Bloom Energy (BE.US) rises 3% in pre-market trading on its first day in the S&P 500 after securing a long-term lease agreement with the Army

According to Golden Ten Data, shares of solid oxide fuel cell manufacturer Bloom Energy Corp. (BE.US) rose more than 3% in premarket trading on Monday, marking its first trading day after joining the S&P 500 Index.

Last week, the U.S. Army announced that it had awarded a consortium made up of Indelible and Bloom a conditional long-term lease bid, for the design, financing, construction, and operation of commercial power generation facilities at Army installations.

What is the Army contract awarded to Bloom?

Last Friday, the U.S. Army stated that the partnership between management consulting firm Indelible and Bloom Energy is one of three bidders to receive a conditional long-term lease, and will develop commercial power generation systems at Fort Detrick, Letterkenny Army Depot, and the United States Military Academy at West Point.

The Army noted that these projects will utilize underused military land to deploy resilient energy infrastructure, including battery storage as well as advanced gas-fired and nuclear power generation, to enhance installation power resilience and mission readiness.

According to the statement, the formal lease agreements are still in the initial stage, with development scheduled to start in 2027 and initial operating capability targeted for 2030 or earlier.

Wall Street analysts point out other positive catalysts for Bloom stock

Golden Ten Data learned that last Friday, BMO Capital highlighted two unrelated positive news catalysts for Bloom Energy during the past week.

The analyst said, first, the New Mexico Supreme Court lifted the August 23rd stay order that had previously delayed the air permit approval process for Oracle’s (ORCL.US) 2.45 GW data center.

Second, Brookfield Asset Management and Bloom Energy are advancing a $6.4 billion project financing scheme, as part of their cooperation framework to support data centers developed for Meta, American Tower, Equinix, and CoreWeave.

The institution noted that these catalysts underscore Bloom’s customer reach far beyond just the Oracle data center.

BMO gives BE stock a “Market Perform” rating with a target price of $227, implying a downside of about 14.5% relative to its previous closing price.