It’s not a great day for FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ:FCEL) after the company reported its fiscal fourth-quarter results before the open. As a result, FCEL stock is down more than 13% on Wednesday, but other fuel cell stocks are getting hit too.
FuelCell Energy opened lower by 12.6% and fell as much as 17.7% at one point in the session. Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) fell as much as 4% at one point on Wednesday, although bulls have erased most of the stock’s losses for the session. Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE) is in a similar state, currently down 1.3% on the day after falling as much as 4.5%.
While FuelCell Energy’s quarterly report isn’t directly correlated to Plug Power or Bloom Energy’s business, the sentiment surrounding the space took a bit of a hit this morning.
FuelCell Earnings Disappoint
FuelCell reported a top- and bottom-line miss this morning, which is never a good look. The company lost 7 cents a share, 3 cents a share more than expectations. Worse, revenue fell 18% year over year to $13.94 million, missing expectations by more than $7.5 million.
The near-20% year-over-year decline is bad enough. However, reporting just under $14 million in sales when analysts were expecting an increase to more than $21.55 million is a big disappointment.
The company’s $1.29 billion backlog as of Oct. 30, 2021 has barely changed from a year ago. Further, full-year revenue represented a slight year-over-year decline, while net losses grew about 13.3% against the prior year.
On the plus side, there was this:
“We believe our opportunities for commercial success have increased with the resolution of our legal proceedings with POSCO Energy, which includes a commitment to order 20 fuel cell modules from us to service POSCO Energy’s existing installed base of carbonate fuel cell platforms.
… As we move into fiscal year 2022, we are invigorated by our emphasis on growth, scale, innovation and execution. The initial work under our Powerhouse Business Strategy built the foundation over the past couple of years, and the addressable opportunities globally given our repositioned company have never been greater for FuelCell Energy.”
Fuel Cell Stocks Have Been Struggling
It has not been a good week for FuelCell stock, which is down nearly 30% from Monday’s high. However, it’s been a tough stretch for fuel cell stocks in general.
Of the stocks mentioned in this group, all three are lower over the past year. Just from their respective three-month highs, these three stocks are down anywhere from 35% to 50%. If we zoom out to the entire year, these fuel cell stocks have done even worse.
Bloom Energy stock is down about 50% from its 2021 high, while Plug Power is off by 61%. FuelCell Energy is the worst of the trio, down almost 82% from this year’s high.
Now the struggle will be for FuelCell Energy shares to stay above $5.
On the date of publication, Bret Kenwell did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell.
