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Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE) turned up in two big data center announcements on Nov. 5. NTT DATA said it had agreed to deploy 900 megawatts of the fuel cell maker's onsite power across data center projects around the world.
And Alphabet's Google said Bloom would build the fuel cells for a 702-megawatt plant powering its first data center in Wyoming, a $17 billion project.
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The stock had a bad day anyway. Shares ended at $167.52, off around 16%, amid worries that rising opposition to new data centers after the Nov. 3 midterms might slow the build-out of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.
The growth stock is still up over 90% this year. But it now sits about 52% below the $345.85 record close it set on June 22.
How much new business did Bloom win on Nov. 5? Less than the headlines may suggest, because just one of the two deals is new. I think the other still matters, though, and the stock looks much more reasonably priced than it did in October.
Google won't buy the fuel cells itself. American Electric Power plans to invest around $4 billion in the 702-megawatt project near Cheyenne, Wyoming, the utility said on Oct. 14. It'll sell the plant's output to Google under a 20-year power purchase agreement, and it expects the plant to be fully running by late 2028.
The fuel cell order came months earlier. In January, an AEP subsidiary agreed to buy solid oxide fuel cells for around $2.65 billion for a plant near Cheyenne. The purchase used most of an option for 900 extra megawatts under AEP's 2024 supply deal with Bloom.
For a sense of scale, that one order is worth over half of Bloom's full-year revenue forecast of $4.4 billion to $4.6 billion for 2026.
So, Google's news didn't add to Bloom's orders. The fuel cells were bought in January, and AEP had already named Google as the plant's customer in October.
That still means something, I think. A fuel cell order backed by a 20-year power contract with Google looks more likely to become revenue on time than one linked to an unnamed buyer.
NTT DATA's deal is the new business, and the companies called it Bloom's biggest international project so far. NTT's data center arm plans to use the fuel cells as its main power source, with the relationship meant to reach gigawatt scale across its global portfolio.
What the release didn't say matters, too. It gave no dollar value, no project locations, and no timeline beyond first shipments starting in 2027. This deal shouldn't show up in Bloom's 2026 revenue, and Bloom hasn't said how much of it falls in 2027 or later.
But 900 megawatts is a lot of fuel cells -- nearly a full year of output at the 1 gigawatt of annual production capacity Bloom's Fremont, California, plant had going into 2026. The company planned to double that capacity by year-end.
Bloom needs deals like this, because its quarter-to-quarter growth slowed sharply in the third quarter. Second-quarter revenue of $1.07 billion was 42% above the first quarter's $751 million. Third-quarter revenue then climbed 16% sequentially to $1.24 billion, up 138% year over year. And October's raised outlook (management's third raise this year) implies a sequential gain of 9% to 25% in the fourth quarter.
That's still strong growth. Keeping it up into 2027 and 2028, though, depends on deals like NTT DATA's moving from announcement to shipment.
Based on the midpoint of management's adjusted earnings forecast for 2026 ($3.10 to $3.40 a share), Bloom stock cost around 52 times earnings at its Nov. 5 close. The same forecast had it at around 67 times earnings at the $217.77 close on Oct. 22. On next year's expected earnings, shares now trade at around 31 times earnings.
Still, 52 times earnings is a premium price. It assumes Bloom keeps growing quickly well past this year.
But Bloom landed a big new deal on Nov. 5 as its shares got much cheaper.
Of course, a slower U.S. data center build-out might delay some deliveries. And October's weak spot hasn't gone away. Bloom's operations burned $27 million in cash in the third quarter, mostly because it booked revenue faster than it could bill customers for it.
Is Bloom stock worth buying after a 16% one-day drop? I'd consider buying some shares at this price, a few at a time. And I'd maybe add more when billing catches up with revenue.
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Daniel Sparks and his clients do not have positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Bloom Energy. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Bloom Energy Stock Fell 16% on the Same Day 2 Giant Data Center Deals Named It. Is It a Buy? was originally published by The Motley Fool
