Bloom Box (Bloom Energy) IPO?
Bloom Energy is the Sunnyvale, California manufacturer of solid oxide fuel cells that was featured on 60 minutes last month. Reportedly, the company's small fuel cells are as efficient as and as much as doubly efficient as a conventional power plant.
Questions have been coming in to me about investing in the Bloom Box, or more technically, How do I invest in Bloom Energy, When is the Bloom Energy IPO, What is the Bloom Energy stock symbol, What is the Bloom Box stock ticker. I have seen several supposed Bloom web sites which appear to be unauthorized sites, and maybe even worse, talking about the upcoming IPO of Bloom Energy or the initial public offering of the Bloom Box company. One site had a posting about a month ago that said that Bloom Energy was going public in two days. It hasn't gone public and hasn't even filed an IPO with the SEC to go public.
But investors still want in on the action. Investing in the company's customers would be futile from a fuel cell standpoint, as the effect on the bottom line would be negligible. Bloom's major customers include Google (GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO), eBay (EBAY), FedEx (FDX), Staples (SPLS), and Wal-Mart (WMT).
Investors could also look at Bloom's competitors that are involved in the development and manufacture of fuel cells, such as Ballard Power Systems (BLDP), United Technologies (UTX), Plug Power (PLUG), Westinghouse Electric division of Siemens (SI), and General Electric (GE).
Last but not least, you can take a look at the companies that Bloom does business with. The most significant example is Modine Manufacturing Company (MOD), a manufacturer of thermal management products. Modine, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, has a forward price to earnings ratio of 90. Bloom Energy licensed Modine's thermal management technology for an up-front fee of $12.0 million last year. In addition, Modine provided transition services to Bloom Energy, including the sale of products, for an additional fee. Modine is currently selling for less than $12 per share.
If you like fuel cell stocks and other green companies, you should check out the lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.
Author owns EBAY, FDX, and SI.
The preceding article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.
