Europe's decarbonization efforts, especially in the green hydrogen space.
Europe has among the most aggressive clean energy goals, which include replacing 50% of fossil-derived hydrogen with green hydrogen derived from renewables by 2030. Bloom Energy uses solid oxide fuel cells to convert renewables like natural gas and hydrogen into electricity that can then be supplied uninterrupted through its power-generation servers.
Europe, in particular, is facing a power crunch, which makes it even more imperative for the continent to look for sources of reliable power in the long term. That appears to be one reason why Molchanov sees so much growth potential for Bloom Energy and its hydrogen fuel-cell energy servers in the nation.
Now what
Given that several big companies already use Bloom Energy servers, the company's clean energy technology has been proven. Meanwhile, green hydrogen is gaining attention among world leaders like never before. That places Bloom Energy in a sweet spot, so it's not surprising to see analysts turn bullish about the stock's prospects.
