By
Godfrey Benjamin
March 11th, 2024
Plug Power shares rose after Morgan Stanley gave the hydrogen fuel cell maker an upgrade from equal weight to overweight. Now, the investment bank’s price target for Plug shares has jumped from $10.25 to $14.
Shares of Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ: PLUG) got an upgrade to “overweight” by investment bank Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS). Following the upgrade, PLUG jumped 13.3% before closing at $13.20% on Monday, approaching its average price target of $14.
On the 28th of September, Morgan Stanley upped the price target for Plug Power shares from $10.25 to $14. The Plug Power upgrade occurred after the company’s investors’ day symposium, held on the 24th of September.
Morgan Stanley Upgrades Plug Power
Morgan Stanley highlighted the factors that fueled the stock increase. Firstly, the company noted the fuel cell vehicle sales to Linde. Another factor is the partnership between Plug Power and Apex to promote green hydrogen advancement in the U.S. Also, the investment bank noted the progress in electrolyzer technology.
According to Morgan Stanley analyst Stephen Byrd, Plug Power is poised to grow further with advancements in technology:
“Plug’s symposium, held last week, in our view included multiple growth opportunities driven by achievements in scale, technology and customer relationships. We now factor in a higher growth rate, driven by our increased bullishness on Plug’s multiple addressable markets.”
In addition, the Morgan Stanley analyst expressed his satisfaction with Plug Power’s recent developments. Plug improved with electrolyzer technology, which uses electricity to break water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Byrd lifted his rating of Plug Power’s stock from Hold to Buy.
Similarly, a Cowen’s (NASDAQ: COWN) analyst Jeffrey Osborne was also impressed with Plug Power’s achievements. Notably, Osborne mentioned Plug’s plans to produce both fuel cells and electrolyzers in a few years.
He added:
“The company plans to develop the world’s first PEM technology gigafactory.”
Stating a $15 price target for Plug Power’s shares, Osborne rates Plug’s shares the equivalent of Buy. Out of eleven Wall Street analysts, ten including Morgan Stanley rate the shares a Buy.
Other Price Predictions
Plug Power’s stock has jumped nearly 425% over the last twelve months and gained 317.72% in 2020. Also, the company’s stock increased 60.78% in the last three months and 2.09% in the last five days. However, PLUG fell 6.58% over the past month.
With a $4.68 billion market capitalization, Plug Power is currently at a premarket trading price of $13.08. This is a 0.91% loss over its previous close of $13.20.
Also, Byrd and Osborne gave their predictions on Plug’s sales in the next few years. In 2022, Byrd predicted Plug sales to hit $661 million while Osborne expects $561 million. Forecasting further, Byrd said the company sales would hit $935 million in 2023, while Osborne predicted $740 million for the same year.
Recently, Barclays (LON: BARC) analyst Moses Sutton also raised his price target on Plug Power’s shares. Sutton increased his target from $12 to $13.
While the market lost value earlier this year, Plug Power’s stock was performing well. At that time, Coinspeaker reported that the alternative energy sector increase was a sign that green energy is the new trend. Also, the report revealed the analysts were expecting the company’s year-over-year growth to reach 25%.