The companies belonging to the Zacks Alternate Energy-Other industry present an attractive long-term investment opportunity as global demand for clean energy continues to accelerate. Green and low-carbon hydrogen can play a crucial role in decarbonizing hard-to-electrify sectors such as heavy industry, shipping and long-duration power generation, where battery-based solutions are less effective. As governments tighten emissions targets and increase subsidies for hydrogen infrastructure, early-stage companies that successfully scale electrolysis, storage and distribution technologies are well positioned to capture meaningful market share and secure favorable long-term contracts.
Bloom Energy BE and FuelCell Energy FCEL stand out in the stationary fuel-cell industry, delivering on-site power systems that generate electricity through an efficient electrochemical reaction instead of conventional combustion.
Hydrogen-based electricity generators can also help address renewable energy intermittency and ease grid capacity constraints. While hydrogen-powered electricity generation offers strong long-term growth potential, the industry remains in an early stage of development. Investors may benefit from focusing on companies with proven technology partnerships, clear plans to achieve low production costs and reliable access to offtake contracts, while closely monitoring policy developments, pricing dynamics and execution risks.
Bloom Energy is well positioned to benefit from increasing demand for reliable, low-carbon, on-site power solutions. Its solid oxide fuel cell technology provides highly efficient and ultra-clean electricity, helping businesses reduce reliance on an increasingly strained power grid. Growing momentum in green hydrogen, supportive policy frameworks and ongoing advancements in Bloom Energy’s electrolyzer platform further strengthen its long term outlook. As corporations and data centers place greater emphasis on dependable and sustainable backup power, Bloom Energy is poised to play an expanding role in the global energy transition.
FuelCell Energy offers a compelling avenue to participate in the growing demand for clean, reliable and distributed power solutions. The company is well positioned to benefit from the accelerating adoption of hydrogen production, carbon capture technologies and on-site energy systems that reduce grid strain while supporting emissions reduction goals. Backed by government incentives and rising corporate decarbonization commitments, FuelCell Energy’s continued technological progress enhances its capacity to capitalize on long-term growth opportunities across the clean energy and hydrogen sectors.
A deeper examination of these stocks’ core fundamentals can provide greater insight into how they compare with one another and which company may ultimately represent the more attractive investment opportunity. Both firms benefit from robust backlogs, reflecting the growing acceptance of fuel cell technology as a viable alternative to traditional power generation.
FCEL & BE’s Earnings Estimates
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FCEL’s earnings per share in fiscal 2026 and 2027 indicates a year-over-year increase of 44.9% and 6.93%, respectively.
The same for BE’s earnings per share in 2026 and 2027 implies a year-over-year increase of 81.58% and 108.46%, respectively.
Debt to Capital
Borrowing plays a crucial role for hydrogen fuel-cell companies, as the industry is extremely capital-intensive and still moving through early growth and commercialization stages. These firms need substantial funding for research and development, production expansion and large-scale project builds.
FCEL’s current debt to capital is 16.34% compared with BE’s 76.75%.
Return on Invested Capital
Return on Invested Capital (“ROIC”) measures how effectively a company uses debt and equity to generate profits. It shows the return earned on each dollar invested and helps investors evaluate how efficiently management allocates capital to value-creating opportunities.
ROIC of Bloom Energy is currently pegged at 4.12% against FCEL’s negative 12.83%.
Valuation
Bloom Energy’s shares are trading at a premium compared with FuelCell’s shares on a Price/Sales F12M basis.
BE’s shares are presently trading at P/S F12M of 13.3X compared with FuelCell’s 2.49X.
Price Performance
In the past three months, shares of FuelCell have gained 35.2% compared with Bloom Energy’s rally of 54.4%.
Price Performance (Three months)
Wrapping Up
FuelCell and Bloom Energy design and market fuel-cell and hydrogen-based energy technologies, operating within the clean power and broader alternative energy industry.
Both stocks are currently having a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). But based on the above discussion, it is evident that Bloom Energy has a marginal edge over FuelCell Energy based on better earnings estimate movement, healthier price performance in past three months and much better return on invested capital.
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCEL): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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