Plug Power $PLUG ( ▼ 3.48% ) ripped nearly 17% Thursday as options traders piled in ahead of an outgoing CEO Andy Marsh AMA on the r/PlugPowerStock subreddit.
Call activity went full meme-mode, with ~192,581 call contracts traded, more than 4x the 20-day average. The most active contract was the $4 strike calls expiring mid-June.
The real catalyst: the board needs votes (and fast)
Marsh’s AMA wasn’t just a casual Reddit appearance. It was a shareholder mobilization campaign.
Plug has a special shareholder meeting next week, and the company is pushing investors to approve three proposals, including changes to voting rules and increasing the company’s share count.
This was basically management saying: we need flexibility, or we’re boxed in.
What Marsh told retail
Marsh made it clear the company does not want to do a reverse stock split.
But he also implied they may have no choice if shareholders reject the proposal to increase authorized shares, because Plug needs capital flexibility to keep operating and execute its strategy.
That’s the subtext: vote yes, or the financial pressure ramps up.
Why this matters for the stock
Plug’s own filing laid it out bluntly: without more authorized shares, the company may struggle to raise capital for operations and growth, meet contractual obligations, or execute on its business plan.
So this isn’t just dilution fear. It’s solvency and runway optics too.
AI data centers angle is getting louder
Marsh also said Plug plans to lean further into selling power solutions to AI data center customers.
The next chapter: incoming CEO Jose Luis Crespo is expected to go deeper on this in a follow-up AMA scheduled for March.
Bottom line: Plug didn’t just get a stock pop. It got the perfect retail setup: a big move, a Reddit event, heavy calls, and a near-term vote that turns into a binary catalyst.