In a previous article, we talked about how fuel cells hold a great deal of promise, and are on the cusp of widespread of adoption with stationary applications being the most promising. Navigant Research is forecasting that global stationary fuel cell revenue will grow from $1.4 billion in 2013 to $40.0 billion in 2022. We then looked at the now defunct WilderHill Fuel Cell Index and saw that 6 of the 19 companies are bankrupt, not trading anymore, or suspended. Of the remaining companies, only 5 seemed to be viable investments for fuel cell investors. During our research, we came across a total of 10 publicly traded fuel cell companies that may be worth taking a look at (market cap is in millions).
The combined market cap of all 10 companies is just $1.7 billion. To put this into perspective, stationary fuel cell startup Bloom Energy has taken in over a billion dollars in funding alone so far.
5 of the 10 companies trade in the UK. US investors who may want to invest in any of these companies should read our past article titled “How to Buy Foreign Stocks“.
Not one of these companies performed better than the NASDAQ over a 5-year time frame. Simply holding a NASDAQ ETF would have returned +115%. The only company to come close was ITM power at +106%.
The majority of these companies incurred very steep losses for investors over the past 3 months. With all the industry research firms forecasting strong growth for fuel cells, this may signal a good entry point for fuel cell investors.
What do these Companies Do?
Ballard has a product portfolio of telecom backup power systems, grid storage systems, bus batteries, and forklift truck batteries which they supply to Plug Power. Ballard had 2013 revenues of $61 million on losses of $20 million. 2013 revenues were slightly less than 2010 revenues. FuelCell Energy develops stationary fuel cells which are deployed at more than 50 power plant sites around the globe. The Company had 2014 revenues of $180 million on losses of $38 million. Revenues for 2014 were slightly less than 2013. Hydrogenics provides hydrogen generation products and fuel cells with 45 hydrogen fueling stations delivered so far. With strong yearly revenue growth, the Company expects to pass $50 million in revenues for the full-year of 2014 and reach a positive adjusted EBITDA for the first time. Plug Power is focused on providing hydrogen fuel cells to the forklift market. You can learn more about Plug by reading our past article on Plug here. HyperSolar is an OTC company “developing a fuel cell using nanotechnology”. With $43,000 in cash and no revenues, there isn’t anything worth looking at here. Ceres Power develops fuel cells which are powered by natural gas targeting both home and business applications. Ceres had 2014 revenues of $1.8 million on losses of $11.5 million. Ceramic Fuel Cells also develops small natural gas fuel cells for homes and small businesses. The Company sold 210 units in 2014 versus 147 in 2013 with a total of 500 deployed units. 2014 saw revenues of $4.9 million for the Company on losses of $17 million. Proton Power Systems is developing fuel cells for forklift trucks and buses. The Company had 2013 revenues of $1.7 million on losses of $7.6 million. AFC Energy is developing alkaline fuel cells and had 2013 revenues of $1.2 million on losses of $7 million. ITM Power develops hydrogen refueling stations primarily in the UK and California. The Company has 2014 revenues of $4.7 million on losses of $12.4 million.
CFU Price at posting:
0.6¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
PS
