Plug Power's Twin Cash Sh ITC Sale and Gateway Deadline Test Investor Faith Ahead of AGM

Plug Power shares drop 10% ahead of AGM vote on 25M share dilution proposal; Gateway deal by June 30 could deliver $142M. Stock's turnaround hinges on two critical events.

Plug Power shareholders endured another punishing session on Friday as the stock plunged nearly 10% to €2.80, extending the week’s loss to 17.7%. The sell-off reflects mounting anxiety ahead of the company’s annual general meeting on June 11, where a proposal to expand the equity option pool by 25 million shares – to a total of roughly 116 million – threatens to dilute existing holders. Adding to the tension, board member Kavita Mahtani will step down effective the same day to take a senior role at Wells Fargo, a departure that, while officially described as amicable, injects further uncertainty into an already fraught gathering.

Behind the jitters sits a cash-hungry business that has been scrambling to monetise assets without resorting to new debt or equity issuance. The hydrogen specialist recently sold a portion of its federal Investment Tax Credits (ITC) tied to the St. Gabriel plant in Louisiana – a joint venture with Olin Corporation that started producing up to 15 tonnes of liquid hydrogen daily in April – for nearly $40 million. That follows a $30 million ITC sale from its Georgia facility in January. Management has signalled that more such transactions are possible, including from data centre assets, as it seeks to shore up liquidity without tapping capital markets.

Yet the far bigger prize is the much-anticipated closing of "Project Gateway", the disposal of a New York site to Stream Data Centers. The deal must be completed by June 30 and could deliver up to $142 million into Plug Power’s coffers. The urgency is underscored by the company’s balance sheet: while total liquidity stood at over $800 million at the end of the first quarter, only $223 million is freely available. The remainder sits in restricted accounts and will only drip through gradually.

Operationally, the picture is improving. First-quarter revenue rose by more than a fifth to $163.5 million, while the gross margin recovered sharply from minus 55% to minus 13%. In May, the company took a final investment decision on a hydrogen project in Barrow-in-Furness, UK, that will eventually cut the natural gas use of a neighbouring Kimberly-Clark plant by half. Chief Executive Jose Luis Crespo remains committed to delivering a positive EBITDAS in the fourth quarter of 2026 – a goal that depends critically on proceeds from the Gateway sale.

That makes the next three weeks a binary moment for the stock. If the AGM passes the option plan without a disruptive revolt and the Gateway deal closes on schedule, management will have secured both the financial runway and the headroom needed to execute the turnaround. But if either milestone stumbles – a dilution vote that spooks retail investors or a missed Gateway deadline – the stock, which has more than tripled from its 52-week low of €0.76, could surrender those gains in short order. The street is watching, and the countdown has begun.