PlugPower And FuelCell Surge Higher On Announcements From Both Companies

The fuel cell industry is trading higher on Tuesday following PlugPower’s PLUG guidance and FuelCell’s FCEL partnership with POSCO.

PlugPower has been a controversial stock in the first half of 2014. After shares rose more than 3,000 percent in less than a year, the issue was paraded in the financial media and became a retail trader favorite. Citron Research responded with a scathing report stating that the company is worth $0.50. Shares have subsequently pulled back almost 60 percent.

Related: Plug Power - Getting Charged Up To Rally?

In a presentation by PlugPower’s COO at a Wedbush conference Tuesday morning, Keith Schmid stated that the company still expects to ship over 3,000 units this year with sales of $70 million. This announcement reduced a significant amount of risk from the stock, allowing investors to add to their positions (per trader reaction).

FuelCell has been almost equally controversial, but was not as directly attacked because much of the increase in share price was in sympathy to PlugPower’s move. FuelCell announced on Tuesday morning that it would be expanding its relationship with POSCO Energy. The deal will help FuelCell to serve multinational customers, essentially expanding the reach of its business.

The announcements are synergistic, sending both companies higher. Shares of PlugPower shot up 9.49 percent to $4.28. Similarly, FuelCell has picked up 8.1 percent and was last trading at $2.17.