What Happened?
A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after geopolitical tensions in the Middle East escalated, sent oil prices soaring and reignited inflation concerns.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 1,000 points as the conflict involving the U.S. and Iran disrupted global energy markets, particularly through crucial shipping routes like the Strait of Hormuz. A barrel of Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose toward $85, stoking fears of a new wave of inflation. This spike in energy costs puts the Federal Reserve in a difficult position, as it may complicate future monetary policy decisions and delay potential interest rate cuts. The broad-based sell-off hit multiple sectors, with airline and retail stocks falling sharply on concerns of higher fuel costs and reduced consumer spending power.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, the following stocks were impacted:
- Construction and Maintenance Services company Primoris (NYSE: PRIM) fell 4.3%. Is now the time to buy Primoris? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Electronic Components company Corning (NYSE: GLW) fell 7.9%. Is now the time to buy Corning? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Renewable Energy company Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) fell 8.5%. Is now the time to buy Plug Power? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Construction and Maintenance Services company Construction Partners (NASDAQ: ROAD) fell 8.3%. Is now the time to buy Construction Partners? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Engineering and Design Services company Dycom (NYSE: DY) fell 4.9%. Is now the time to buy Dycom? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On Plug Power (PLUG)
Plug Power’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 86 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 2 days ago when the stock gained 29.4% on the news that the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results.
The hydrogen fuel cell company posted revenue of $225.2 million, up 17.6% year on year, and an adjusted loss of $0.06 per share. Both figures beat Wall Street's forecasts, with the loss per share being 43.9% narrower than analysts had anticipated. A key highlight for investors was the company's return to a positive gross margin of 2.4%, a significant improvement of 119.5 percentage points from the same quarter last year. The strong results were a welcome surprise, given the company's history of high expenses and cash burn, suggesting to investors that Plug Power may be taking a step in the right direction toward improving its financial health.
Plug Power is up 1.6% since the beginning of the year, but at $2.27 per share, it is still trading 45.2% below its 52-week high of $4.13 from October 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Plug Power’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $57.63.
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