Plug Power Stock Is Surging: What's Going On?

Plug Power Inc PLUG shares are trading higher Wednesday on the back of an analyst upgrade.

What Happened: Roth MKM analyst Craig Irwin on Wednesday upgraded Plug Power from Neutral to Buy and raised the price target from $4.50 to $9, citing continued progress of the company’s hydrogen plant in Georgia.

“Our visit to the Georgia green hydrogen plant gives us confidence the facility is ramping smoothly and all major technical issues are handled, addressing our prior concerns about backlog and margin visibility,” Irwin said in a new note to clients.

Last week, Plug announced that it started operations of the largest liquid green hydrogen plant in the U.S. market. The Georgia-based plant is designed to produce 15 tons per day (TPD) of liquid electrolytic hydrogen, which is enough to power approximately 15,000 forklifts per day. 

The Roth MKM analyst expects Plug’s first liquid hydrogen delivery from the facility to take place “imminently.” He noted that full 15 TPD production is likely to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Irwin also highlighted recent changes from Plug to price hydrogen sales to customers with consistent procurement costs, which should help drive rapid margin improvement, he said. Plug’s third-party hydrogen supplier will lose share if they do not settle on a fair pricing strategy, he added.

The Roth MKM analyst noted that the firm’s price target of $9 is based on a 2.4x multiple on 2025 revenue estimates of $2.2 billion.

“We see the 2.4x multiple as fair given the rapidly improving visibility for improved financial performance,” Irwin said.

From Last Week: Plug Power Analyst Turns Bearish: ‘Even With $1.6 Billion In Funding We Are Skeptical’

PLUG Price Action: Plug Power shares were up 17.4% at $4.38 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: courtesy of Plug Power.