Regardless of the many good news and developments around hydrogen, there must of course also be a critical consideration of the aspects that may, for example, hinder or delay rapid build-up of production capacity. In addition to adverse influences due in part to misunderstood or counterproductive regulatory measures (EU/Germany) are aspects such as the shortage of skilled workers, supply chain problems and financing.
FuelCell Energy should actually have generated a quarterly turnover of over 30 million USD in the second quarter, ending April 30th (fiscal year), but it was by then only about 16 million USD with a stated loss in the amount of about 31 million USD, or minus 0.08 USD per share. The management board nevertheless believes that they are on track to achieve a turnover of 300 million USD by 2025, and 1 billion USD by 2030. The order backlog was almost unchanged at about 1.3 billion USD. In the bank lies a formidable 490 million USD, for which a multitude of share placements (64 million new shares) is responsible – in proportion to the stock exchange value of 1.4 billion USD, a healthy basis, even if the question arises as to how these share placements were justified.
The future prospects of Bloom are fully intact and unchanged (over 30% growth p. a.) and allow for a very positive outlook: for 2022, over 1.1 billion USD turnover, cash flow positive, gross profit margin of 24% and on the way to the profit zone with strongly increasing backlog of orders and new complementary fields of activity (e.g. electrolysis). The first quarter, with a turnover of 201 million USD and a stated loss of 78.4 million USD (contains 26.3 million USD stock-based compensation), or minus 0.44 USD per share (GAAP), was disappointing at first glance. Large material deliveries to key customer SK ecoplant in South Korea was one reason for it.
What an outstanding view K. R. Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy, describes: Bloom is on track to achieve annual growth of up to 35 percent instead of the previous 25 to 30 percent, as the company is optimally positioned – technologically and in terms of business model – in H2 energy markets around the world.
The enormous interest in hydrogen and fuel cell technology has brought a lot of attention to the publicly listed companies in this field. Fuel cell producers like Bloom Energy, however, are finding it difficult to benefit to a comparable extent from the upswing in the H2 sector because their plants are still dependent on fossil gases for the time being. H2-international talked to the head of business development at Bloom Energy Germany, Dr. Stephan Reimelt, about some challenges involved in supplying decentralized energy through fuel cell plants.
Bloom Energy gained its South Korean customer and corporate partner of many years, SK ecoplant, as a shareholder and, thanks to the existing good working relationship, has even bagged a USD 4.5 billion order – for hardware and software and also service revenue – for 500 megawatts for the time being. This order should only be the start though and so ought to have further potential. SK ecoplant, part of the SK Group, is the largest energy corporation in South Korea and is planning to invest multiple billions in fuel cells and hydrogen, said to be about USD 25 billion.
Bloom Energy gained its South Korean customer and corporate partner of many years, SK ecoplant, as a shareholder and, thanks to the existing good working relationship, has even bagged a USD 4.5 billion order – for hardware and software and also service revenue – for 500 megawatts for the time being. This order should only be the start though and so ought to have further potential. SK ecoplant, part of the SK Group, is the largest energy corporation in South Korea and is planning to invest multiple billions in fuel cells and hydrogen, said to be about USD 25 billion.
The daily price fluctuations of the shares in the hydrogen and fuel cell sector discussed here – primarily those from the USA and Canada – give an indication that very different interests determine events here: Thus, on many days in July 2021, there was a concurrence of price declines with almost identical percentage losses in the prices of all these shares with manageable trading volumes at the same time. In other words: The buy side held back and the forces betting on falling prices had the upper hand. However, no selling pressure could be detected, which is reflected in the amount of shares traded.
What a roller-coaster ride: from US$ 5 at the low in 2020 to over US$ 44 at the beginning of 2021 and now at US$ 22. I did not expect such a sharp decline, but the upward exaggeration has now been followed by a downward one, which may have been helped along by the fact that around 18.4 million shares were sold short (July 2021).
Investment bank J. P. Morgan’s analyst meeting with KR Sridhar, Bloom Energy’s chief executive, on May 26 revealed bright prospects for the company. When one analyst asked by how much Bloom wants to grow in the near future – if it aims for a rate of 20 percent to 25 percent annually – Sridhar replied the target is rather 30 percent a year over a long period of time. He based his assessment on an analysis of the company’s advanced technology, IP portfolio, markets and applications, as well as its competitive position, expertise and experience.