Shares of Plug Power Inc. dropped more than 25% in the after-hours session Thursday after a wider loss and a revenue miss for the fuel-cell company, which said it faced “unprecedented supply challenges.”
Plug Power
PLUG,
-1.50%
lost $283.5 million, or 47 cents a share, in the third quarter, compared with a loss of $170.8 million, or 30 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.
Revenue rose to $199 million, from $189 million a year ago, the company said.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected Plug Power to report a loss of 31 cents a share on sales of $220 million.
The year’s financial performance overall “has been negatively impacted by unprecedented supply challenges in the hydrogen network in North America,” Plug Power executives said in a letter to investors.
The “severe” hydrogen shortages have affected Plug Power’s direct cost of services as well as the timing for implementation of fleet upgrades for its customers.
And these have been compounded by cost increases from inflation impacts on labor, materials and overhead, the company said.
“We believe this hydrogen-supply challenge is a transitory issue, especially
as we expect our Georgia and Tennessee facilities to produce at full capacity by year-end,” it added.
Plug Power also warned that it will need to tap capital markets to fund its business.
“The company is pursuing a number of debt capital and project-financing solutions,” including corporate debt, loan programs through the Department of Energy, and a memorandum of understanding with green-energy company Fortescue, in which Fortescue would have a 40% equity stake in Plug’s Texas hydrogen plant and for Plug to take up to a 25%
equity stake in a Fortescue’s hydrogen plant.
Plug Power also pushed out plant timelines, saying that most plants are now expected to reach full production in 2025, not 2024, and pulled its 2023 revenue guidance.
Shares of Plug Power have lost 52% so far this year, contrasting with gains of around 13% for the S&P 500 index
SPX.
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