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Investing.com - U.S. hydrogen fuel cell manufacturer Plug Power saw shares rally 12% in pre-market trade after reporting better-than-expected fourth quarter revenue earlier Thursday.

Plug Power said it lost $0.08 cents per shares in the fourth quarter, in line with market expectations. The company's fourth quarter revenue totaled $8 million, beating forecasts for revenue of $7.45 million.

The company's growing sales momentum in 2013 continued as the year progressed, with bookings in the fourth quarter of $32 million. Strong fourth quarter product sales and maintenance orders were received from significant customers such as Walmart, Kroger, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Sales orders for the year 2014 already exceed $60 million. The company also has a strong balance sheet, with over $66 million in cash as of today.

In January 2014, Plug Power launched its new all-inclusive GenKey solution that provides customers with GenDrive fuel cells, GenFuel hydrogen infrastructure and fuel supply, and GenCare year-round maintenance service.

In February, Plug Power announced that Walmart would be the first multiple site GenKey customer, with a contract that is being implemented at six Walmart North America distribution centers over the next two years.

"I am more bullish than ever that Plug Power is moving into a rapid-growth cycle," said CEO Andy Marsh.

"We kicked off the first quarter of 2014 by signing a multi-site, multi-year GenKey contract with Walmart that surpassed our Q1 goals. I firmly believe that this continuing momentum will carry on throughout 2014, and that orders for this year will total more than $150 million almost four times our total for 2013. We also are on track to achieve our goal of EBITDAS break even by Q3 2014," he added.

Following the release of the report, Plug Power saw shares jump 11.6% in pre-market trade to $7.59 a share, compared to Wednesday's closing price of $6.80. The stock sold for 18 cents a year ago.

Meanwhile, the outlook for U.S. equity markets was mildly higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a gain of 0.1% at the open, S&P 500 futures added 0.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a gain of 0.2% at the open.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.