AI builders will not wait for the grid, so one company ships fuel cells to the fence line while another books turbines years ahead. Both stocks just got hammered, and only one has the cash to ride out what comes…
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Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE) and GE Vernova (NYSE:GEV | GEV Price Prediction) reported third-quarter results in late October. Both sell power to AI builders who cannot wait for the grid. Bloom ships modular fuel cells that sit on a customer’s property. GE Vernova sells gas turbines and grid equipment at utility scale. The same wave of demand is now testing two distinct ways of delivering power.
Fuel Cells Ship Fast While Turbine Orders Pile Up
Bloom’s revenue reached $1.24B, up 138.1% year over year, and product sales made up 87% of the total. Nearly all of that growth depends on Energy Servers leaving the factory on time. Product gross margin rose to 38.4%. CFO Simon Edwards credited strong pricing for the gain, which suggests customers will pay more for speed. Bloom delivered power to a Utah site for Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) in less than two months. “We will not be the bottleneck,” CEO KR Sridhar said.
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
GE Vernova booked $29.3B in orders, up 96% organically, for a book-to-bill ratio above 2x. That gives it years of visible work. The quarter included 55 heavy-duty gas units and 57 aeroderivative turbines. Data centers made up for about 20% of gas customers. Power EBITDA margin hit 21.4% in what Scott Strazik called “historically our weakest margin quarter.”
Lens Bloom Energy GE Vernova Core Product Solid oxide Energy Servers Gas turbines, substations, transformers Deployment Scale 150 kilowatts to near-gigawatt sites Utility-scale plants and grids Q3 Cash Signal Free cash flow use of $181 million Free cash flow of $5.41B
Bloom Routes Around the Grid While GE Vernova Rebuilds It
Sridhar says the grid “is overwhelmed by the concentrated and huge power needs of data centers.” His fix puts generation right next to the load. He also wants utilities to rate-base Energy Servers. The plan by American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) to supply Google, a unit of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), with 700 megawatts of Bloom systems built for carbon capture shows that at least one utility is buying in.
Strazik is spending to ease the grid constraint. GE Vernova agreed to buy Trench Group for $9 billion, which adds bushings and instrument transformers. The transaction is expected to close in late 2027. He also said “Electrification in isolation…is not going to replace the need for more power generation.” That reads as a reminder that onsite fuel cells and central power plants will likely coexist (we covered seven of the non-chip suppliers riding this same expansion, from power to cooling, in a free report you can grab here).
Data Center Delays Will Test Bloom First
Bloom fell among the S&P 500’s biggest losers amid fears of data-center delays. The stock is down 40.53% over the past month, compared with a 22.32% drop for GE Vernova, which also slipped after a Democratic sweep in the elections. Management said that a small number of year-end deliveries will decide where revenue fell within its $4.40B-$4.60B guidance range. The focus will be on whether Bloom’s contract assets turn into cash. You should keep an eye on whether GE Vernova’s backlog passes $200 billion in the fourth quarter.
Which Power Model Has More Staying Power Heading Into 2027
GE Vernova has the larger, more cash-generative business today. It sells power generation, grid hardware and long-term service contracts, and its cash flow pays for both acquisitions and buybacks. Wind is still a drag, with $400M-$500M in expected 2026 EBITDA losses, but management has already disclosed that cost. Bloom’s case rests on onsite power becoming the default for AI campuses. Its speed impresses me, but cash conversion still falls behind. Positive operating cash flow in the fourth quarter plus a signed utility order would strengthen Bloom’s case.
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Source: 247wallst.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.
