Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ:BLDP) Upgraded at Lake Street Capital

Key Points

• Lake Street Capital upgraded Ballard Power Systems from "hold" to "buy" and set a $5 price target, implying about a 23% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst opinions remain mixed: one Buy, nine Hold and three Sell produce an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target of $2.98.
• The stock jumped to $4.07 on heavy volume and near its 52-week high, but Ballard is still unprofitable with negative EPS and margins despite a modest quarterly beat and a market cap of about $1.23 billion.

Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ:BLDP - Get Free Report) TSE: BLD was upgraded by equities research analysts at Lake Street Capital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued on Tuesday. The brokerage presently has a $5.00 target price on the technology company's stock. Lake Street Capital's target price indicates a potential upside of 23.00% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ballard Power Systems in a report on Monday, April 20th. TD Securities raised shares of Ballard Power Systems from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $2.50 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ballard Power Systems from $1.50 to $2.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Ballard Power Systems from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ballard Power Systems has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $2.98.

Ballard Power Systems Price Performance

Shares of Ballard Power Systems stock traded up $0.78 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $4.07. 14,679,086 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,544,333. Ballard Power Systems has a 52-week low of $1.18 and a 52-week high of $4.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 9.86 and a quick ratio of 9.14. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.72. The company has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.55 and a beta of 1.94.

Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ:BLDP - Get Free Report) TSE: BLD last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.02. Ballard Power Systems had a negative return on equity of 14.62% and a negative net margin of 91.50%. Sell-side analysts expect that Ballard Power Systems will post -0.21 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BLDP. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Ballard Power Systems by 29.1% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 692,662 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $761,000 after purchasing an additional 156,014 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Ballard Power Systems by 16.1% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 68,140 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 9,454 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ballard Power Systems by 20.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,916,541 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,408,000 after acquiring an additional 829,012 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ballard Power Systems by 56.2% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,485,948 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,635,000 after acquiring an additional 534,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Ballard Power Systems by 604.4% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 476,247 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $757,000 after acquiring an additional 408,641 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.02% of the company's stock.

Ballard Power Systems Company Profile

Ballard Power Systems NASDAQ: BLDP is a Canadian technology company specializing in the development and manufacture of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell products. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Ballard designs and sells fuel cell stacks and modules that enable zero-emission power generation for a variety of applications, including heavy-duty motive systems, backup power, material handling equipment, and portable power solutions.

Since its founding in 1979, Ballard has built a strong intellectual property portfolio and a track record of innovation in PEM fuel cell technology.

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