Insider alert at Rheinmetall and Thyssenkrupp Nucera! Is First Hydrogen better than Nel?

First Hydrogen: 500 million revenue potential vs. 30 million market capitalization

In a typical market environment, First Hydrogen's share price would likely have gone through the roof last week. However, shares are currently having a hard time if they are not from the AI or defense sectors. Hydrogen stocks, in particular, are suffering from the unfulfilled hopes of industry heavyweights Nel and Plug Power. However, this can also be an opportunity because the future prospects of hydrogen are undisputed, and just because Nel and Plug Power have been unable to build profitable business models for years despite high sales, this does not necessarily apply to all companies in the sector. First Hydrogen has a good chance of becoming a new high-flyer in the hydrogen sector.

First Hydrogen's hydrogen-powered fuel cell commercial vehicles (FCEVs) have been tested by interested parties in the UK for months. In everyday tests, the vehicles impressed with their good handling, fast refueling, and a range of 630 km on one tank. Last week, the big bang followed. First Hydrogen announced the successful completion of a series of tests by Amazon. The e-commerce giant has been using the hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle for deliveries in London. Amazon confirmed that the First Hydrogen vehicle performed convincingly during the practical test in shifts of up to 10 hours with frequent stops. And it gets even better! The tests are to be extended to Europe and North America.

So, will Amazon soon be ordering vehicles? Fittingly, First Hydrogen has signed a letter of intent with a major German vehicle manufacturer. **First Hydrogen's fuel cell powertrain is to be installed in the German brand's vans, bringing the Canadians closer to their goal of selling between 10,000 and 20,000 units from 2026. The experts at researchanalyst.com (Link) calculate that just 10,000 vehicles sold would mean a turnover of EUR 500 million. To put this into perspective, First Hydrogen's market capitalization is currently around EUR 30 million.

Rheinmetall: Insiders are betting on rising share prices

Is the Rheinmetall share a buy? After all, despite the correction in the share price from EUR 560 to around EUR 490, the armaments group still has a market capitalization of more than EUR 21 billion. **Nevertheless, more and more insiders are taking advantage of the correction to buy the stock. Last week, Supervisory Board member Klaus-Günter Vennemann bought Rheinmetall shares worth around EUR 500,000 and Executive Board member Papperger for EUR 300,000. This week, Executive Board member Steinert and the wife of Supervisory Board member Grillo followed with around EUR 100,000. They would hardly do this if they thought Rheinmetall was overvalued.

The DAX-listed company is also doing well operationally. Rheinmetall could benefit from the disagreements between the Italian arms manufacturer Leonardo and the tank manufacturer KNDS. According to the "Börsen-Zeitung", the partnership for the further development of the Leopard 2 has failed, and Leonardo is already looking for a new partner. And this is where Rheinmetall comes into play, of course. At the Eurosatory arms fair, a further development of the Himars missile launcher was presented together with the US giant Lockheed Martin. The weapon system is currently being deployed in the Ukraine. The update should have a range of 400 km and be able to load up to twelve missiles simultaneously.

Thyssenkrupp Nucera: Insider purchase still not enough

There was also an insider purchase at Thyssenkrupp Nucera. Supervisory board member Prof. Dr. Franca Ruhwedel took advantage of the share price drop of more than 40% in the current year and bought shares worth around EUR 20,000 last Friday. Of course, this is still too little for a trend reversal in the German hydrogen share.

There has been no exciting operational news in recent weeks. However, Thyssenkrupp Nucera appears to possess a strong brand. The Company has received two German Brand Awards: a "Special Mention" award in the "Corporate Brand of the Year" category and as "Winner" in the "Industry, Machines & Engineering" category. This recognition places the electrolysis specialist among the most successful brands this year out of more than 1,300 nominees from 19 countries. CEO Dr. Werner Ponikwar stated: "By renaming ourselves Thyssenkrupp Nucera in 2022, we have created a strong brand. It represents the dawn of a new era of innovation, transformation, and green energy as a fundamental lever for sustainable energy supply. Our holistic brand identity has now also convinced the jury. The German Brand Award is confirmation of the consistent development of our brand."

The First Hydrogen share could become a high-flyer in the hydrogen sector. For this to happen, industry sentiment would only have to improve somewhat, and the first concrete orders - preferably from Amazon - would have to be reported. Both are anything but impossible. Among the established hydrogen companies, Thyssenkrupp Nucera appears to be the most solidly positioned. The large number of insider purchases at Rheinmetall shows that the board members are convinced of the future prospects of the armaments group.