Plug Power could become one of the largest green hydrogen suppliers globally, according to Citi. Analyst Vikram Bagri initiated coverage on the company with a buy and high-risk rating. His price target of $13 implies 22.1% upside from Wednesday’s close. “PLUG is a fully integrated hydrogen-focused company which has early mover advantage, cutting edge technology and scale. This makes PLUG well positioned to benefit from growing demand for green H2 in hard to abate sectors,” Bagri wrote in a Wednesday note. “The company has established its dominance into material handling business with nine publicly disclosed pedestal customers including Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot and GM,” with two additional customers in discussion, he continued. Bagri said Plug Power is on track to achieve positive gross margins this year and aims to top 30% in gross margins by 2026. “The company’s aggressive growth plans and substantial operating leverage should allow strong margin expansion,” said Bagri. The analyst added that the company currently has enough cash and equivalents to sustain organic growth through early 2025. However, he noted that “capital needs are significant, and consensus estimates for capital need to be adjusted upwards.” Financial support from the Department of Energy could provide flexibility on this front, as well as helping the company’s margin expansion, said Bagri. “We believe a favorable guidance on additionality/time matching, progress towards gross margin improvement and financial support from the DOE could all be positive catalysts,” he continued. To be sure, shares are down almost 14% year to date. The stock has also tumbled more than 39% over the past 12 months. PLUG YTD mountain PLUG in 2023 —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
