Bloom Energy Stock Has Surged 150% in 2026. Is It Still a Buy?

Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE) is staging a comeback.

After a brutal July, during which a short-seller report combined with artificial intelligence (AI)-related market volatility to sink Bloom shares over 30%, the fuel-cell provider has climbed out of the gutter to rebound sharply in August. Shares had dropped to about $163 in late July; as of this writing, Bloom shares are trading at about $244 a pop, returning its year-to-date gain to triple digits.

The good news: I think the best days are still ahead for Bloom investors. Here's why the energy stock is a buy.

Time-to-power: Bloom's competitive edge

Bloom sells solid oxide fuel-cell systems. In a nutshell, these systems let customers generate electricity at their own site instead of waiting years to connect to the grid. Bloom can deploy these systems in 90 days or less -- it famously deployed a fully operational system to Oracle in just 55 days -- which aligns much better with the timelines of data center constructions than grid connections do.

Image source: Bloom Energy.

Bloom calls this "time-to-power," and it's one of the reasons it managed to triple its product revenue last quarter. It can take years for a new facility, like a factory or data center, to connect to a local grid, and that backlog is growing longer. Data center operators, who are spending billions on new constructions, can't afford to let their computing warehouses stand idle for years. Bloom compresses time-to-power, which can be worth more than the cost of the fuel system itself.

As such, Bloom's sales are exploding right now. It's second-quarter revenue crossed the billion-dollar market for the first time, and the company is now expecting total 2026 revenue to be in the range of $3.9 billion to $4.2 billion, or roughly double revenue from the year before. Analysts are expecting Bloom's revenue to more than double over the next two years, and that might be a conservative estimate.

Data by YCharts.

Bloom's sales growth is a boon as much as a risk. Indeed, perhaps the only damper on a bullish outlook is that Bloom's backlog is growing at a faster pace than revenue. CEO K.R. Sridhar says that Bloom can't scale as quickly as, say, a software company, and that supply constraint will likewise limit sales.

That's important to consider because Bloom does not have a cheap valuation. At today's price, it carries a roughly $70 billion market cap and trades at about 81 times forward earnings. Investors are clearly pricing in a lot of expectation for future growth, and if Bloom's sales can't keep pace, there could be bouts of immense volatility.

Still, given data center constructions and the need for onsite power generation, Bloom looks poised for growth. More importantly, the business underlying its recent rally looks much stronger and more mature. Its valuation is lofty, and investors should expect volatility. But for those willing to hold on through turbulence, I still think Bloom deserves a place in a long-term portfolio.

Steven Porrello has positions in Bloom Energy. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bloom Energy and Oracle. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.