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Fuel cell stocks shock: group down -32.0% before earnings!

Industry · Oct 16, 2026 · 3 min read · Updated Nov 5, 2026

TL;DR

The fuel cell basket returned -32.0% in the most recent window, while the market stayed almost flat.

The whole fuel cell group fell, and the market did not

Here is the twist. The headline is about a huge year for Bloom Energy. The price data in front of us covers the recent months, not the whole year, and it looks very different. In the most recent trading window, the of three fuel cell names returned -32.0%. That is the kind of move you feel in a trading app the same day.

Fuel cell basket against the market
The basket returned -32.0% over the window and ended at its lowest point; the market finished close to where it started.
Data table
dateseriesvalueseries_role
2026-08-10Industry basket0.0%target
2026-08-11Industry basket0.8%target
2026-08-12Industry basket10.1%target
2026-08-13Industry basket7.9%target
2026-08-14Industry basket10.6%target
2026-08-17Industry basket10.3%target
2026-08-18Industry basket3.7%target
2026-08-19Industry basket2.4%target
2026-08-20Industry basket-2.3%target
2026-08-21Industry basket0.6%target
2026-08-24Industry basket-1.9%target
2026-08-25Industry basket2.7%target
2026-08-26Industry basket0.9%target
2026-08-27Industry basket2.8%target
2026-08-28Industry basket-2.2%target
2026-08-31Industry basket-4.3%target
2026-09-01Industry basket-4.5%target
2026-09-02Industry basket-8.4%target
2026-09-03Industry basket-4.7%target
2026-09-04Industry basket-0.6%target
2026-09-08Industry basket9.4%target
2026-09-09Industry basket4.7%target
2026-09-10Industry basket0.4%target
2026-09-11Industry basket3.5%target
2026-09-14Industry basket-1.1%target
2026-09-15Industry basket-0.9%target
2026-09-16Industry basket0.7%target
2026-09-17Industry basket7.7%target
2026-09-18Industry basket5.5%target
2026-09-21Industry basket6.4%target
2026-09-22Industry basket7.1%target
2026-09-23Industry basket4.7%target
2026-09-24Industry basket0.7%target
2026-09-25Industry basket4.7%target
2026-09-28Industry basket-1.9%target
2026-09-29Industry basket4.7%target
2026-09-30Industry basket2.1%target
2026-10-01Industry basket1.6%target
2026-10-02Industry basket6.8%target
2026-10-05Industry basket5.6%target
2026-10-06Industry basket10.9%target
2026-10-07Industry basket5.1%target
2026-10-08Industry basket-0.5%target
2026-10-09Industry basket1.2%target
2026-10-12Industry basket-5.4%target
2026-10-13Industry basket-7.6%target
2026-10-14Industry basket-15.4%target
2026-10-15Industry basket-15.4%target
2026-10-16Industry basket-21.3%target
2026-10-19Industry basket-20.9%target
2026-10-20Industry basket-21.8%target
2026-10-21Industry basket-17.8%target
2026-10-22Industry basket-24.3%target
2026-10-23Industry basket-28.9%target
2026-08-10Market benchmark0.0%benchmark
2026-08-11Market benchmark-0.3%benchmark
2026-08-12Market benchmark-0.1%benchmark
2026-08-13Market benchmark0.6%benchmark
2026-08-14Market benchmark0.4%benchmark
2026-08-17Market benchmark-0.0%benchmark
2026-08-18Market benchmark-0.7%benchmark
2026-08-19Market benchmark-0.5%benchmark
2026-08-20Market benchmark-1.3%benchmark
2026-08-21Market benchmark-0.9%benchmark
2026-08-24Market benchmark-1.2%benchmark
2026-08-25Market benchmark-0.9%benchmark
2026-08-26Market benchmark-0.9%benchmark
2026-08-27Market benchmark-0.3%benchmark
2026-08-28Market benchmark-0.5%benchmark
2026-08-31Market benchmark-0.8%benchmark
2026-09-01Market benchmark-1.5%benchmark
2026-09-02Market benchmark-1.0%benchmark
2026-09-03Market benchmark0.0%benchmark
2026-09-04Market benchmark-0.4%benchmark
2026-09-08Market benchmark-0.9%benchmark
2026-09-09Market benchmark-1.4%benchmark
2026-09-10Market benchmark-2.0%benchmark
2026-09-11Market benchmark-1.1%benchmark
2026-09-14Market benchmark-1.6%benchmark
2026-09-15Market benchmark-2.0%benchmark
2026-09-16Market benchmark-2.5%benchmark
2026-09-17Market benchmark-1.3%benchmark
2026-09-18Market benchmark-1.2%benchmark
2026-09-21Market benchmark0.3%benchmark
2026-09-22Market benchmark0.3%benchmark
2026-09-23Market benchmark-0.4%benchmark
2026-09-24Market benchmark-0.5%benchmark
2026-09-25Market benchmark0.0%benchmark
2026-09-28Market benchmark-0.7%benchmark
2026-09-29Market benchmark-0.9%benchmark
2026-09-30Market benchmark-1.1%benchmark
2026-10-01Market benchmark-0.9%benchmark
2026-10-02Market benchmark-0.2%benchmark
2026-10-05Market benchmark0.5%benchmark
2026-10-06Market benchmark1.0%benchmark
2026-10-07Market benchmark0.8%benchmark
2026-10-08Market benchmark0.4%benchmark
2026-10-09Market benchmark1.0%benchmark
2026-10-12Market benchmark0.9%benchmark
2026-10-13Market benchmark0.9%benchmark
2026-10-14Market benchmark-0.2%benchmark
2026-10-15Market benchmark0.1%benchmark
2026-10-16Market benchmark-1.0%benchmark
2026-10-19Market benchmark-0.6%benchmark
2026-10-20Market benchmark-0.3%benchmark
2026-10-21Market benchmark0.3%benchmark
2026-10-22Market benchmark-0.9%benchmark
2026-10-23Market benchmark-1.4%benchmark

Over the same window, the returned -1.5%. So this was not a bad patch for stocks in general; it was a bad patch for this corner of the market. The basket holds 3 fuel cell makers and gives each the same weight, so no single name is allowed to carry the average. These figures run through 23 October 2026, which means next week's quarterly report from Bloom Energy is not in them yet.

Glossary
equal-weight basket
A pretend portfolio that puts the same amount of money in each company on the list. It shows how a group did, not how one stock did.
market benchmark
A broad index of large listed companies, used as the yardstick for a normal day in the market.

Inside the group, the gap between names is huge

The group average hides a lot. Bloom Energy held up best of the three, at -6.7%. FuelCell Energy did worst, at -53.0%. Plug Power landed in between, so the ranking runs straight downhill from Bloom Energy to FuelCell Energy.

The three names, ranked
FuelCell Energy sits at the bottom at -53.0%, with Bloom Energy the least bruised of the three.
Data table
nameretseries_role
Bloom Energy-6.7%peer
Plug Power-34.0%peer
FuelCell Energy-53.0%peer

A spread that wide tells you this is not one single trade. Measured over the longer window, the typical gap between members was 19.0%. My reading is that buyers are sorting these companies by how much real data centre power work each one has, instead of treating every fuel cell name the same way.

How far did the weakest of the three fuel cell names fall over the longer window?

Show answer

-53.0% FuelCell Energy did worst, at -53.0%. The surprise is that it sat in the same industry basket, over the same days, as the name that barely moved.

Around the news, only one name beat the market

Now the news itself. A large cloud customer named Bloom Energy as the main power source for an AI data centre campus, and the quarterly report lands next week. In the same window, Bloom Energy's return above the market's was 1.3%.

The middle of the three was -5.4% once the market's own move is stripped out. FuelCell Energy was -6.1%. In plain words: measured against the market, only Bloom Energy ended that window ahead, and the other two stayed behind. Bloom Energy's chief executive described speed as the company's edge with data centre buyers, saying 「the fastest dependable path to power wins」. None of this means the news moved the prices; it only means the move and the news fell in the same days. These reaction figures also run through 23 October 2026.

Quick quiz

Measured against the market, which fuel cell name ended the window around the news ahead?

Show answer

Bloom Energy Bloom Energy's return above the market's was 1.3%, while the other two names finished behind the market.

Risks

  • An equal-weight basket of three names is not the whole fuel cell industry.
  • One member can dominate a small basket, so the average may hide a single stock's swing.
  • A shared drop can come from the whole market, not from this industry.

Sources

  1. FinMind USStockPrice SPY — data as of 2026-10-23; fetched 2026-10-25 16:52 UTC; License note: FinMind open data; original source TWSE/TPEx or US exchanges
  2. FinMind USStockPrice BE — data as of 2026-10-23; fetched 2026-10-25 16:52 UTC; License note: FinMind open data; original source TWSE/TPEx or US exchanges
  3. FinMind USStockPrice FCEL — data as of 2026-10-23; fetched 2026-10-25 16:52 UTC; License note: FinMind open data; original source TWSE/TPEx or US exchanges
  4. FinMind USStockPrice PLUG — data as of 2026-10-23; fetched 2026-10-25 16:52 UTC; License note: FinMind open data; original source TWSE/TPEx or US exchanges