I’m always looking for grossly undervalued and under-appreciated companies on NYSE and NASDAQ (I don’t mess around with that OTC crap anymore), and Plug Power came under my radar a couple of years ago when their stock price fell under a dollar. A few months later (in May of 2013), after a considerable amount of research, I decided that it was time to take-up a large position in the company. Here’s why:
- The inordinate amount of stakeholders (not just shareholders) that benefit from Plug Power’s technology (and therefore want the company to succeed). This is a list of the obvious stakeholders and how I believe they can benefit from the company:
- Plug Power shareholders can benefit monetarily
- Plug Power employees benefit from well-paying jobs
- Plug Power customers see benefits to their bottom-line
- Workers that deal with the technology everyday no longer have to lift and change heavy batteries
- The U.S. economy benefits from American manufacturing jobs
- Environmental benefits are felt by the general population
- The list of deep-pocketed customers who already use the technology is top-notch (Wal-Mart, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Kroger, Honda, ACE, and P&G just to name a few)
- Tech companies that are both environmentally-centered and profit-driven (as opposed to R&D-driven) are ridiculously rare (and therefore valuable)
- Plug’s vertical-expansion strategy allows the company to grow their addressable market well into the billion-dollar range, all while minimizing the risk of a product being rejected by the market
- The cult-status of their stock has resulted in a tremendous amount of free advertising
That’s the reasoning behind my Plug Power investment. But as LeVar Burton once said: You don’t have to take my word for it.