Plug Power: Been Up So Long Everything Looks Like Down

But one nasty word cannot keep a momentum stock down, and Plug Power has since recovered 50% of its Tuesday loss. Roth Capital downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral Friday morning, but the impact on the share price has been modest.

Plug Power’s supply contract with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) really got the ball rolling in late February. Other fuel cell sector stocks, FuelCell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) and Ballard Power Power Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDP), are up 90% and 118%, respectively, since the February 26 announcement from Plug Power of its extended contract with Walmart. Plug Power is up 115% since then.

Plug Power has traded nearly 40 million shares a day, only slightly less than half the 88 million shares in its float. So far on Friday, more than 21 million shares have changed hands.

Economist Herbert Stein once said, “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” Plug Power’s run-up has gone on for just over two weeks, which is hardly forever, but chances are that we won’t have to wait forever for the run-up to stop. But we could be in for a few more days or even weeks of nosebleed share price levels and fast, volatile action. Fasten your seat belts.

Shares of Plug Power were down about 2.25% to $7.81 in mid-morning trading, in a 52-week range of $0.15 to $11.72.