Fuel-Cell Maker Gets Stock-Boosting Plug

Despite all the market talk this week about “value,” one stock with no earnings--and, thus, no P/E ratio--got a big lift Thursday when a Web site said it could rise 10,000% by 2010.

Shares of Plug Power Inc. (PLUG) climbed 23% after an article on Microsoft Corp.’s Money Central Web site said the fuel-cell developer’s shares could surge a hundredfold over the next 10 years.

Plug Power rose $6.75 to close at $36.25 on Nasdaq. The stock has more than doubled since the company first sold shares to the public in October for $15 each.

“I think the market for Plug’s units could be huge,” wrote Jon Markham, Money Central’s managing editor.

The value-oriented investors who have been driving up nontech shares in recent days might not be impressed: Plug Power lost 71 cents a share in the last 12 months.

Analysts, however, expect strong demand for Plug Power’s products from companies interested in reducing their electric costs. Plug Power makes small fuel-cell systems for lighting homes and businesses.

“This is an open-ended opportunity,” said Sam Brothwell, an analyst with Merrill Lynch & Co. “The company is supposed to have [experimental] units by the end of the year.” Commercial production is expected to start in 2001.

“They are the only publicly traded fuel-cell company that’s targeting the residential market,” Brothwell noted.

General Electric Co.’s GE Power Systems unit owns 12.4% of Plug Power, which was formed by Detroit-based utility owner DTE Energy Inc. and Mechanical Technology Inc. of Latham, N.Y.