Why Plug Power Stock Rocketed Higher This Morning and Then Fell Back to Earth

Key Points

• Plug Power stock shot higher early in today's trading session, but it quickly gave back its gains.

• Peer Bloom Energy is working with Oracle to deploy fuel cell technology at data centers.

• At this point, Plug Power stock remains a highly speculative investment.

• 10 stocks we like better than Plug Power ›

Racing out of the gate, Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) stock climbed as much as 9.9% early in Thursday's trading session, but the early enthusiasm that investors had expressed soon faded. Plug's peer Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE) did, in fact, have something positive to report today, and investors were bidding Plug stock higher in sympathy; however, cooler heads seem to be prevailing, and Plug stock has given back much of its earlier gains.

As of 11:40 a.m. ET, shares of Plug Power are down 0.6%.

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What powered the excitement this morning?

Plug's peer Bloom Energy announced today that it will be partnering with Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) to deploy fuel cell technology at certain Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) data centers located in the United States. The soaring popularity of artificial intelligence (AI) is placing high demands on Oracle's data centers, and to meet the related power needs of the data center infrastructure, the company is turning to fuel cell technology.

Often, investors will bid Plug stock higher on any semblance of positive news related to the hydrogen and fuel cell industry. Today is proving to be no different. Plus, Plug investors are likely waxing optimistic that other data center companies will choose to collaborate with Plug on similar deals.

Should investors plug Plug stock into their portfolios?

Consistently reporting net losses, Plug remains a high-risk investment. While the news of Bloom's deal with Oracle may suggest to some that Plug will find itself in high demand from data center companies looking to increase their power capacities with fuel cell technology, this is far from adequate material to base an investment.

Investors committed to hydrogen and fuel cell exposure, therefore, would be better advised to consider Bloom Energy at this point, or some other leaders in the industry.

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Scott Levine has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Oracle. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.