Charging out of the gate, Plug Power (PLUG -10.95%) stock has soared nearly 15% to start 2025. It's undeniably a welcome sight, considering the S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.00%) has inched 2% higher during the same time, and the stock's performance was far less encouraging in 2024.
While the hydrogen and fuel cell stock has rocketed higher over the past few weeks, investors who have maintained positions in Plug Power over the past three years are still waiting for the stock to recover from what has been a vastly disappointing performance.
Hype about this hydrogen stock has greatly faded
In January 2022, enthusiasm for Plug Power's future was rampant. During an investor presentation, management stated a 2022 revenue goal of $900 million to $925 million and longer-term goals for 2025 of $3 billion in revenue and a 20% earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin of 20%. The numbers charged up investors' excitement, as Plug reported $502 million revenue and an EBITDA margin of -82% for 2021.
But the company's lofty projections have largely failed to materialize. Reporting $701 million in revenue in 2022, Plug came up way short of its goal, and the company's financial performance over the past two years hardly suggest that the company will achieve its 2025 goals.
PLUG Revenue (Annual) data by YCharts.
Recognizing that Plug is hardly poised to achieve the growth it had forecast, investors have largely unplugged the hydrogen and fuel cell stock from their portfolios, leading the stock to nosedive. Consequently, investors who had purchased $1,000 in stock are now looking at only about $110 left of their original investments.
Can Plug Power stock continue soaring higher through 2025?
Follow Plug stock long enough, and you'll see the same pattern: Market enthusiasm ramps up, and the company's finances fall short of expectations. It'd be unsurprising to see shares climb higher this year, but Plug is hardly a sound investment. Until the company sees substantial growth on the bottom line, it's best to avoid this stock and look elsewhere for hydrogen exposure.
