Lithium And Hydrogen Trades: 5 Battery-Related Stocks To Watch

Stocks in electric battery technology have been heating up as automakers, airlines and equipment manufacturers continue to form partnerships with tech companies.

Batteries are essential to many of the technologies that innovators hope will replace fossil fuel-burning machines. This bodes well for makers of lithium-ion batteries and hydrogen fuel cells.

Five Battery Technology Companies To Watch:

Australian mining company Piedmont Lithium ADR PLL has been on a tear since it announced a deal with Tesla Inc TSLA last September. Piedmont signed a five-year agreement to supply Tesla with one-third of its planned 160,000-tonnes-per-year spodumene concentrate, a type of lithium ore, from its deposits in North Carolina.

Since the announcement, shares of Piedmont have soared more than 430%.

This past November, Piedmont announced an expansion of its drilling operations, adding three new drill rigs in North Carolina.

CEO Keith Phillips said in a press release that the North Carolina investment positions the company to be a part of "North America's clean energy storage and EV revolution."

North Carolina-based Albemarle Corp ALB is another one to watch. In January, Albemarle announced an expansion of its operations in Silver Peak, Nevada, where it hopes to accelerate lithium production from clay resources in the area. Albemarle also announced it was experimenting with a process to streamline lithium production from brine resources, a project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Shares rose to an all-time high on Jan. 20, but have since have since come down by 17%.

Livent Corp LTHM share prices surged last November after the company reported it had extended its lithium supply agreement with Tesla.

Besides suppling chemicals for electric vehicle batteries, Livent also produces butyllithium and lithium metal for the pharmaceutical, aerospace and agrochemical industries.

Although Livent shares have rocketed over 300% from March 2020 lows, shares dropped Friday after Livent reported less than stellar earnings.

Hydrogen fuel cell company Plug Power Inc PLUG, based in Latham, New York, sells alternatives to traditional batteries.

The company announced on Tuesday that it had entered into an agreement with Acciona S.A., a sustainable infrastructure company in Spain. The companies hope to grab 20% of the market share in Spain and Portugal through the establishment of a green hydrogen platform.

Shares in Plug Power hit a high of $75.49 in January, a 134% increase since the start of the year but have recently retraced by almost 30%.

FuelCell Energy Inc FCEL has longtime partner Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM behind it and in 2019 the collaboration expanded in a deal worth more than $60 million for large-scale carbon capture.

Danbury, Connecticut-based FuelCell makes fuel cell power plants that generate clean energy for government, utility and municipality customers. Its products use hydrogen-rich fuels to generate power and also try to improve on the functions of traditional batteries.

Shares in FuelCell soared over 175% in January, but have recently dropped over 30% as investors wait for consolidation.

(Photo by Riccardo Annandale on Unsplash)