But just before 1 p.m., the rally collapsed in the blink of an eye. Plug Power closed down 41%.
One reason for the sell-off could be a report issued by Citron Research, an influential online stock commentary website.
In an unsigned note, the firm called PLUG a "casino stock" and suggested it would return to its one-time trading price of $0.50. They write:
A casino stock... is the lowest form of speculative moonshot. A casino stock can trade twice its outstanding shares in a single day, while turning over its entire float on people gambling that they can find a buyer at a higher price … Who really cares about anything else, right? The recent volume and share price surge in Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) demonstrates how Wall Street treats this stock: nothing more than a casino.
Among the problems Citron says its found:
- The company has consistently fallen short of its own quarterly forecasts.
- There's an apparent lack of conviction among Plug's own management, who at one point refused to buy in on a capital round of just $0.15 a share.
- Just one analyst covers the firm - and that same analyst is part of a company, Cowen and Co., that just issued an offering.
- Plug Power owns practically none of their own technology, buying the actual fuel cells themselves from Ballard, which Citron endorses as a better way to enter the fuel cell space.
- Their principal customers have merely been taking advantage of an alternative fuels tax credit that expires in 2016.
Citron concludes: "this business shows no signs of improvement, only the looming end of government subsidies. Does anyone ever really end up a winner at a casino???"
Plug Power was down 4% in after-hours trading, while Ballard was off 1%.