"Popular energy storage stock" Bloom Energy surged again after its earnings report, rising over 350% this year

The market is betting on the power supply demand for AI data centers, and this "popular energy storage stock" has seen a cumulative increase of over 350% this year, becoming one of the brightest stars in the U.S. stock market by 2025. Fuel cell manufacturer Bloom Energy surged 20% in after-hours trading on Tuesday, benefiting from the AI concept stock's third-quarter earnings report, which showed adjusted earnings exceeded expectations and hinted that 2025 performance would be better than previously guided. The latest earnings report shows that the company had an adjusted earnings per share of 15 cents in the third quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of 10 cents, with revenue of $519 million far exceeding the market expectation of $428 million. However, under standard accounting principles, the company still recorded a loss of 10 cents per share due to employee stock compensation and other items. CEO KR Sridhar stated during the earnings call, "Based on what we see currently, we expect our financial metrics for 2025 to be better than our previously released annual guidance." Bloom has become one of the best-performing stocks of 2025, with a cumulative increase of over 350% this year, and the market expects it to play a significant role in powering AI data centers. However, the stock's valuation has reached 110 times the expected earnings per share for 2026, far exceeding mature AI concept stocks like NVIDIA, and 16% of the shares are sold short, increasing potential volatility. Capacity Expansion Targeting AI Power Demand Bloom Energy announced it is expanding capacity, planning to achieve an annual production capacity of 2 gigawatts of fuel cells by the end of 2026, which could quadruple its annual revenue compared to 2025 levels. Over the past year, the company has transformed from a volatile stock related to the clean energy sector into a darling of the AI field. Its fuel cells are seen as a solution to the soaring power demand from AI, as these devices can be deployed off the grid and can quickly ramp up power generation. The company has signed cooperation agreements with Oracle, Brookfield Asset Management, and utility company AEP. Paul Wick, portfolio manager at the company's largest institutional shareholder Columbia Threadneedle, stated: "We are facing a severe power shortage. Gas turbines are sold out until 2029. Nuclear power construction and commissioning take a long time. Bloom can deploy fuel cells modularly within three months." Bullish investors believe the company can capture market share from the $100 billion gas turbine market. However, Bloom's stock price has already reflected enormous growth expectations far exceeding its current capacity. According to the latest public data, 16% of the stock's float is borrowed by short sellers, a significant proportion that exposes the stock price to greater volatility risks around major events such as earnings reports