What's happening: Natural gas vehicle refueling leader Clean Energy Fuels Corp (CLNE -0.89%) stock jumped almost 11% in early trading today, before cooling off a bit. As of this writing, the stock is up more than 7%.
Why it's happening: There are a couple of things driving Clean Energy's stock price up today. First, the overall market is rebounding big today, after one of the worst weeks in years last week spilled over into yesterday. Both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrials are up more than 2% so far today. A heavily shorted, higher-risk stock like Clean Energy's is almost always going to be more volatile than the rest of the market, and is likely to move up (and down) more sharply on days the market is making big moves. But that's just part of the story.
Before the market opeed today, Clean Energy issued a press release documenting a number of new agreements and expanded agreements with new and existing customers, adding hundreds of new vehicles that Clean Energy will refuel. All in, the agreements look to add more than 7 million annual gallons of additional contracted fuel sales to Clean Energy's existing fuel sales. And once these vehicles are in operation, these are repeat fuel sales for as long as the vehicle is in operation.
The company also announced that it has opened 14 stations over the past four months specifically designed for heavy-duty trucks, and will open another five as part of its expanded agreement with Dart Trucking. The company also announced a large bulk fuel sales agreement with PG&E Corporation and will supply it with 1.5 million gallons of LNG shipments, which it will deliver in July and August.
While these deals don't suddenly push Clean Energy into solid profitability, they do provide some measure of evidence that natural gas continues to be viable as a cheaper and cleaner alternative to diesel and gasoline, even in the current oil price environment. And that does bode well for the company.
