Bloom Energy surges 143% YTD as AI power demand lifts earnings

Bloom Energy shares surged 143 percent year to date through Aug. 12 as AI data center power demand accelerated earnings growth for the fuel cell maker.

"The demand for Bloom Energy's solutions keeps accelerating every quarter as customers who traditionally defaulted to combustion technologies are now proactively choosing Bloom as a superior power solution," KR Sridhar, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Bloom Energy, said.

The San Jose, California-based company reported record second-quarter revenue of $1.07 billion, up 165.5 percent from $401.2 million a year earlier. Product revenue jumped 215.4 percent to $935.4 million, while gross margin expanded 668 basis points to 33.4 percent. Earnings per share came in at $0.62, compared with a loss of $0.18 in the prior-year quarter, and adjusted EPS reached $0.78, both above consensus estimates.

Management raised full-year revenue guidance to $3.9 billion to $4.2 billion. Total backlog stood at $20 billion at the start of 2026, with product backlog up 140 percent year over year to $6 billion and service backlog at $14 billion. The company also expanded its Brookfield Asset Management partnership from $5 billion to $25 billion and secured a $1.7 billion investment from Oaktree and IDF to deploy fuel cells for Nebius's AI cloud platform.

Bloom Energy's solid oxide fuel cells convert natural gas, biogas or hydrogen into electricity through an electrochemical process without combustion, and can be deployed in under two months. The company delivered a system for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in 55 days, beating its 90-day promise. All major U.S. hyperscalers and more than a dozen neoclouds, AI labs and colocation data center operators have approved its power solutions for AI factories, according to the company.

The company recently expanded its partnership with MiTAC Computing Technology to deploy fuel cell microgrids at an AI server manufacturing campus in Fremont, California. Earlier agreements with Oracle, AWS, Coralogix, Nebius and Equinix follow the same approach of providing grid-independent power for AI infrastructure.

Gartner projects data center electricity consumption will grow 26 percent to 565 terawatt-hours in 2026, while Bank of America warns the U.S. grid could face a 100-gigawatt capacity deficit by 2030. Hyperscale facility builds account for almost half of the nation's new power demand growth through 2030.

The stock trades at 20.8 times sales versus 2.6 times for the U.S. electrical industry, reflecting the premium valuation that has followed the 143 percent rally. With a beta of 3.8, nearly four times the volatility of the S&P 500, the stock has retreated 37 percent from its 52-week high of $351.28.

The guidance raise points to management's expectation that AI power demand will keep accelerating. Investors will watch whether the company can convert its $20 billion backlog into revenue growth at current margins, and whether new customer wins beyond hyperscalers sustain the earnings momentum.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.