Plug PowerThis is a 2-month chart (each candle represents a 2-month period) of Plug Power (PLUG). For those who are not already familiar, PLUG is an alternative energy company that develops and manufactures hydrogen fuel cell systems.
I recently added PLUG to my portfolio as a long-term investment. In my opinion, it has one of the best long-term charts of any stock right now in terms of the potential for outsized gains in the future. I will explain my reasoning below.
Chart Analysis
The 2-month chart below shows the entire price history of PLUG.
Throughout much of its history, PLUG was resisted by the EMA ribbon (yellow and red lines). The EMA ribbon is a collection of exponential moving averages that act as resistance when price reaches it from below and support when price reaches it from above.
If we zoom in (see below), we can see that the EMA has tightened together and PLUG's price is now sitting right on the ribbon. When moving averages tighten like this, they can act as fairly strong support when the price falls to the moving averages from above.
Each time PLUG's price has fallen below these moving averages buyers have stepped in, thus causing lower wicks to form. This suggests the market is validating the support of these moving averages.
We can see in the chart below that the moving averages held as support even as the Stochastic RSI oscillated down. This is bullish.
Indeed, PLUG is forming a bull flag pattern on the log-scale, higher-timeframe chart. A bull flag of this nature can signal a potentially lucrative investment opportunity.
For those who read my post on using the money supply to gauge whether an asset is wealth-building, you would know that before entering a long-term investment position in PLUG one should first analyze the asset's chart relative to the money supply. (I've linked to this post in the related ideas below)
In the above chart, we see the performance of PLUG relative to the money supply (M2SL). This chart tells us that throughout much of its history, PLUG was a wealth-losing investment asset since the stock's price moved down over time relative to the money supply. The EMA ribbon largely acted as resistance.
However, the chart above shows that the moving averages are tightening together and that PLUG's price is consolidating within these tightening moving averages. This is a quite bullish sign. If a breakout occurs, an investment in PLUG could prove to be quite lucrative.
In the chart below, I apply Fibonacci levels to the length of the pole that forms the bull flag. We can see a perfect Fibonacci retracement is occurring, as price is finding support at the 0.618 level on the log-adjusted chart.
If the bull flag breaks out and a full Fibonacci spiral occurs, PLUG's price can move dramatically higher in the months and years to come.
In the below chart, I construct the Fibonacci levels using the all-time peak to all-time low. I drew projection arrows to show two plausible growth possibilities.
On a more complex, mathematical analysis, PLUG appears to be priming itself to "jump S-curves".
For a more in-depth analysis on what "jumping S-curves" means, you can read my post on the topic linked below. In short, I explain that price action can be graphically represented as a logistic function. Jumping an S-curve occurs when an inflection point is reached whereafter price begins to explode higher at a nearly exponential rate.
When the price of a company's stock jumps S-curves, there is usually some major impetus with regard to its earnings or profitability that occurs. For PLUG, that impetus could be hydrogen finally becoming a cost-effective form of energy. Hydrogen power is poised to benefit from multiple tailwinds in the years ahead: (1) Higher energy costs are driving capital into the development of alternative energy forms; (2) The transition to sustainable energy will drive investment capital into alternative forms of energy, including hydrogen fuel cells; (3) As hydrogen fuel cells gain massive adoption hydrogen power will become more cost-competitive.
My strategy with PLUG is to accumulate shares in my brokerage and retirement accounts up to a certain defined percentage. I can only ever lose 100% of that defined percentage of my portfolio if I am wrong, but if my analysis is right, the gains may reach as much as 8,000% over the course of years. I know most people on here trade on much shorter timeframes than years, but my opinion is that the greatest wealth-building occurs by staying invested over the long term.
Below are some interesting comparable charts. PLUG's current chart looks similar to Monster's chart in 2000 and AMD's chart in 2018.
What's remarkable about these charts is how little of an effect even recessions had on the stocks' price movements. In the case of Monster, its price remained generally flat, despite the S&P 500 experiencing major declines during the early 2000s recession. In the case of AMD, one of the worst stock market crashes in history (March 2020) is barely apparent on its chart. This lends hope that even if the U.S. or global economy experiences a recession in the years ahead and the S&P 500 declines, perhaps stocks like PLUG will be less affected.
To learn more about hydrogen energy including its advantages and disadvantages, you can check out this video from Bloomberg Quicktake:
www.youtube.com
As always, trade at your own risk. Anything can happen and my analysis can prove completely wrong. Feel free to leave constructive thoughts in the comments below. Thank you.
