Government Investments And Automation Will Transform Green Hydrogen Infrastructure

Key Takeaways

• Strong regulatory support and increasing demand for green hydrogen drive contract wins and improve revenue visibility, supporting future top-line growth.
  
• Operational efficiencies, new technology platforms, and a recurring revenue model enhance profitability, margin expansion, and market differentiation.
  
• Persistent losses, unpredictable revenue, weak cost absorption, increased competition, and project execution risks threaten ITM Power's path to profitability and stable cash flow.

Catalysts

Designs and manufactures proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers in the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, rest of Europe, and the United States.

• Favorable regulatory environments and multibillion-euro government investments in green hydrogen infrastructure (e.g., Germany's €500bn plan; EU RED III) are unlocking significant project funding and accelerating demand for electrolyzers, likely supporting ITM's future revenue growth and contract wins.
  
• Record contract backlog growth-double year-on-year and outpacing even ITM's 400% revenue growth over two years-alongside a healthy pipeline of project opportunities and growing reference plant portfolio, signals future top-line expansion with improved revenue visibility.
  
• Demonstrated real-world performance and efficiency of ITM's technology (TRIDENT/NEPTUNE stacks exceeding EU 2030 targets) and the upcoming CHRONOS platform promise further operational differentiation, reducing customer technology risk, and underpinning sustainable margin improvement as new contracts transition to higher profitability.
  
• Manufacturing automation, cost discipline, and improvements in production processes (e.g., Factory Acceptance Test pass rate to 99%) are reducing operational inefficiencies and unit costs, supporting gross margin expansion and accelerating the group's path to net profitability.
  
• The launch of Hydropulse's build-own-operate model widens ITM's addressable market and offers stable, recurring revenues through long-term offtake agreements, bolstering both factory utilization and earnings predictability in a fast-growing, decarbonization-driven industry.

ITM Power Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

• Analysts are assuming ITM Power's revenue will grow by 54.5% annually over the next 3 years.
• Analysts are not forecasting that ITM Power will become profitable in next 3 years. To represent the Analyst Price Target as a Future PE Valuation we will estimate ITM Power's profit margin will increase from -174.8% to the average GB Electrical industry of 5.8% in 3 years.
• If ITM Power's profit margin were to converge on the industry average, you could expect earnings to reach £5.6 million (and earnings per share of £0.01) by about August 2028, up from £-45.5 million today.
• In order for the above numbers to justify the analysts price target, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 135.2x on those 2028 earnings, up from -9.5x today. This future PE is greater than the current PE for the GB Electrical industry at 13.5x.
• Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to remain consistent over the next 3 years.
• To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 8.91%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

ITM Power Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

• The company continues to post gross losses primarily due to under-absorption of factory costs and legacy projects that are loss-making and do not contribute positively to margins; persistent inability to scale revenues relative to cost base poses a risk to near-term profit visibility and could delay or prevent a transition to net positive earnings.
  
• While ITM Power's backlog and order intake are increasing, revenue recognition remains lumpy and often lags significantly behind factory activity; dependency on completed contract accounting and bespoke sale structures introduces volatility and unpredictability into future reported revenue and cash flows, increasing financial forecasting risk.
  
• Although ITM Power is showing operational improvements, the shift from building to capacity (stock) to building to order means current absorption of fixed overheads is suboptimal; if sales ramp is slower than anticipated, or the pace of filling the factory falters, net margins and cash flow could remain persistently weak.
  
• The competitive landscape in hydrogen electrolyzers is intensifying, with growing market consolidation and established competitors (including low-cost entrants from Asia and ongoing alternative technologies like alkaline or renewable energy storage); price pressure and commoditization risks may result in margin compression and loss of market share, negatively impacting future earnings growth.
  
• Hydropulse presents new opportunities but also exposes ITM to potential project execution, counterparty, and financing risks inherent in the build-own-operate model, especially if project timelines slip, offtake partners underperform, or the company underestimates required capital outlay-potentially straining liquidity, driving up working capital needs, or risking dilution if additional funding becomes necessary.

Valuation

• The analysts have a consensus price target of £0.945 for ITM Power based on their expectations of its future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors. However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of £3.1, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just £0.4.
  
• In order for you to agree with the analyst's consensus, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be £96.1 million, earnings will come to £5.6 million, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 135.2x, assuming you use a discount rate of 8.9%.
  
• Given the current share price of £0.7, the analyst price target of £0.94 is 26.0% higher.
  
• We always encourage you to reach your own conclusions though. So sense check these analyst numbers against your own assumptions and expectations based on your understanding of the business and what you believe is probable.