FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ: FCEL) and Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ:BLDP) are both small-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares FuelCell Energy and Ballard Power Systems’ gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| FuelCell Energy | $83.61 million | 1.03 | -$36.29 million | ($1.51) | -0.96 |
| Ballard Power Systems | $100.50 million | 4.90 | -$2.14 million | ($0.07) | -39.85 |
Ballard Power Systems has higher revenue and earnings than FuelCell Energy. Ballard Power Systems is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FuelCell Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for FuelCell Energy and Ballard Power Systems, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| FuelCell Energy | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2.25 |
| Ballard Power Systems | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2.50 |
FuelCell Energy presently has a consensus target price of $2.00, suggesting a potential upside of 37.93%. Ballard Power Systems has a consensus target price of $3.25, suggesting a potential upside of 16.49%. Given FuelCell Energy’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe FuelCell Energy is more favorable than Ballard Power Systems.
Risk & Volatility
FuelCell Energy has a beta of 1.83, meaning that its share price is 83% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ballard Power Systems has a beta of 2.36, meaning that its share price is 136% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
14.1% of FuelCell Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.6% of Ballard Power Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of FuelCell Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares FuelCell Energy and Ballard Power Systems’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| FuelCell Energy | -60.75% | -44.42% | -14.99% |
| Ballard Power Systems | -9.34% | -6.74% | -4.46% |
Summary
Ballard Power Systems beats FuelCell Energy on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
FuelCell Energy Company Profile
Fuelcell Energy, Inc. delivers fuel cell power solutions. The Company is engaged in designing, manufacturing, installing, operating and maintaining fuel cell power solutions. The Company also provides turnkey power generation solutions to the customers, including power plant installation, operations and maintenance. The Company’s segment is fuel cell power plant production and research. The Company offers its services to various sectors, including utility companies, municipalities, universities, government entities and a range of industrial and commercial enterprises. The Company, by utilizing its Direct FuelCell (DFC) plants, is commercializing a tri-generation distributed hydrogen configuration that generates electricity, heat and hydrogen for industrial and/or transportation uses, as well as a fuel cell carbon capture solution for coal or gas-fired power plants. The Company is also developing and commercializing solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) plants for sub-megawatt applications.
Ballard Power Systems Company Profile
Ballard Power Systems Inc. is engaged in the design, development, manufacture, sale and service of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell products for a range of applications, focusing on the power product markets of heavy-duty motive (consisting of bus and tram applications), portable power, material handling and backup power, as well as the delivery of technology solutions, including engineering services, technology transfer and the license and sale of its intellectual property portfolio and fundamental knowledge for a range of fuel cell applications. As of December 31, 2016, the Company provided products in four product classes, such as Fuel cell stacks, Fuel cell modules, Fuel cell systems and Power management systems. The Company provides FCgen and FCveloCity fuel cell stacks to original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers and system integrators that use the stacks to produce fuel cell systems for power solutions.
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