Share count
1.1Bpeak FY2024
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PLUG, Plug Power Inc.
Plug intends to deliver its hydrogen solutions directly to its customers, and through joint venture partners into multiple environments, including material handling, supply chain and logistics, e-mobility, stationary power generation and industrial applications.
Background Plug is building an end-to-end clean hydrogen ecosystem, from production, storage, and delivery to energy generation, to help its customers meet their business goals and decarbonize the economy.
In creating the first commercially viable market for hydrogen fuel cells, the Company has deployed more than 74,000 fuel cell systems, primarily through material handling applications, and operates more than 275 fueling stations.
The business
What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.
Revenue · FY2025
$710M
+12.9% YoY
Vital signs · TTM
Cash & investments $234M
Cash burn · annual $580M
Runway 5 mo
The business in brief
read the 10-K →What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.
- What it is
- Revenue is led by Sale Of Electrolyzers (26%) and Fuel Delivered To Customers and Related Equipment (19%), with 5 more lines behind.
- Situation
- Unprofitable. No sustained operating profit across the record; an earnings multiple has nothing to rest on. What the record does show is revenue, the gross-margin trajectory, and the burn against the cash on hand. Distress / turnaround. Thin interest coverage, or operating cash burned against real debt, across the record. The balance sheet carries this situation; the debt schedule sets the clock. Capital build-out. Capital spending has surged to 16% of sales, today's earnings are charged less depreciation than tomorrow's will be.
- What moves the needle
- Operating margin has reached 627% at its best but run negative through the cycle (median −97%) on a −28% gross margin — so the question is which reading is truer: whether the median was pulled below zero by one-off charges, by the cycle, or by spending it is still growing into, and whether it settles back at a profit. Inventory runs near 49% of sales, so how fast it turns back into cash — and the risk of writing it down when demand softens — sits alongside the margin. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on customer concentration, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
- Is it a good business?
- Return on capital has rarely cleared the cost of capital (median −50%, above 15% in 0 of 10 years). Owner earnings, the cash-based check, have been thin too. This is price-taker territory, where the balance sheet and the cycle matter more than any multiple; the rest is in the 10-K.
Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.
Where the money comes from
read the 10-K →Revenue spreads across 7 lines, the largest Sale Of Electrolyzers at 26%.
Revenue by product line, FY2025
- Sale Of Electrolyzers26%$188M
- Fuel Delivered To Customers And Related Equipment19%$133M
- Power Purchase Agreements15%$108M
- Sale Of Cryogenic Equipment13%$96M
- Services Performed On Fuel Cell Systems And Related Infrastructure13%$94M
- Sales Of Fuel Cell Systems8%$54M
- Other5%$37M
By geographyUnited States75%International25%
From the segment footnote of the company's own 10-K. Shares are of total revenue; the profit bar shows each segment's share of segment operating profit, before unallocated corporate costs.
The record
Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.
The record, 2016–2025
realized figures from each filing · older years to the left| 2016’16 | 2017’17 | 2018’18 | 2019’19 | 2020’20 | 2021’21 | 2022’22 | 2023’23 | 2024’24 | 2025’25 | TTMTTMMar 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | |||||||||||
| $83M | $100M | $174M | $230M | ($93M) | $502M | $701M | $891M | $629M | $710M | $740M | RevenueRevenue |
| — | −28% | −15% | — | — | −34% | −28% | −57% | −99% | −34% | −26% | Gross marginGross mgn |
| 41% | 45% | 22% | 19% | −85% | 36% | 52% | 47% | 60% | 53% | 50% | SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev |
| 26% | 29% | 7% | 7% | −30% | 13% | 14% | 13% | 12% | 8% | 7% | R&D / revenueR&D/rev |
| ($52M) | ($102M) | ($76M) | ($48M) | ($584M) | ($437M) | ($680M) | ($1.3B) | ($2.0B) | ($1.5B) | ($1.4B) | Operating incomeOp. inc. |
| −62.2% | −101.6% | −43.9% | −20.7% | 626.6% | −87.1% | −96.9% | −150.7% | −321.2% | −206.7% | −189.0% | Operating marginOp. mgn |
| ($57M) | ($127M) | ($86M) | ($84M) | ($596M) | ($460M) | ($724M) | ($1.4B) | ($2.1B) | ($1.6B) | ($1.7B) | Net incomeNet inc. |
| Cash flow & returns | |||||||||||
| ($30M) | ($60M) | ($58M) | ($53M) | ($155M) | ($358M) | ($829M) | ($1.1B) | ($729M) | ($536M) | ($580M) | Operating cash flowOp. cash |
| $5M | $9M | $300K | $12M | $14M | $21M | $30M | $52M | $61M | $38M | $32M | DepreciationDeprec. |
| $14M | $48M | $18M | $8M | $409M | $4M | ($315M) | $47M | $1.2B | $1.0B | $1.0B | Working capital & otherWC & other |
| $3M | $4M | $5M | $6M | $23M | $172M | $437M | $665M | $287M | $111M | $73M | CapexCapex |
| 3.3% | 4.1% | 3.0% | 2.5% | −24.2% | 34.3% | 62.2% | 74.6% | 45.7% | 15.7% | 9.9% | Capex / revenueCapex/rev |
| ($32M) | ($64M) | ($59M) | ($59M) | ($170M) | ($379M) | ($859M) | ($1.2B) | ($790M) | ($573M) | ($612M) | Owner earningsOwner earn. |
| −39.1% | −64.2% | −33.7% | −25.7% | 182.2% | −75.5% | −122.5% | −130.0% | −125.6% | −80.8% | −82.7% | Owner earnings marginOE mgn |
| ($32M) | ($64M) | ($63M) | ($59M) | ($178M) | ($530M) | ($1.3B) | ($1.8B) | ($1.0B) | ($647M) | ($653M) | Free cash flowFCF |
| −39.1% | −64.2% | −36.4% | −25.7% | 190.9% | −105.6% | −180.4% | −198.8% | −161.5% | −91.1% | −88.3% | Free cash flow marginFCF mgn |
| — | — | — | — | $45M | $137M | $57M | — | — | — | $57M | AcquisitionsAcquis. |
| -65% | -104% | -287% | -24% | -31% | -15% | -15% | -36% | -86% | -111% | -107% | ROICROIC |
| -68% | -181% | — | -64% | -41% | -10% | -18% | -47% | -121% | -167% | -224% | Return on equityROE |
| −68% | −181% | — | −64% | −41% | −10% | −18% | −47% | −121% | −167% | −224% | Retained to equityRetained/eq |
| Balance sheet | |||||||||||
| $46M | $25M | $39M | $39M | $74M | $2.5B | $691M | $135M | $206M | $369M | $234M | Cash & investmentsCash+inv |
| $12M | $24M | $37M | $32M | $25M | $93M | $129M | $244M | $157M | $135M | $107M | ReceivablesReceiv. |
| $30M | $49M | $48M | $65M | $93M | $269M | $646M | $961M | $683M | $521M | $516M | InventoryInvent. |
| $32M | $42M | $35M | $32M | $36M | $92M | $192M | $258M | $181M | $169M | $144M | Accounts payablePayables |
| $10M | $31M | $50M | $66M | $82M | $270M | $583M | $947M | $659M | $487M | $478M | Operating working capitalOper. WC |
| $111M | $120M | $156M | $167M | $277M | $4.4B | $3.3B | $1.8B | $1.5B | $1.4B | $1.3B | Current assetsCur. assets |
| $66M | $116M | $146M | $85M | $134M | $421M | $635M | $965M | $748M | $611M | $541M | Current liabilitiesCur. liab. |
| 1.7× | 1.0× | 1.1× | 2.0× | 2.1× | 10.6× | 5.2× | 1.9× | 2.0× | 2.3× | 2.4× | Current ratioCurr. ratio |
| $8M | $9M | $9M | $9M | $9M | $220M | $249M | $0 | $0 | — | $0 | GoodwillGoodwill |
| $241M | $271M | $390M | $361M | $631M | $6.0B | $5.8B | $4.9B | $3.6B | $2.6B | $2.4B | Total assetsAssets |
| $24M | $32M | $63M | $65M | $113M | $193M | $194M | $195M | $321M | $431M | $503M | Total debtDebt |
| ($22M) | $7M | $25M | $26M | $39M | ($2.3B) | ($497M) | $60M | $115M | $62M | $269M | Net debt / (cash)Net debt |
| — | — | — | -1.3× | -9.7× | -10.1× | -17.4× | -29.7× | -43.3× | -22.5× | -19.7× | Interest coverageInt. cov. |
| $85M | $70M | ($4M) | $130M | $1.5B | $4.6B | $4.1B | $2.9B | $1.7B | $978M | $750M | Shareholders’ equityEquity |
| 11.2% | 9.2% | 5.0% | 4.7% | −18.4% | 15.2% | 25.6% | 18.3% | 13.1% | 7.1% | 7.2% | Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev |
| Per share | |||||||||||
| 271M | 325M | 328M | 356M | 532M | 837M | 870M | 893M | 1.18B | 1.15B | 1.39B | Shares out (diluted)Shares |
| $0.31 | $0.31 | $0.53 | $0.65 | $-0.18 | $0.60 | $0.81 | $1.00 | $0.53 | $0.62 | $0.53 | Revenue / shareRev/sh |
| $-0.21 | $-0.39 | $-0.26 | $-0.24 | $-1.12 | $-0.55 | $-0.83 | $-1.53 | $-1.79 | $-1.42 | $-1.21 | EPS (diluted)EPS |
| $-0.12 | $-0.20 | $-0.18 | $-0.17 | $-0.32 | $-0.45 | $-0.99 | $-1.30 | $-0.67 | $-0.50 | $-0.44 | Owner earnings / shareOE/sh |
| $-0.12 | $-0.20 | $-0.19 | $-0.17 | $-0.33 | $-0.63 | $-1.46 | $-1.98 | $-0.86 | $-0.56 | $-0.47 | Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh |
| $0.01 | $0.01 | $0.02 | $0.02 | $0.04 | $0.21 | $0.50 | $0.74 | $0.24 | $0.10 | $0.05 | Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh |
| $0.31 | $0.22 | $-0.01 | $0.37 | $2.76 | $5.50 | $4.67 | $3.24 | $1.47 | $0.85 | $0.54 | Book value / shareBVPS |
The diluted share count moved ×1.5 into 2020 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
The diluted share count moved ×1.57 into 2021 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
Share counts before 2025 are restated ×1.5 for a stock split, so per-share figures sit on one basis.
Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
| 9-yr | 5-yr | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / share | +8.2%/yr | — |
| Capital spending / share | +28.5%/yr | +18.0%/yr |
| Book value / share | +11.7%/yr | −20.9%/yr |
The year, in the company's words
the filing →Verbatim from the 10-K's management discussion. Each sentence is shown only because its subject, direction, and stated figures check out against the filed numbers on this page. The words are the company's; the arithmetic is the record's.
- Revenue+12.9%
“Revenue from PPAs for the year ended December 31, 2025 increased $29.8 million, or 38.2%, to $107.6 million from $77.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. The increase in revenue was primarily a result of increases in pricing of our PPAs during the first quarter of 2025. Revenue — fuel delivered to customers and related equipment.”
✓ figure matches the filed record
The record, charted
FY2016–2025Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked. Share counts on the current split basis.
ROIC
−111%low FY2018
Gross margin
−34%low FY2024
Owner earnings vs. net income
Owner earningsNet incomeThe accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.
($573M)owner earningsvs.($1.6B)net incomelow FY2023
Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.
In fiscal 2025 the business earned ($573M) of owner earnings, the operating cash left after the $38M it takes just to hold its position. It put $74M more into growth; free cash flow, after that spending, was ($647M).
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reported net income | ($1.6B) | ($2.1B) | ($1.4B) | ($724M) | ($460M) |
| Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back | +$38M | +$61M | +$52M | +$30M | +$21M |
| Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost | +$51M | +$82M | +$163M | +$180M | +$76M |
| Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items | +$1.0B | +$1.2B | +$47M | −$315M | +$4M |
| Cash from operations | ($536M) | ($729M) | ($1.1B) | ($829M) | ($358M) |
| Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume | −$38M | −$61M | −$52M | −$30M | −$21M |
| Owner earnings | ($573M) | ($790M) | ($1.2B) | ($859M) | ($379M) |
| Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still | −$74M | −$226M | −$613M | −$406M | −$151M |
| Free cash flow | ($647M) | ($1.0B) | ($1.8B) | ($1.3B) | ($530M) |
| Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue | -81% | -126% | -130% | -122% | -75% |
Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position (here about $38M, roughly its depreciation, the rate its assets wear out). The other $74M of its capital spending is growth it chose, not upkeep it owed; charged only with the maintenance it must do, the business earns well more than the year's free cash flow shows. The cash-flow statement also adds stock comp back as non-cash, but it is a real cost paid in shares; counted as the expense it is (less $51M), owner earnings is nearer ($624M).
Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.
Quality & stewardship
Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.
Owner’s Scorecard
FY2025 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →
Will it survive?
- Can it pay its interest? -22.5×Does not cover its interestOperating income ($1.5B) ÷ interest expense $65M
What this means
A full year of operating profit didn't cover the interest bill. This is the zombie zone: the business depends on refinancing, asset sales, or forbearance to service its debt.
- Net debt against an operating lossCash $369M + ST investments $10M − debt $431M
What this means
Netting $379M of cash and short-term investments against $431M of debt leaves $52M owed, with no operating profit this year to measure it against — understand that combination before anything else about the company. Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.
- Long (60+ days)DSO 69 + DIO 200 − DPO 65 days
What this means
Days cash is tied up between paying suppliers and collecting from customers. Lower is better; a long cycle means growth itself eats cash.
Is it a good business?
- Below average through the cycle10-yr median, range -287%–-15%; -111% latest = NOPAT ($1.2B) ÷ invested capital $1.0BIndustry peers: median 5%
What this means
The rate the business earns on the money tied up in it, Buffett's north star, because over time a stock tracks the ROIC beneath it. Above ~15% sustained hints at a moat; a return below the cost of capital (~8%) erodes value as a business grows rather than building it — the test Buffett weighs most. The headline is the median of the last 10 years (it ran -111% most recently), so one peak or trough year doesn't set the verdict. Asset-light businesses (R&D expensed, little capital) read artificially high, pair this with Owner Earnings.
- Consumes cash through the cycle10-yr median margin, range -130%–182%; latest ($573M) = operating cash ($536M) − maintenance capex $38MIndustry peers: median -5%
What this means
What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's -81% of revenue this year, a -75% median across 10 years. It chose to put $74M more into growth, so free cash flow this year was ($647M) — the gap is investment, not weakness. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $51M of SBC) leaves ($624M).
- Are earnings backed by cash? ($536M)Loss, and burning cashNet income ($1.6B) · cash from operations ($536M)
What this means
The company reported a net loss, so a conversion ratio isn't meaningful. What matters then is whether operations still threw off cash, here, they did not.
How is the cash used?
- No surplus to allocate
What this means
The business didn't generate positive Owner Earnings this year, so any distributions came from the balance sheet or borrowing, not from operations.
- Investing or harvesting? 2.96×ExpandingCapex $111M ÷ depreciation $38M
What this means
Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.
Graham’s defensive tests · 2 of 5 met
Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.
- Adequate size MissRevenue ≥ $2B · $710M
What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
- Strong liquidity PassCurrent ratio ≥ 2× · 2.31×
What this means
Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.
- Conservative debt PassDebt ≤ working capital · $431M vs $800M WC
What this means
Graham's rule that borrowings not exceed net current assets. Capital-heavy and buyback-heavy firms routinely fail it, read it next to interest coverage, not alone.
- Earnings stability MissA profit every year (10-yr record) · 10 loss years
What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
- Dividend record MissUninterrupted dividends · none paid
What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design.
- Earnings growth —Earnings +33% over the record · —
What this means
Earnings were negative early in the record, a growth rate isn't meaningful.
- Moderate price —P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price
What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $-1.22/share (latest year $-1.17), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $0.70/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.
Durability & moat, 2016–2025
Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.
- Profitable years 0 of 10
What this means
Lost money in 10 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.
- Return on capital ≥ 15% 0 of 10 yrs
What this means
A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.
- Operating margin −69% → −226% (3-yr avg ends)
In the filing’s words The filing claims pricing power in its strongest form — price raised, volume held — yet the margin here has not widened to match. The claim leads the record; weigh them together.
What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin slipped — about −69% early to −226% lately, median −97% — competition or costs are biting in.
- Reinvestment, incremental ROIC —
What this means
The reinvested base moved too little against the change in profit to read a reliable return on it here — the figure would be a small-denominator artifact, not a moat. Judge this one on the owner-earnings record and the cash it returns instead.
- Worst year 2024 · −321.2% op. margin
What this means
Operations went underwater in 2024, understand why before trusting the good years.
Does AI threaten the moat?
Low contestabilityThe moat is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded, the kind AI cuts costs within but does not contest.
In its own filing A competitive risk, new this year
Its FY2025 10-K names artificial intelligence as a competitive threat, in language that was not in the prior year's filing.
“The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence has the potential to disrupt existing business models and markets and could result in a material adverse effect on our business.”
AI is unlikely to contest a moat that is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded; here it reads more as a cost tool than a threat, and the company is using it that way.
Read from the filing's own risk factors, paired with the industry's structure under its SIC code; the durability is read above, the price below.
All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.
Current Position
as of the latest quarter, Mar 31, 2026Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.
Current assets$1.3B
- Cash & short-term investments$234M
- Receivables$107M
- Inventory$516M
- Other current assets$419M
Current liabilities$541M
- Debt due within a year$200K
- Accounts payable$144M
- Other current liabilities$396M
Current ratio2.36×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio1.40×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio0.43×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capital$734Mthe cushion left after near-term bills
Debt due this year vs. cash$200K due · $234M cash
covered by cash on hand, no refinancing forced · both figures from the Mar 31, 2026 balance sheet
Cash runway0.4 yrsthe business is consuming cash; this is how long the cash on hand lasts at that rate
Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+22.3%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing
Current ratio, recent quarters2.1× → 2.4×
Deeper floors
Tangible book value$722Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value($320M)Graham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leases$243M$238M of it operating leases
Deferred revenue$98Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float
From the company's latest filing.
Acquisitions & goodwill
from the balance sheet & the 10-year cash-flow recordGoodwill grows only when a company acquires and falls only when it concedes it overpaid. The size of that bet, the cash put into buying rather than building, and how much has already been written off.
Goodwill & intangibles$29M1% of all assets; the premium carried on the balance sheet for businesses acquired
Against book equity0%goodwill is this share of book equity; the rest is the company’s own retained and paid-in capital
Cash spent acquiring$239Mover 10 years buying other businesses, against $1.7B of capital spent building
$249M written down across 1 year (2023): goodwill the company has already conceded it overpaid for, charged against earnings. A write-down costs no cash (the cash went out when the deal was signed), but it is management marking its own past judgment to market.
Goodwill, acquired intangibles and equity from the latest balance sheet; acquisition spend and write-downs summed across the 10-year record, from the company's own filings.
Management, ownership & pay
read the proxy →From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid, beside what the business earned for its owners in the same years.
| Fiscal year | Chief executive | Pay, as filed | “Actually paid” | Owner earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Andrew J. Marsh | $52.2M | $4.0M | ($379M) |
| 2022 | Andrew J. Marsh | $767k | −$76.0M | ($859M) |
| 2023 | Andrew J. Marsh | $7.3M | −$4.1M | ($1.2B) |
| 2024 | Andrew J. Marsh | $2.2M | −$407k | ($790M) |
| 2025 | Andrew J. Marsh | $4.4M | $5.5M | ($573M) |
Both pay figures are the company’s own, from the pay-versus-performance table its proxy statement files. “As filed” is the Summary Compensation Table total: salary, bonus, and equity awards at their value on the day of grant. “Actually paid” is the SEC’s prescribed recalculation, which re-marks those equity awards to what they became as they vested; it can swing far above or below the filed figure in either direction, and negative years occur. Owner earnings are the whole business's, from the record above, for the same fiscal years.
- Insider ownership1.4%
The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2026 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.
- CEO pay ratio72:1
What the chief earns for every dollar the median employee makes, per the 2026 proxy. A high ratio alone settles nothing; some businesses are genuinely top-heavy in scarce skill. A runaway figure is where Buffett starts asking whether the board is doing its job.
- Stock-based compensation$51M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 7% of revenue. Buffett's oldest accounting fight: this is compensation, compensation is an expense, real whether or not the headline earnings admit it. One trap: the cash-flow statement adds SBC back, so the operating cash, and the owner earnings drawn from it, are flattered by exactly this amount; counted as the cost it is, what an owner keeps is lower.
Inverting the record
Invert: instead of why Plug Power Inc. is a good business, the question is what would make owning it a mistake, and whether those marks are in the record. Disconfirming tests across 2016–2025.
All 4 tests turned up something to look into. A record that trips every wire is one to understand slowly.
- Look hereIs it less profitable than it was?−112.1% vs −45.6%
The business ran at a loss early in the record (an owner-earnings margin of −45.6%) and the loss has widened to −112.1% across the last three years, with the latest year at −80.8%. Ask the filing where the widening sits — price, cost, or spending growing faster than revenue — and what would narrow it.
- Look hereDid debt outgrow the business?$24M → $503M
Debt rose from $24M to $503M while owner earnings went from about ($52M) to ($841M): the borrowing grew and the earnings that would carry it are not there now. Debt raised for buybacks or deals rather than growth is the kind that bites in a downturn.
- Look hereDid receivables and inventory outpace sales?51% → 84% of sales
Receivables and inventory grew from $42M to $623M while revenue grew 793%: working capital is climbing faster than sales (51% of revenue then, 84% now). That can mean customers paying slower, stock building up, or revenue pulled forward. The filing's cash-flow and receivables notes say which.
- Look hereAre "one-time" charges a yearly habit?5 of 10 years
Management took an impairment or write-down in 5 of the last 10 years, $2.3B in all. Taken across the majority of the record, the "one-time" label is wearing thin — ask whether these are past deals coming due rather than genuinely isolated events. Read it beside the goodwill the company still carries.
Each test is read from the filings and is noisy alone; a flag can mark a cyclical trough or a year of heavy investment as easily as a problem. The filing says which.
What an owner would ask, FY2025
read the 10-K →- How much of the revenue rides on one buyer?≈$106M · 14% of revenue on the largest customer (TTM)
“Additionally, 14.3% of our total consolidated revenues were associated with our second largest customer.”verify →
- Which reported numbers are a judgment call?Management names Revenue recognition as critical estimates
each rests partly on management's judgment; the filing's note sets out the assumptionsverify →
The questions the record and the charts do not answer on their own; each carries the figure and the place to look.
Peers, Electrical Equipment
The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each figure is a through-cycle median, so a peak or trough year can’t distort it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each against.
| Company | Revenue | Gross margin | Op. margin | ROIC | Owner earn. margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEBloom Energy Corporation | $2.0B | 5% | -19.7% | -40% | -21% |
| PLABPhotronics | $849M | 25% | 13.3% | 11% | 13% |
| FORMFormFactor | $785M | 40% | 8.4% | 7% | 12% |
| PLUGPlug Power Inc. | $710M | -34% | -92.0% | -50% | -70% |
| KNKnowles Corporation | $593M | 40% | 9.5% | 5% | — |
| LYTSLSI Industries Inc. | $573M | 25% | 4.3% | 8% | 5% |
| AMSCAmerican Superconductor Corporation | $299M | 15% | -23.0% | -31% | -15% |
| FCELFuelCell Energy Inc. | $158M | -14% | -101.7% | -26% | -85% |
| Group median | — | 20% | -7.7% | -11% | -15% |
The price
What a price has to assume.
What the price implies
reverse-DCFPlug Power Inc. is profitable, but owner earnings are negative this year because capital spending currently outruns operating cash, a build-out, so the owner-earnings reverse-DCF has no positive base to grow. We read the price from both ends instead: type a price to see the steady-state profitability it demands, then set the mature margin you would believe and weigh the two against each other. Nothing leaves your browser unless you enter it in your notebook.
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The assumptions
Revenue, delivered6%/yr’20→’25
Enter a price to run it.
Owner earnings it must reach—
Margin the price demands—
Owner-earnings margin today−88%
A dated snapshot of the price you typed, the assumptions you set, and what the page showed for them. A snapshot is never edited after it is saved. Your notebook is yours alone — the commitment states what is stored and what we will never do.
Two reads of one future. From your price: the owner earnings the company must reach, valued at a mature multiple and discounted back at your rate, expressed as the margin it implies on revenue grown at your rate. From your belief: the mature margin you would credit, set on the dial above. When the margin the price demands runs above the one you would believe, you are paying for a future taken on faith. For a deep cyclical at a trough, normalized through-cycle earnings are the better lens; this mode is for the genuinely unprofitable, and for the profitable business whose capital spending currently outruns its cash.
Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Plug Power Inc. (PLUG), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/PLUG, data as of 2026-07-09.
Manual order: ← PLTR its page in the Manual PLUR →
Industry order: ← PCLA the Electrical Equipment chapter POWL →