: Plug Power stock soars as restatement removes overhang of uncertainty

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Shares of Plug Power Inc. surged Friday, after they hydrogen and fuel cell systems company completed its restatement, removing a “shroud of uncertainty” that has been weighing heavily on the stock the past couple months.

The stock
PLUG,
-1.26%

shot up 12.2% in premarket trading. That puts the stock on track to post a weekly gain, after it tumbled 19.2% last week, and closed Monday at a six-month low. It was still well below where it closed on March 16, at $42.68, just before the company announced that a restatement was needed.

From March 16 through Thursday, the stock had dropped 48.5%.

The company filed its 10-K annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission early Friday. The company said, as previously announced, the need to restate results was not a result of any misconduct or an override of internal controls. The 10-K was filed four days after the company said earlier this week that it would file the annual report “within the next five days.”

What the restatement changed was that it increased 2020 revenue by $7.2 million to negative $93.2 million and reduced 2019 revenue by about $300,000 and 2018 revenue by about $400,000, the company said. Meanwhile, 2020 losses widened by 10 cents a share to $1.68, 2019 per-share losses remained unchanged and 2018 losses widened by 3 cents a share.

“We pride ourselves on operating with integrity and transparency in everything we do, and we’re pleased to put this matter behind us,” said Chief Executive Andy Marsh. “As we anticipated, the required adjustments were noncash and had no impact on our business operations or economics of our commercial arrangements.”

Earlier this week, Evercore ISI analyst James West had the restatement was a “shroud of uncertainty hanging over PLUG shares” since the announcement was made in March.

West rates Plug at outperform, and has a $42 stock price target.

The stock has tumbled 65.3% over the past three months through Thursday, while the S&P 500 index
SPX,
+1.22%

has gained 4.5%.