BLDP vs HY vs PLUG Stock Comparison

Ballard Power Systems, Hyster-Yale and Plug Power Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
HY Hyster-Yale, Inc.
$28.75 -7.6% 1M -23.8% 1Y
Market cap
$527.15M
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$3.51B
Div. yield
0.05%
Industrial Machinery Industrials
6 wins
PLUG Plug Power Inc
$1.37 -30.8% 1M -53.6% 1Y
Market cap
$1.95B
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$744.09M
Div. yield
–
Hydrogen Energy
1 win

Head to Head

9 decided of 12

Hyster-Yale leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Hyster-Yale 6, Ballard Power Systems 2, Plug Power 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionBLDPHYPLUGLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $466.74M $527.15M $1.95B PLUG
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only -5.8x -4.5x -1.2x –
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS — — — –
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +46.4% -11.1% +10.6% BLDP
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months -75.7% -3.3% -220.6% HY
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — -8.9% -188.4% HY
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — -14.3x 0.1x HY
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.05% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -58.4% -23.8% -53.6% HY
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -38.4%/yr -9.7%/yr -47.5%/yr HY
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 73.1% 51.7% 78.2% HY
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 67/100 31/100 23/100 BLDP

Percentile Scorecard

BLDPHYPLUG

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisBLDPHYPLUG
Valuation 58 #26 of 61 64 #73 of 203 0 #11 of 11
Growth 81 #12 of 58 3 #182 of 187 70 #4 of 11
Profitability 48 #29 of 55 26 #137 of 185 0 #9 of 9
Financial Health 80 #15 of 71 11 #196 of 219 20 #9 of 11
Shareholder Returns – 49 #78 of 153 –
Overall 67 31 23
  • BLDP ranked among 71 companies in Clean Energy Equipment
  • HY ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • PLUG ranked among 11 companies in Renewable Fuels

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodBLDPHYPLUGSPY
1 month -32.9%-7.6%-30.8% -0.8%
3 months -50.2%-13.5%-33.5% +3.5%
6 months -56.0%-27.0%-55.5% +7.0%
Year to date -43.7%-3.2%-30.5% +12.2%
1 year -58.4%-23.8%-53.6% +13.0%
3 years -54.7%-26.2%-76.8% +86.3%
3 years, per year -23.2%-9.6%-38.6% +23.1%
5 years -91.1%-40.0%-96.0% +68.6%
5 years, per year -38.4%-9.7%-47.5% +11.0%
10 years -35.3%-49.1%-13.3% +258.0%
10 years, per year -4.3%-6.5%-1.4% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureBLDPHYPLUGSPY
Volatility, 1Y 73.1%51.7%78.2% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 68.9%49.6%70.0% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 2.751.582.25 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.80-0.46-0.68 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -94.7%-67.6%-98.4% -25.4%
From 52-week high -77.6%-29.1%-66.9% -1.8%
52-week high $6.38$40.56$4.14 $779.14
52-week low $1.43$26.49$1.37 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleBLDPHYPLUG
P/E now vs peer median -5.3xmedian 25.4x -4.4xmedian 26.0x -1.2xmedian 10.9x
P/S now vs peer median 4.1xmedian 2.1x 0.1xmedian 1.9x 2.6xmedian 1.2x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 6.4xmedian 17.5x -29.1xmedian 14.0x -1.4xmedian 14.0x
P/FCF now vs peer median -8.2xmedian 27.3x 34.8xmedian 21.4x -3.4xmedian 14.0x
P/B now vs peer median 0.8xmedian 1.7x 1.3xmedian 2.2x 3.3xmedian 1.2x
PEG now vs peer median -0.33median 0.77 0.06median 1.26 -0.21median 0.19

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsBLDPHYPLUG
Revenue $106.16M $3.51B $744.09M
Gross profit $17.41M $539.30M -$138.00M
Operating income -$31.41M -$81.30M -$1.29B
Net income -$77.27M -$116.90M -$1.71B
Free cash flow -$52.66M $14.80M -$560.50M
R&D $42.19M – $53.94M
EPS (diluted) $-0.52 $-6.53 $-1.18
Cash & equivalents $502.10M – $161.90M
Total debt – $500.00M $314.00K
Shares (diluted) 155.19M 17.91M 1.39B
Enterprise value -$1.62B $527.15M $1.04B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricBLDPHYPLUG
P/E -5.3x -4.4x -1.2x
P/FCF -8.2x 34.8x -3.4x
P/Operating cash flow -10.9x 6.7x -4.0x
P/S 4.1x 0.1x 2.6x
P/B 0.8x 1.3x 3.3x
P/Tangible book 0.8x 1.4x 3.4x
EV/EBITDA 6.4x -29.1x -1.4x
EV/EBIT 2.4x -12.5x -1.4x
EV/Revenue -0.7x 0.3x 2.4x
EV/FCF 1.4x 68.6x -3.1x
EV/Operating cash flow 1.9x 13.1x -3.6x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -0.33 0.06 -0.21

Growth

14 metrics
MetricBLDPHYPLUG
Revenue growth (1Y) 46.4% -11.1% 10.6%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 15.8% -3.6% -5.4%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 272.0% -27.7% 70.1%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 48.9% -3.8% 20.4%
Operating income growth (1Y) 81.6% -204.0% 31.3%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 39.2% -41.7% -15.4%
Net income growth (1Y) 74.0% -601.7% 13.3%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 18.2% -73.5% -26.9%
EPS growth (1Y) 73.0% -620.5% 32.5%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 16.3% -73.3% 5.5%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -107.5% -46.0% 20.0%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 13.1% -3.1% 22.8%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -110.5% -83.7% 31.6%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 13.0% -37.7% 30.6%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricBLDPHYPLUG
Gross margin 16.4% 15.4% -18.5%
EBITDA margin -11.0% -1.0% -168.2%
Operating margin -29.6% -2.3% -172.8%
Pretax margin -11.8% -2.9% -229.0%
Net margin -75.7% -3.3% -220.6%
FCF margin -49.6% 0.4% -75.3%
Operating cash flow margin -37.3% 2.2% -64.9%
Return on equity -14.0% -27.7% -251.3%
Return on assets -12.2% -5.9% -75.0%
Return on invested capital – -8.9% -188.4%
Return on capital employed -5.2% -8.6% -72.0%
Asset turnover 0.2x 1.8x 0.3x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 0.5x -0.7x 0.3x
Stock comp / revenue 18.7% 0.2% 7.2%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricBLDPHYPLUG
Debt / assets – 25.9% 0.0%
Debt / equity – 1.3x 0.0x
Net debt / EBITDA – -14.3x 0.1x
Debt / FCF – 33.8x 0.0x
Liabilities / assets 13.1% 79.6% 73.2%
Equity / assets 86.9% 20.4% 26.8%
Interest coverage -36.4x -2.7x -17.9x
Current ratio 11.2x 1.3x 2.3x
Quick ratio 10.3x – 0.8x
Cash ratio 9.9x – 0.3x
Altman Z-score -0.71 2.21 -6.08

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricBLDPHYPLUG
Dividend yield – 5.0% –
Net buyback yield – -1.6% -2.5%
Shareholder yield – 3.4% -2.5%
Payout ratio (earnings) – -22.1% –
Payout ratio (FCF) – 174.3% –
Dividend growth (1Y) – 4.0% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – 5.5% –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusBLDPHYPLUG
EPS, next fiscal year $-0.18FY2026 $-3.99FY2026 $-0.41FY2026
Revenue, next fiscal year $115.35MFY2026 $3.26BFY2026 $799.33MFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +17.0%FY2026 -13.6%FY2026 +12.6%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +40.4% +7.8% +28.0%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersBLDPHYPLUG
Held by institutions 34.7% 60.2% 58.3%
Institutions holding 170 153 508
Change in shares held, QoQ +16.3% +2.6% +8.0%
Institutions buying 101 88 276
Institutions selling 40 41 105
Buyers to sellers 2.53 2.15 2.63

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

BLDPHYPLUG
BLDP 1.00 0.28 0.55
HY 0.28 1.00 0.28
PLUG 0.55 0.28 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, BLDP, HY and PLUG?

Plug Power (PLUG) is the largest by market capitalisation: Ballard Power Systems (BLDP) $466.74M, Hyster-Yale (HY) $527.15M, Plug Power (PLUG) $1.95B.

Which company is growing faster?

Ballard Power Systems (BLDP) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Ballard Power Systems (BLDP) +46.4%, Hyster-Yale (HY) -11.1%, Plug Power (PLUG) +10.6%.

Which company is more profitable?

Hyster-Yale (HY) has the highest net margin (Ballard Power Systems (BLDP) -75.7%, Hyster-Yale (HY) -3.3%, Plug Power (PLUG) -220.6%). On return on invested capital, Hyster-Yale (HY) leads (Hyster-Yale (HY) -8.9%, Plug Power (PLUG) -188.4%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Hyster-Yale (HY) returned the most: Ballard Power Systems (BLDP) -58.4%, Hyster-Yale (HY) -23.8%, Plug Power (PLUG) -53.6%. Over five years, Hyster-Yale (HY) compounded fastest (Ballard Power Systems (BLDP) -38.4%/yr, Hyster-Yale (HY) -9.7%/yr, Plug Power (PLUG) -47.5%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Ballard Power Systems (BLDP) 0.00%, Hyster-Yale (HY) 0.05%, Plug Power (PLUG) 0.00%. Ballard Power Systems (BLDP) and Plug Power (PLUG) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Hyster-Yale (HY) has been the steadiest (Ballard Power Systems (BLDP) 73.1%, Hyster-Yale (HY) 51.7%, Plug Power (PLUG) 78.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, BLDP, HY and PLUG?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Hyster-Yale (HY) leads on 6. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.