At least (presumably) it was Plug Power selling the promotional items. I tried to check out the Plug website but it seems to be down right now.

Yeah, I can just imagine how long it would take to get FAA approval to fly drones that carry around a tank of formic acid as a fuel.

The first time it had a simple fuel leak or somebody's dog let in to a drone and sprayed formic acid around the neighbourhood it would make the front pages. Somehow I doubt anyone who wants to keep their job in the Amazon head office would promote the formic acid powered drone fleet concept.

(Never mind formic acid powered cars, with formic acid pumping stations to fill them up, and hundreds of thousands of formic acid tanker trucks on the road every day to supply them.)

GREEN!...Green...green

It's a good thing the market closed at 4:30 PM!

Let's hope that there is another buy at market for 1M+ shares again tomorrow.

I'm not sure why Plug would want Axion.

Considering that they (Axion) are a manufacturer of PbC sealed lead acid batteries, unless Plug has a need for something like this on the stationary power end I don't see any synergy at all.

The market cap of Axion is under $1M and the CEO just died of undisclosed causes Jan. 25th.

For Plug this sounds more like a fools errand than anything else when there are plenty of sealed lead acid battery makers out there to choose from.

Why buy the (now compromised) cow when milk is cheap down at the corner store?

Perhaps for $1M their customer list might be of some value for business development on the ReliOn side.

Last I checked 2.59 -0.02 from nasdaq.com

I will chant green, green, green, under my breath all day.

Heck, I've tried everything else so why not.

green, green, gre....

After almost one year Morgan Stanley initiates coverage.

The price target has been set at $3 according to Benzinga.

http://www.benzinga.com/news/15/04/5393743/morgan-stanley-initiates-coverage-on-plug-power-at-equal-weight-announces-3-00-pt

It was Morgan Stanley that was chosen as book manager for Plug's share offering last April that generated the working capital the company relies upon today for day to day operations.

http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/04/24/plug-powers-up-capital-raising-effort-with-fresh-stock-sale/

I wonder why it took so long and why they are initiating coverage now?

The transaction last year also raised a few other eyebrows :

http://www.loevy.com/become-a-plug-power-whistleblower-anonymously/

is the top link on Google when you enter Morgan Stanley "Plug Power" as the search term.

There are now so many law firms dredging the waters behind Plug Powers boat is it only a matter of time before they come up with something real? (Or even enough PO'ed shareholders who believe that there is something nefarious going on to initiate a law suit?)

Curious....

aassnnaapp please keep in mind that these are not hydrogen gas fuel cells.

To use them in a Plug product would require a complete re-engineering of the product, not to mention the creation of a currently non-existent fuel supply chain.

But I'm sure they are flawless at one thing - cutting their own paycheques.

Now if they would just tie the amount of their paycheques to the percentage of times they meet guidance at least six months out......exceed guidance, give a bonus, miss guidance, miss a paycheque.

Well that didn't take long.

Check out todays news item on Plug today and you will find our new CAO has been issued 100,000 shares in the form of stock options.

Aside from the minor dilution effect at least it appears that this guy can make things happen. Let's hope he can make good things happen on a consistent and timely basis.

The external signs that institutional investors are looking for are far from uniformly positive, such as :

- does the company make money - NO, NEVER HAS, MANY THINK NEVER WILL

- is there any hope in the future that the company will make money - TOO MUCH BAD GUIDANCE IN THE PAST TO BELIEVE ANY PROMISES NOW, SO FAR MORE REVENUE HAS RESULTED IN MORE LOSSES

- is there a competent management team in place - NO INDICATIONS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE ON THIS PLANET, CAPTAIN

- does the company have any proprietary patented technology to protect itself from competition - NOT SO MUCH

- are there unresolved legal issues which could effect the bottom line - ONE RIGHT NOW, THE POTENTIAL FOR MORE DUE TO POSSIBLE SEC VIOLATIONS

- is the product placement provide the potential for future success - YES, AS LONG AS FC COSTS CAN BE DRIVEN DOWN

- is there potential for a meaningful position at the table in a future greater hydrogen economy - DEBATABLE, NO PATENT PROTECTION MEANS LARGE COMPANIES MAY SIMPLY BYPASS PLUG ON THE ROAD TO THE FUTURE, BUT A RISING TIDE DOES INDEED LIFT ALL BOATS WHICH HAVE NOT YET SUNK

It's one thing to believe in the potential for a greater hydrogen economy, it is something completely different to expect that this or any other company might reasonably be able to profit from it's development.

I never said that Plug couldn't do anything right, but the absence of any clear guidance on the 2014 results during the January conference call was stunning because the quarter was already over.

The announcement of the date for reporting results on February 26th during the call, followed by the issuance of a press release on February 24th stating that results would in fact come out on March 17th was sheer incompetence.

I too am long on Plug and believe strongly in the product placement in the market, but it has been many quarters and many broken promises on the trail to Plug actually reporting a profit.

I guess you were simply fortunate in the timing of your stock purchase in as much as the stock is worth more now than when you bought it, and for that I would give you most of the credit.

As for what Plug's management owes us an apology for it is not delivering anything close to what they promise.

Here are excerpts and a link to a Bloomberg report on the March 13th 2014 conference call.



http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-03-13/plug-power-sees-orders-quadrupling-with-profit-closer-in-2014

In October they reiterated anticipated sales of $75M.

When they finally reported they came in with annual revenue of $64M, with a negative GM for BOTH the quarter and the year (their best product GM was GenDrive which had a +18% GM FOR Q4), and, on the number that really counts, EBITDA for the year of...... wait for it........

-$35.5M on $64M in revenue, which is almost a -$40M or more than -1000% variance from the March guidance. (If you think that things were getting better as the year went on you would be sorely mistaken, Q4 EBITDA was -$12.6M or more than 1/3 of the years total EBITDA loss on revenue of $21M)

These figures are taken from the Plug Power website at

http://www.plugpower.com/Files/Press%20Release%20Tables%20Q4%202014%20V.1%20F.pdf

And the reaction to this repeated display of over promise/under deliver incompetence? A drop in the share price from the giddy days of the October 10th reiterated revenue promise to close of market today of $1.76 per share, or almost 40%, and add to that the target prices of the stock have been slashed by analysts.

Yep, there is more revenue. And the company still manages to lose money on every single dollar of it.

Even a person convicted of fraud can tell the truth, and when it comes to Plug getting in to trouble giving guidance to shareholders need I mention the $5 million dollar settlement paid out by Plug for misleading investors and insider trading?

When it comes to Plugs perpetually unrealistic guidance and Andrew Left's conviction for fraud both are really solid indicators that one should verify for themselves the veracity of either of their claims.

With regard to Mr. Left's article about Plug while I may disagree with his assessment of the target price for the stock, I could find no fault in his summary of Plug's repeated spectacular failures to even come close to the guidance that they issue.

If I'm wrong on that point please advise.

Any company which files there 10-K so late that they not only need to file a notice of late filing (which inititiated several law firms to start fishing trips to solicit shareholders over potential breaches of the SEC regulations, by the way) while citing the supposed complex nature of their financial transactions as the reason for delay, needs accounting help.

Any company which re-iterates guidance to shareholders that the 2014 revenue will be $75 million in mid October, and comes in at $62 million when they file there 10-K 14 days past the deadline and 74 days past the close of the quarter needs accounting help.

Any company which so consistently misses the guidance they provide to shareholders in terms of both revenue and profitability over the past 5 years needs accounting help, and a change in management.

I would suggest that if you have not reviewed Andrew Left's article from Citron Research that it is a very helpful tool in establishing the value of any guidance which is issued by this firm.

While it is obvious that Plug has needed to clear up accounting and financial matters for far too long already I would have expected PM to be the man to do it.

Now, after many moons, Paul decides that a $62M/year company needs a CFO AND a Chief Accounting Officer? This is a company that doubled SG&A expenditures in the last 12 months.

I have no doubt that the CAO (pronounced like cow as in cash cow, no doubt) will account for his salary as a first order of business.

Somehow this does not seem to send out a message that institutional investors have been waiting so long and (not so) patiently to hear - that Plug will be managed more professionally going forward.

In my opinion they should have had a press release saying they completed the sale/leaseback arrangements so they could book the revenue that never seems to appear on the bottom line before they announced that they lack confidence in their existing team so much that they need to appoint ANOTHER Chief of WTF. I'm sure the next "Chief of" they are going to appoint is Chief of Monday and Tuesday. (What did you think WTF stood for? Wednesday, Thursday, Friday of course!)

I would (humbly) suggest that a quick review of the terms of use would be a good use of 30 seconds for everyone who posts to this board.

I'm sure we all have our own opinions about the other people posting on the board, but following the TOU will make the experience for all posters more informative and less confrontational.

When the analyst who has been among the strongest supporters of PLUG (Matt Koranda, Roth Capital) adjusts his price target down to the current market level it is a pretty safe bet bad things will happen to the PPS going forward. I certainly don't think I have the same visibility in to the company that he would, and obviously he does not like what he sees.

Andy's pathological over promise/under deliver personality quirk has alienated probably the last analyst who remained open minded about the company's ability to succeed. After two quarterly reports and a business update conference call Paul Middleton appears to have been relegated to the position of chief statistician and financial town crier, so I really don't see any relief from the Andy BS train coming from his appointment. Having rolled over another analyst it just keeps on going.

Assuming HD is indeed a $30M order it would IMHO not be enough to counter balance the albatross around the company's neck (which is Andy) and resurrect the share price.

Walmart keeps getting brought up in shareholders meetings and conference calls as being only a signature away from converting more DC's - but without any concrete announcement (last one was 07/14) that story is getting so tired it looks more like a dead cat being dragged around than a live deal.

Absent of any substantive deals I could see this stock in the $1.50 range or lower by the time the next quarterly results come out strictly on the continued erosion of the credibility of the management.

In the race to see which announcement will come out first (HD, Nike, blah, blah, blah) let's not forget about the announcement which has already been made.

10M cubic feet = 46K square feet assuming the building is a cube approximately 215 feet on each side. That would be a VERY high ceiling and require a lift truck with a 210 foot extension to access the top racks.

Last time I checked 10M cubic feet covered an area of 10M square feet if the building is 1 foot high! Lift trucks would need to be about 5 inches tall to work in that warehouse!

Lets take a guess at 8 foot tall lift trucks (unextended) implying 20 foot high ceilings, then the implied floor plate is 10 million cubic feet/ 20 feet = 500,000 square feet, or a little over 700 feet on a side assuming a square building.

Unfortunately our favorite analyst just reduced PPS target

Apparently Roth Capital analyst Matt Koranda, who traditionally leads off the Q&A sessions on conference calls, just reduced his target price from $4 to $2.60 with a neutral rating.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/03/19/why-plug-power-inc-had-its-cord-cut-by-1-wall-stre.aspx

You've found the secret to increasing PPS!!

Let's try with a specific target.

I bet it won't be able to get above $3.25 today!

Another Andy misspeak adds $100M in 2013 AND 2014 bookings.

aassnnaapp you were right. Andy, despite having the slide that clearly read bookings were $150M up $100M, said bookings were $250M up $100M. Don't we all wish that was true!

1.Did Andy do most of the review/speculating or did they put the CFO into the front seat like he should be?

Andy did most of the framework discussion with major numbers, Paul did most of the detail numbers. Andy was definitely more prominent

2. Any information on why the miss was so large versus Andy's lack of proper guidance? And yes, it really was an 8 cent miss.

Soroof legal settlement, plus 20-25% of revenue could not be booked because a sale/leaseback transaction could not be put in place in time to report in Q4, hoping for Q1 reporting of that revenue.

3. Any update on an end to the lawsuit settlement or is there more accrual ahead for that?

No indication of closure, but also no indication of additional accruals to come.

4. Any more SOLID information on the new customers or was it more of the same Andy ambiguous wait and see?

Not for the larger ones, but did highlight FreezPak as smaller site demonstrating viability for smaller sites

5.Any indications of what/when they will get these operating costs under control, what is the COO doing specifically?

The general direction is to increase sales and hold costs.

6. Any indication what accountability there is with BLDP on ability to ship stacks and their obvious poor quality, which is effectng service costs and worse, reputation.

None.


Here is a quick and dirty summary of the conference call. I give no guarantees on it's accuracy or completeness, but it should be reasonably good.

Time index 
 0:36  Teal Vivacqua Safe Harbor statement 
 2:16  Andy Marsh 2014 Breakout year  
 	-proved commercial viability of FC in material handling industry 
         -revenue almost 3X to 64M with TV of billable activity 70M 
 2:48	-bookings exceeded 250M an increase of over 100M over 2013, with Q4 bookings of 45M (slide and release state 150M) 
 3:05	-introduced GenKey, 90% of customers in 2015 have chosen GenKey 
 3:27	-executed the largest commercial deployment of PEM FCs with 6 site order valued over 50M from Walmart 
 3:38		-converted 4 Walmart sites in 2014, have over 100 sites in NA, Walmart continuously converting to GenKey 
 4:00	-repeat customer Kroger recently converted DCs in Louisville and Denver, soon to convert Atlanta 
 4:17	-highlight of new customer FreezPak - frozen goods distribution company in NJ 
 		-smaller than most deployments and H2 infrastructure cost has generally been barrier, offered mini GenKey 
 		-exciting because this new offering opens up sites of 25 units are now viable 
 4:55	-most significant new product offering is GenFuel, built 10 systems in 2014 dispensing 2T of H2/day 
 5:25	-for products GMs improved for all segments in 2014 
 5:35	-acquired ReliOn in 2014, provides supplier diversification, Ballard will remain importnt partner 
 	-started development of high powered stack for introduction later this year 
 6:04	-secured balance sheet - critical for engagement with Fortune 500 customers - $146M at YE 2014 vs. $5M YE 2013 
 6:23	-now focus on 2015+ 4 objectives 
 		-$100M revenue goal (clear visibility to 85% already) 
 		-$200M bookings 
 		-increase GMs 
 		-increase investment in expanding H2 offering 
 		-expect to deploy 7-10 Walmart sites this year converting Bedford PA, then Wintersville OH, Mancado, MN 
 7:20	-working with 2 new large retail customers marketing departments to secure release of names 
 07:59	-some thoughts on GMs 
 		-bucket activities into 4 categories GenDrive, H2 infrastructure, after market service, fuels 
 		-GenDrive went from -7% to +18%, doubled shipments 
 		-H2 infrastructure costs to come down, changes to improve cost, quality, now built on skids in house 
 09:16		-ultimately expect HW products to achieve 35% GM on GenDrive, H2 infrastructure 
 09:29		-service can represent higher GM but will be most difficult to improve GMs 
 		-3 items important - performance of units in field, reduction of liquid cooled stack failures, utilisation of service labour force 
 		-as older stacks come out of field newer stacks have lower service cost profile 
 		-only concern we have today is lifetime performance of liquid cooled high powered stacks 
 10:44		-labour utilisation is low hanging fruit, as deployment of units becomes more centrally located, like 4 sites in OH by end of Q2, costs will go down, we are paying for initial ramp in service team today 
 	-margin opportunity for H2 - business in mat. handling can grow to 500M without expanding into other market segments 
 		-to grow beyond 500M revenue must address cost effective H2 availability to small and large sites 
 		-cost effective and available H2 is barrier to entry in to other markets 
 13:33		-efforts in this area led by VP Hydrogen Jim Cortes 
 		-3 strategic objectives 
 		-develop viable cost effective solutions to address smaller sites (retail, stationary power) using on site electrolysers, reformers, or new distribution model 
 		-looking to migrate H2 generation on site or to larger facilites to use as hub for distribution 
 		-develop much larger scale system required for transport refrigeration systems using up to 2T/day 
 15:35	-Andy wrap up 
 16:16 	-Paul Middleton 
 	-financial highlights of Q4 
 		-21.5M revenue (168% growth over 2013) 
 		-all time record 957 GenDrive units ships, sales with over 8 infrastructure installations 
 		-238 units in sale and leaseback transaction could not be booked in Q4, will look to book in Q1 2015 
 		-total GM as percent of sales is -8% vs. -39% in 2013 
 17:44		-recorded $45M orders in Q4 giving backlog of $130M, compared to $35M orders and $49M backlog YE 2013 
 	-backlog is combination of units and service 
 	-used $9.8M in cash, ended with $146M cash and $167M working capital 
 	-$12.2M revenue in GenDrive units, portion of units will seek sale/leaseback in Q1 2015 vs. $5.7M Q3 2014 
 	-higher concentration of smaller Class 3 units 
 	-product sales GM of $1.8M or +15% vs. -7% in Q4 2013 
 20:10	-service revenues $8.4 million, with GM of -35% as compared to -112% in Q4 2013 with loss of $2.4M on $2.1M revenue 
 	-improvements in service GMs reflect higher GenDrive reliability 
 	-R&D $2.2M vs. $0.8M in Q4 2013, includes ReliOn acquisition 
 	-SG&A $9.4M vs. $4M in 2013 with increased cost due to Soroof legal professional fees, increased sales costs 
 22:20	-net operating loss of $13.2M or 62% of sales vs. $8M or 100% of sales in Q4 2013 
 23:00	-forward guidance 
 24:50	-break even EBITDAS by Q4 2015 
 25:41	-Q&A session 
 

I hope that helps.

That's just on GenDrive units, besides if your gross margin (total) is still negative your margins had better CONTINUE to improve.

If you get them please post here.

From my earlier post

That review is much more generous than expected.

Is there anyone here who wouldn't be happy to see plug add $0.95 per share to the current price?

I wouldn't be surprised if a Citron Research redux review is in the offing though. Andy has earned it.

Found this article about Luckey, OH Home Depot posted on March 6th in the Sentinel Tribune.

And you're not going to like it very much. (The Sentinel Tribune is published out of Bowling Green, Ohio which is near Luckey.)

http://www.sent-trib.com/news/home-depot-hiring/article_eec05e4e-c412-11e4-8ef1-2f64eb3a2ca9.html

BUMMER!

Here is a link to an old post.

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=110574899

It comes with my apologies because I don't have a friend near the facility to take good ones and the satellite pictures and Google Earth shots are all crappy. They are, however, completely consistent with images from other locations with H2 tanks and the timelines between the PLUG announcements and plant construction all seem to fit.

It has been a few weeks now that reports of photos from friends have been circulating, I for one have no expectation of ever actually seeing any.

Not sure where $250M in bookings is coming from

Here is the second sentence of todays earnings release

Regarding 2015 bookings from the fifth paragraph.



If I'm missing something please advise. Here's a link to the PR.

http://www.plugpower.com/news/pressreleases/15-03-17/PLUG_POWER_ANNOUNCES_2014_FOURTH_QUARTER_AND_YEAR-END_RESULTS.aspx

Because the market expectations that Plug will reach or exceed any guidance they give for the future just sank a little bit deeper into the cess pool that is the history of promises from Plug.

Don't believe me? Check out the share price. Last time I checked it had absolutely nothing to do with earnings per share, and everything to do with expectation of future earnings.

The board is so quiet this afternoon - it must mean that all the unabashed pumpers and Andy apologists still have their arms wrapped firmly around their toilet bowls after enduring yet another reality beat down at the hands of short sellers and institutional investors.

I'm sure if PLUG was at $5 (or $20) a share there would be plenty of posts with lots of back slapping going on.

Andy, in his usual style, overestimated revenues for 2014 by almost 17% on October 10th with less than 22% of the calendar year left to go. If that isn't a feat of incompetence I don't know what is.

The good news about Plug Power is that they did not reschedule the release at the last minute.

After that I'm left wanting by todays dismal numbers on revenue. I recall that Plug reaffirmed a $75M revenue target October 10, 2014, now they deliver $64M to the end of December which is 14.4% below guidance.

No big orders, no names named.

This was NOT a BULLSEYE for Andy Marsh.

http://www.plugpower.com/news/pressreleases/14-10-10/PLUG_POWER_SHIPS_OVER_850_GENDRIVE_FUEL_CELLS_IN_THIRD_QUARTER_OF_2014.aspx

Don't sell your PLUG before the conference call before considering what might happen.

You never know, Andy might choose to step aside as CEO and announce it during the call. (Whether he does or doesn't, he should.) We had better hope he does, because anything short of that or announcing a huge new order and we can all bend over and kiss our price per share goodbye.

After hours market closes at $2.84 up 0.09

Still nothing from the SEC website.

Bad 'cause it means PLUGs reputation precedes it, and is so well known there are more people willing to short it than there are newbies who see Walmart, green energy, fuel cell and Plug Power all in one article and remortgage their house to buy at any price.

Good 'cause if the results are good and management shows some heretofore unseen competence the reputation and share price will both get a lift and the current bad rep and resulting low share price will, in hindsight, have been the perfect buying opportunity.

Go Andy!

(or should that be 'GO, Andy!'? Guess it depends on the results.)

If you're going to wish, WISH BIG

I hope everything goes well tomorrow but...

There are lots of MAKES that must happen, and lots of BREAKS all of which must be avoided.

MAKES
- revenue at $70M+
- gross margin improved from Q3
- EBIDTA close to or above break even
- revenue/margin guidance level or increasing from Jan. CC

BREAKS
- any MAKE is missed
- increased litigation accrual on Soroof lawsuit/no settlement in sight
- new potential lawsuits not addressed properly
- customer delivery schedules revised to later times
- Andy misspeaks (angry at shareholders, impossible promises)
- issues of revenue reporting are not put to bed once and for all

Then there are certain possibilities that would cause a seismic shift in the stock price (tongue firmly in cheek) :

SUPER MAKES
- Walmart announces that all DC's are converting to PEM FC's in a 5 year $5B contract with PLUG
- Toyota annouces they are buying PLUG at $50/share
- Andy announces he is stepping aside for the good of the company and will be replaced by Elon Musk who has given up on battery powered anything and will convert the Tesla to FCs


SUPER BREAKS
- Walmart declares bankruptcy
- Toyota announces they are dropping FC cars and gettin' back with battery crazed Elon and the Tesla
- Andy announces he has had Idi Amin's hand shaped toilet seat installed in Plugs executive washroom and declares himself CEO for life

I figure we better laugh now while we still can!

Fingers crossed - GLTA pluggers.

P.S. Inspiration for this post comes directly from my previous experiences with the unpredictable nature of Plug's actions. Nothing will surprise me any more. (I hope.)

I hope they know cutoff time is 5:30PM for submissions to be received on this calendar day. Presumably that is EDST in Washington, D.C.

If not I'm sure there are many more law firms that will be quite willing to solicit shareholders over potential breaches of the securities laws.

Perhaps Andy 'misspoke' again.

But that's OK because it was just to a room full of institutional investors this time. ;)

As Digra queried a few weeks ago after February 26th was revised to March 17th - you are surprised about this?

No new filings on EDGAR for PLUG yet.

I imagine PM will wait until after market close to file the 10-K.