Electricity has become a rising theme in the stock market. The growth of artificial intelligence data centers is expected to put significant pressure on the current electric grid, and it appears that the world will need as much power as it can generate from traditional sources, as well as from new sources. One such innovative source of power is hydrogen energy.
Green hydrogen company Plug Power (PLUG +6.25%) is developing an end-to-end ecosystem that encompasses the production of hydrogen and its conversion into electricity by fuel cells for commercial use. Investors have shown significant interest in the company. If you'd invested $1,000 in the stock one year ago, here's how much your position would be worth today.
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Plug Power stock has struggled
While Plug Power appears to have immense potential, the company has struggled financially. After a few decades as a public company, it's still losing a significant amount of money each quarter, and recently warned that it could lose access to $1.7 billion in loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The company chose to pause activities that were being supported by those loans, citing President Donald Trump's actions to end the clean energy commitments made under President Joe Biden's administration. Due in part to these events, Plug Power's stock trades down close to 13% over the past year, and off by close to 92% over the past five years.
Data by YCharts.
As such, $1,000 invested in Plug Power a year ago would be worth a little less than $900 now. Had you invested $1,000 in the broader benchmark S&P 500 index instead, your position would be worth $1,135.
