Critical Survey: Bloom Energy (BE) versus Its Competitors

Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE) is one of 21 public companies in the “Electrical industrial apparatus” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Bloom Energy to related companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, risk, earnings, valuation, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

77.0% of Bloom Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.1% of shares of all “Electrical industrial apparatus” companies are held by institutional investors. 8.8% of Bloom Energy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.7% of shares of all “Electrical industrial apparatus” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Bloom Energy and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bloom Energy	$1.47 billion	-$302.12 million	-105.80
Bloom Energy Competitors	$534.72 million	-$136.01 million	-2.18

Bloom Energy has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its peers. Bloom Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Bloom Energy and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bloom Energy	-10.29%	-20.32%	-3.94%
Bloom Energy Competitors	-211.08%	-93.75%	-17.25%

Volatility and Risk

Bloom Energy has a beta of 3.3, meaning that its stock price is 230% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bloom Energy’s peers have a beta of 1.46, meaning that their average stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Bloom Energy and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bloom Energy	1	11	8	1	2.43
Bloom Energy Competitors	92	598	839	35	2.52

Bloom Energy presently has a consensus target price of $25.06, indicating a potential upside of 18.41%. As a group, “Electrical industrial apparatus” companies have a potential upside of 13.91%. Given Bloom Energy’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Bloom Energy is more favorable than its peers.

Summary

Bloom Energy beats its peers on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

Bloom Energy Company Profile

Bloom Energy Corporation designs, manufactures, sells, and installs solid-oxide fuel cell systems for on-site power generation in the United States and internationally. The company offers Bloom Energy Server, a solid oxide technology that converts fuel, such as natural gas, biogas, hydrogen, or a blend of these fuels into electricity through an electrochemical process without combustion. It sells its products through direct and indirect sales channels to utilities, data centers, agriculture, retail, hospitals, higher education, biotech, and manufacturing industries. The company was formerly known as Ion America Corp. and changed its name to Bloom Energy Corporation in 2006. Bloom Energy Corporation was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.