Bloom Energy just landed its biggest international deal ever, yet its stock still tumbled. A political shift in Washington and Texas is spooking investors in AI power, and the fallout may reach well beyond fuel cells.
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Fuel cell stocks are extending their post-election slide, and a major customer win isn’t enough to protect the group’s biggest name. FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ:FCEL) stock is at $8.77, down 17% in afternoon trading. The selloff follows a rough Q3 FY2026 report on September 2, when FuelCell posted a loss of $0.64 per share on revenue of $33 million, down 29.4% year over year (YoY).
FuelCell’s gross loss widened to $24.5 million on a $17 million charge tied to pricing on Phase 0 of its Fit Energy equipment agreement. The company also grew its Committed and Awarded Capacity Backlog to $3.6 billion, and 97% of its sales pipeline is tied to data centers.
24/7 on YouTube 57:57Play: The Off-Grid Boom And Why Bloom Energy (BE) Could Be Ready To Blow Up
The Off-Grid Boom And Why Bloom Energy (BE) Could Be Ready To Blow Up
Election Results Rattle AI Power Stocks
Political risk is behind the move. Democrats took Congress in the midterm elections, and traders fear tighter rules could slow the AI data center build-out that drives FuelCell’s growth story . Bloomberg reported on November 4 that the AI data center boom is set for turbulence after the U.S. election rout.
Gina Hinojosa, Texas’s incoming governor, has promised a moratorium on new data center approvals until the state Legislature passes new protections . That’s a direct concern for FuelCell, whose first Capacity Reservation Agreement covers a planned 75 megawatt (MW) project in Texas.
Bloom Energy Falls Despite Its Largest International Deal
Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE) stock is at $171.52, down 14%. The drop runs against fresh company news: NTT DATA agreed on November 5 to deploy 900 megawatts of onsite power using Bloom fuel cells across multiple data center projects. Initial shipments start in 2027, making the deal the company’s largest international project to date. On October 22, Bloom Energy reported Q3 2026 revenue of $1.24 billion, up 138.1% YoY, and raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $4.4 billion to $4.6 billion.
At the same time, Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) stock is trading at $1.35, down 7%. Heading into its upcoming earnings report, Plug Power is falling less than its stationary-power peers. In its Q2 2026 results, the company posted revenue of $178.3 million, up 2.5% YoY, while its gross margin improved to near breakeven.
Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ:BLDP) stock is at $1.46, down 8%. Meanwhile, Vistra (NYSE:VST | VST Price Prediction) stock is at $113.54, down 6%. Every fuel cell name in the group is falling harder than Vistra, an established power producer.
How FuelCell and Bloom Energy Differ From Plug Power
FuelCell builds carbonate fuel cell systems that convert natural gas, biogas or hydrogen blends into continuous baseload power, and it’s targeting behind-the-meter data center loads. Bloom Energy sells solid oxide fuel cell Energy Servers for onsite power, with a customer base that includes the major U.S. hyperscalers. On the company’s most recent earnings call, CEO K. R. Sridhar stated that “Hyperscalers have been the first to embrace on-site power.” Both companies sell straight into the AI power trade, which leaves them most exposed to any policy shift on data centers (we profiled seven of the suppliers supplying the AI data center expansion, covering power and cooling, in a free report you can grab here).
Plug Power’s core business is hydrogen fuel cells for warehouse forklifts, backed by large retail and e-commerce customers, plus electrolyzers that produce hydrogen. Ballard makes proton exchange membrane fuel cells mainly for buses and rail. Vistra runs a large, dispatchable natural gas and nuclear fleet, giving it a utility-scale presence that the fuel cell makers lack.
What the Election Means for FuelCell and Its Peers
FuelCell now faces the question of whether its awarded backlog turns into committed orders as federal and Texas data center policy takes shape. Bulls can point to Bloom Energy’s NTT DATA agreement as evidence that demand for onsite power is still growing outside the U.S. FuelCell’s critics counter that its negative gross margins and a share count that grew from 46 million to 80 million since October 2025 leave the company more exposed to any slowdown in approvals.
Plug Power’s upcoming earnings report could show whether its target of positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and stock-based compensation (EBITDAS) in Q4 2026 is still on track. A slower data center build-out could hit the stationary fuel cell makers first, while a calmer regulatory backdrop could bring Bloom Energy’s record quarterly growth back into focus. Taking a conservative investment approach could make sense until the policy outlook for AI data centers resolves.
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Source: 247wallst.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.
