Bloom Energy's stock surges as an AI play with new CoreWeave partnership

By Tomi Kilgore

Analyst says company is delivering on opportunities of providing fuel-cell power equipment to data centers

Shares of Bloom Energy Corp. charged higher Wednesday, after the fuel cell-technology company took another step into the artificial-intelligence arena with its partnership with data-center company CoreWeave Inc.

The company (BE) said late-Tuesday that it will deploy its fuel cells to generate power for CoreWeave, which is backed by Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), at a data center in Illinois. Bloom was sure to hammer home the AI connection.

"This win underscores Bloom's ability to meet the rising energy demands of the rapidly growing AI sector," The company said in a statement.

"This validation from CoreWeave, a leader in AI, is a testament to our leading-edge technology and its importance to AI," said Bloom's Chief Commercial Officer Aman Joshi.

Bloom's fuel cells are expected to be commissioned in the third quarter of 2025.

The stock (BE) climbed 5% in active midday trading. The stock has soared 29.1% amid a six-day win streak, which would be the longest such streak since the seven-day stretch that ended May 6.

Trading volume was 10.95 million shares just before noon Eastern, or more than double the full-day average of about 5.3 million shares.

Truist analyst Jordan Levy said the CoreWeave partnership isn't likely to "move the needle" in terms of 2025 revenue, but said the stock's reaction to the announcement makes since given the importance of data-center agreements to Bloom's growth story.

"Given CoreWeave's...relevancy to the overall AI conversation, [Bloom Energy] appears to be making solid, still early stage progress in getting its foot in the door for smaller data center applications," Truist analyst Jordan Levy wrote in a note to clients.

And Oppenheimer's Colin Rusch said he believes the CoreWeave announcement can provide Bloom with a "new anchor customer" with significant room for growth.

"In announcing its strategic partnership with CoreWeave, [Bloom Energy] is starting to deliver more substantially on one of its key opportunities, providing power generation equipment to data centers," Rusch wrote.

Bloom's stock has gained 7% year to date, while the S&P 500 index SPX has advanced 17.5%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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07-17-24 1159ET

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