Fuel Cell Stocks Finally Catch a Bid

One of the scans that I run for the blog involves stocks with high short interest that are moving higher. When I ran today's scan, I noticed a couple of names - Fuelcell Energy (FCEL) and Plug Power (PLUG). Here is what I had to say about these stocks...

I use to follow both of these stocks, along with a third, Ballard Power Systems (BLDP), when "fuel cells" were the buzz. That was in late-1999 and early-2000 when these stocks were white hot. They eventually lost steam and turned lower and my attention shifted to other stocks.

I still get a fuel cell newsletter and occasionally come across articles in "non-stock-market-related-reading" about their technology. However, it always seems that significant hurdles still need to be overcome before this technology can be useful/economical on a widespread basis.

However, as I have noted before, there is a difference between a company and its stock. For example, Dell makes a great product and dominates the industry but the stock is trading at the same level it was in October 2003. So while the underlying technology for fuel cells may or may not have issues (I don't have the expertise to judge that) that doesn't mean there isn't a way to make money on the stocks, especially with oil offering the potential to send money flying to alternative energy sources.

Like I said, the short interest scan drew my attention to these stocks so I wanted to drill down on the sentiment profiles, which are presented below. I will have more on these stocks later today...

Quick Facts on FCEL

• Percent of analysts tracked by Zacks who rate the stock with a "buy": 75%
• Number of analysts tracked by Zacks: 4
• Short interest as a percent of float: 16.8%
• Short interest ratio: 8.899
• Put/call ratio percent rank: 58.3%

Quick Facts on PLUG

• Percent of analysts tracked by Zacks who rate the stock with a "buy": 33%
• Number of analysts tracked by Zacks: 3
• Short interest as a percent of float: 11.3%
• Short interest ratio: 5.804
• Put/call ratio percent rank: 2.8%

Quick Facts on BLDP

• Percent of analysts tracked by Zacks who rate the stock with a "buy": 0%
• Number of analysts tracked by Zacks: 6
• Short interest as a percent of float: 6.4%
• Short interest ratio: 13.995
• Put/call ratio percent rank: 96.8%