Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG), a developer of hydrogen charging technologies, went public in 1999 at a reverse-split-adjusted price of $150. It reached a record high of $1,498 at the peak of the dot-com bubble in early 2020, but now trades at roughly $1 per share. Could investing $1,000 in this beaten-down stock generate life-changing gains for daring investors?
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What happened to Plug Power?
Plug Power originally planned to build hydrogen charging systems for homes. But after those ambitious plans fizzled out, it pivoted toward hydrogen fuel cells, charging systems, electrolyzers, and storage systems. It’s already deployed 76,000 fuel cell systems, but it’s heavily dependent on Amazon and Walmart, both of which use its fuel cells and charging systems in their hydrogen-powered forklifts. However, most of Plug’s recent growth has been driven by its sales of electrolyzers for new decarbonization projects.
Plug struggled with lumpy revenue growth over the past few years as the macro headwinds disrupted hydrogen charging projects. But from 2025 to 2028, analysts expect its revenue to grow at an 18% CAGR as it narrows its net losses. That’s an impressive growth trajectory for a stock that trades at less than two times next year’s sales.
Plug Power could command a higher valuation and deliver multibagger gains over the next decade if it diversifies its business beyond Amazon and Walmart and successfully executes its “Project Quantum Leap” cost-cutting initiatives. However, it’s still a speculative stock that could be easily delisted if it can’t prove its business model is sustainable.
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