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Fuel Cell Folly
The Fuel Cell Stock Market Record
Investors are
already showing that the hype will not last too long. Certainly, private
investors are no longer rushing to place their money in this technology as they
did with the Web – the initial "burning of the investor" has already taken
place. The following chart gives an example of the stock price history of the
major fuel cell companies:
| Symbol | Company | Issue Price | High Price | Q1/03 Price | IPO year | Yearly Revenue |
| BLDP | Ballard Power Systems | 3 | 105 | 10 | 1995 | $120 million |
| FCEL | Fuel Cell Energy | 2 | 45 | 5 | 1997 | $40 million |
| GLE.TO | Global ThermoElectric | 1 | 47 | 2 | 1998 | $22 million |
| HYGS | Hydrogenics | 12 | 12 | 4 | 2000 | $16 million |
| HHO.TO | Stuart Energy | 27 | 27 | 5 | 2000 | $10 million |
| PRTN | Proton Energy | 32 | 32 | 3 | 2000 | $4.7 million |
| PLUG | Plug Power Inc | 20 | 120 | 5 | 1999 | $3.4 million |
| MCEL | Millenium Cell | 10 | 22 | 2 | 2000 | $0.7 million |
| MDTL | Medis Technologies | 23 | 23 | 4 | 2000 | $0.3 million |
As in the Internet era, the stock prices show an initial exuberance, at least for the
four stocks issued in the 1995-1999 period, followed by collapse. On average
these four companies had an IPO price of approximately 6, went to about 80 and
are now about 5 – a typical pattern for high tech in the later half of the
1990s. The other five stocks with IPOs in 2000 went public at the peak of the
boom with an average IPO price (also their highs) of 24. They have an
average price of 4 as of the first quarter of 2003.
There has been little
change since the sales pitch of President Bush in January 2003. Both smart and
dumb investors today are no longer swayed by high tech rhetoric, even by the
president of the United States.
Next: California Air Resources Board – EV Folly
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