Plug Power, Inc. PLUG

Competitive advantage analysis · industrials

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
26/100
Developing

About Plug Power, Inc.

Plug Power Inc. develops hydrogen fuel cells product solutions in North America, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers GenDrive, a hydrogen fueled proton exchange membrane fuel cell system that provides power to material handling electric vehicles; GenSure, a stationary fuel cell solution that offers modular PEM fuel cell power to support the backup and grid-support power requirements of the … Full PLUG analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key risks

  • Commodity Pressure / Weak Differentiation Gross margin at 20.0th percentile with high volatility suggests weak pricing power or commoditized products.
  • ROIC Below WACC or Peers ROIC at 17.6th percentile suggests inefficient capital deployment.

The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.

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Pricing Power

Weak
17

Where PLUG ranks in Electrical Equipment & Parts

Plug Power, Inc. ranks #48 of 55 scored companies in Electrical Equipment & Parts by moat score — the top 87%. The widest moat in the group is Espey Mfg. & Electronics Corp. (ESP) at 83/100.

Moat scores for companies ranked near PLUG in Electrical Equipment & Parts
# Company Moat score Rating
44 NeoVolta Inc. NEOV 31/100 Developing
45 NOVONIX Limited - American Depo NVX 28/100 Developing
46 Polar Power, Inc. POLA 27/100 Developing
47 Expion360 Inc. XPON 27/100 Developing
48 Plug Power, Inc. PLUG 26/100 Developing
49 Elong Power Holding Ltd ELPW 25/100 Developing
50 Solidion Technology, Inc. STI 23/100 Weak
51 Ideal Power Inc. IPWR 14/100 Weak
52 ESS Tech, Inc. GWH 14/100 Weak

See every General Corporate company ranked by moat score →

How PLUG scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 17 · 20% of the moat score

Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.

Cost Advantage

Score 32 · 15% of the moat score

A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.

Customer Stickiness

Score 26 · 15% of the moat score

Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.

Capital Efficiency

Score 22 · 18% of the moat score

Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.

Resilience

Score 39 · 17% of the moat score

Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.

Scale & Market Position

Score 19 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding PLUG's moat

What is Plug Power, Inc.'s moat score?

Plug Power, Inc. (PLUG) scores 26 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as developing. It ranks #48 of 55 scored companies in Electrical Equipment & Parts, the top 87%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 54 companies in Electrical Equipment & Parts. Its strongest defense is Resilience (39/100) and its weakest is Pricing Power (17/100).

How does Plug Power, Inc. compare with other Electrical Equipment & Parts companies?

Plug Power, Inc. ranks #48 of 55 scored companies in Electrical Equipment & Parts by moat score. The widest moat in Electrical Equipment & Parts is Espey Mfg. & Electronics Corp. (ESP) at 83/100. The companies ranked closest are Expion360 Inc. (XPON) at 27 just above it and Elong Power Holding Ltd (ELPW) at 25 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 54 companies in Electrical Equipment & Parts. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Plug Power, Inc. scored with the Corporate Default template?

Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.

Which competitive defenses are measured for Plug Power, Inc.?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and PLUG scores: Pricing Power (17), Cost Advantage (32), Customer Stickiness (26), Capital Efficiency (22), Resilience (39), Scale & Market Position (19). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.

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