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Plug Power’s ascent continues as the AI boom may finally be what makes its business profitable

Plug Power investors have something more real to dream on this time.

Plug Power has the most interesting stock chart on the planet.

It has the most interesting stock chart on the planet because it’s enjoyed several runs as a meme stock, but the ability to dream on the hydrogen fuel cell company has always run into the pesky problem of reality: Plug has rarely been able to achieve positive unit economics in its long history as a publicly traded company, as its technology has not been sufficiently cost competitive relative to established power sources.

But a world craving more power to accommodate the influx of data centers might mean that for once, Plug investors don’t have to dream in the abstract.

On Friday, HC Wainwright analyst Amit Dayal spotlighted this dynamic in upping his price target to $7 from $3, the highest on Wall Street, which set off record call activity in the stock.

Amid rising energy demand, Plug’s offerings begin to look “increasingly price-competitive and case for adoption becomes stronger,” he wrote.

Shares are surging on Monday, continuing to build on what’s one of the best months of performance from Plug Power in its history. Volumes and call activity have likewise been going parabolic, and the options action is aggressively tilted toward the bullish side.

Peer Bloom Energy has cashed in on the AI boom in a concrete way, striking a deal to deliver power to some of Oracle’s data centers, which accelerated the surge in its stock.

Plug, for its part, was inching its way into the data center business before ChatGPT was even released by providing backup power to Microsoft.

More recently, Plug’s technology was utilized as part of a collaboration between data center company ECL and AI training and inference cloud company Lambda to deploy “the industry’s first hydrogen-powered, production-grade Nvidia GB300 NVL72 systems,” which came online in late September.

J. Edward Moreno2h

CDC signs off on narrower Covid shot recommendation

Moderna slipped after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Monday that it is adopting a narrower recommendation for when COVID-19 booster shots are appropriate.

The CDC’s recommendation aligns with what its advisory committee voted for last month, which was for a healthcare provider to sign off on each individual immunization. While that is much narrower than the broad backing of the shot, it’s less draconian than some investors previously priced in.

Moderna rises after RFK Jr. vaccine panel’s less-draconian-than-expected Covid recommendation

Max Knoblauch2h

Sony shares climb to their highest level in 25 years as Abenomics supporter Sanae Takaichi is likely to become Japanese PM

Shares of Sony rose 4% on Monday, sending the stock up to levels it last reached in March of 2000.

The move was even more impressive in its home listing, where the stock outperformed with a 4.75% jump on Japan’s Nikkei 225 that propelled that index to a record high on Monday.

Boosting the market was the victory of Shinzo Abe protege Sanae Takaichi in a race to lead Japan’s ruling political party, setting the lawmaker up to become the country’s first female prime minister. Takaichi, a hard-line conservative who claims Margaret Thatcher as a personal hero, advocates for “Abenomics”: higher spending and tax cuts. Takaichi previously described the Bank of Japan’s recent interest rate hikes as “stupid.”

Claire Yubin Oh

Don’t have a cow

In bad news for protein-hungry Americans, beef is more expensive than ever

Meat-packing giants, meanwhile, are benefiting from beefier prices.

Nia Warfield2h

Klarna ticks higher as Wall Street rolls out coverage on the “buy now, pay later” giant

Shares of Klarna jumped as much as 6.5% Monday morning in early trading after a wave of analysts initiated coverage on the “buy now, pay later” giant, as the so-called post-IPO “quiet period” came to an end.

The Stockholm-based fintech company, which competes with Affirm and Afterpay, has 111 million active users and partnerships with over 790,000 merchants worldwide. Analysts highlighted Klarna’s rapid US growth, improving profitability, and ongoing BNPL adoption as reasons for optimism.

Here’s where analysts netted out:

Bank of America — Rating: Buy | Price target: $58
Citigroup — Rating: Buy | Price target: $58
Deutsche Bank — Rating: Buy | Price target: $48
BNP Paribas — Rating: Neutral | Price target: $46
UBS — Rating: Buy | Price target: $48
Goldman Sachs — Rating: Buy | Price target: $55

Illustration of man balancing crowd of people on seesaw

America’s top 1% now holds nearly a third of household wealth

Stock market rallies have added trillions to the fortunes of the wealthiest people in the US.

Hyunsoo Rim3h