Bloom's Boom -
From the Fortune article :
Bloom Energy has also expressed optimism about its future growth. In late 2012, Bloom Energy CFO Bill Kurtz told Fortune's Dan Primack that the company was on track to be profitable in 2013. The Sunnyvale, Calif., firm will not say whether it has met that goal. Bloom's fuel cells produce power for several Fortune 500 companies, including Google ( GOOG, Fortune 500), Wal-Mart, AT&T ( T, Fortune 500), and eBay ( EBAY, Fortune 500). Some use the boxes to power offices, and others in server farms and cell towers.
One recent indication that Bloom's boxes might be heading toward profitability: Bank of America Merrill Lynch has made a multimillion-dollar commitment to finance two Bloom projects, one at the TaylorMade-Adidas Golf factory in Carlsbad, Calif., and the other at the Honda Center in Anaheim, where the Anaheim Ducks play hockey. The bank's money covers the cost of building the systems, and Bloom in turn gives leases to the factory and arena in which they agree to buy their power at a set price for a time, without taking ownership of the power source. That way Bloom can offer installations without an upfront capital investment by its customers -- similar to the model that solar installers such as SolarCity ( SCTY) and Sunrun have used to boost growth.
***
Bloom has the big money behind it. I believe that when Bloom has its IPO, it will be accompanied by huge hype from Merrill Lynch and others, and the entire fuel cell industry will benefit. I do think that when Bloom goes public, the collateral effect could push Fuel Cell toward $10 pps. |
