Plug Power, Enapter, Siemens Energy - Hydrogen boom, the next round!

Plug Power - Further kick from the joint venture with Renault and conversion of Paris airport into hydrogen hub

"Hyvia" is the name of the new baby of Plug Power and the ninth-largest automotive group in the world, Renault. The blend of the ancient Greek "hydro" (water) and the Latin "via" (road) explains where the journey is headed: Hyvia, in which both partners will each hold a 50% stake, will both develop the hydrogen infrastructure for supplying the light commercial vehicles that Renault plans to launch on the market from the end of 2021, initially at four locations in France, and also take care of fleet management and maintenance of the vehicles, whose operating range will be extended to over 500km thanks to the new technology. As a European electromobility pioneer, Renault primarily targets the Chinese competition from BYD, which relies on purely electric drives. By opting for hydrogen technology, the group expects cost advantages and greater flexibility in the energy mix combined with more straightforward and user-friendly handling.

However, this was not the only news likely to give Plug Power's stock a further boost. Airbus and Air France-KLM, together with the Paris region, announced their intention to convert regional airports into hydrogen hubs in order to meet the EU Commission's targets for zero-emission air traffic by 2035. Among other things, Plug Power's fuel cell technology has been chosen for this purpose, the Company said. For Plug Power, these projects, together with the cooperation with the South Korean SK Group and the Spanish Acciona Group already announced in February, should further consolidate its status as an industry leader. For investors, this is good news. And the majority of analysts also have high hopes for the share. Thus, the median price target is around USD 49, which means an upside of more than 50%!

Enapter - Still quiet

It has been noticeably quiet around the German hydrogen pioneer Enapter in recent weeks. After announcing changes to its board of directors and the expansion of its advisory board, the announcement in mid-May of its entry into the megawatt-class through the development of a new large-scale electrolyzer based on anion exchange membrane (AEM) technology was the latest news from the Heidelberg-based Company. The new electrolyzer, called AEM-Multicore, is to be built on Enapter's campus currently under construction in the climate community of Saerbeck in Münsterland, Germany and will use AEM stacking to produce up to 450kg of H2 per day, the energy equivalent of approximately 9.5 barrels of crude oil. Thanks to AEM technology, the electrolyzer is expected to be significantly cheaper and easier to maintain than the conventional alkaline or PEM technology currently available on the market.

The market launch of the AEM Multicore is scheduled for 2022. The ambitious goal is to build 280MW of production capacity per year. The Company's latest announcements were also exciting for investors. In particular, the addition of four high-caliber individuals to the advisory board with experience in setting up mass production and excellent technical knowledge is impressive. For us, Enapter AG, which is taking an unusual approach in many ways, remains one of the most exciting companies in the hydrogen market. The stock market seems to share this sentiment, as the share price has recovered since April. We are curious about further developments. Investors should keep an eye on the share!

Siemens Energy - When will the turbo finally ignite?

What is going on at Siemens Energy? That is what many investors have been asking for some time now. The DAX-listed Company has excellent references. The wind power subsidiary Siemens Gamesa is one of the largest wind power producers in the world and recently reported a jump in profits. Siemens Energy itself focuses on absolute future technologies and has a relatively moderate 2023 P/E ratio of 18. And the newsflow of the last months is also quite positive. The only plausible answer is, of course, to be found elsewhere. Obviously, in recent months banks and international investors have "disposed" of stock positions via the stock exchanges after the lock-up periods expired. According to estimates from the Frankfurt banking environment, however, these positions should now have been completely eliminated. This means that nothing stands in the way of a price recovery. And this is more than overdue given the many positive reports of recent days and weeks. The Company recently announced that it had been considered for several projects that qualify for funding from the German government's EUR 8 billion hydrogen initiative.

Cooperation with Salzgitter AG to produce green steel or a joint project with RWE to construct offshore wind turbines with integrated electrolyzers off Helgoland is being promoted. The Company also announced a cooperation with the Japanese Mitsubishi Group to ban the highly toxic and highly climate-damaging insulation gas sulfur hexafluoride from high-voltage switchgear in the future. According to experts, this also represents a market worth billions of euros. Other positive news in recent days included the proposal to cooperate with Uniper to decarbonize the UK's biggest port by tonnage, Immingham. The order from OneSubsea to supply turnkey components to equip a major oil field off the coast of Brazil, and the contract to build two converter stations for the planned north-south electricity link from Wolmirstedt Saxony-Anhalt to Landshut in Bavaria.

All in all, there are good reasons to expect the share price to recover soon. The analysts' median target price for the share is just under EUR 36. In our opinion, the facts speak in favor of building up a position.