What happened Shares of energy-in-a-box company Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE), formerly up 80% year to date, are taking a breather today. They dropped 8.6% as of 2:05 p.m. EST, after being down more than 10% earlier in response to a downgrade from Raymond James Financial. So what Raymond James is actually a fan of Bloom Energy -- and of investing based on "environmental, social, and governance" (ESG) in general. But as its analyst explains in a note out on StreetInsider.com today, Bloom Energy's "phenomenally strong start to 2020," racing ahead three times as fast as the "clean tech" index as a whole, is enough reason to take a step back while we wait for earnings to come out. "This is a straightforward valuation-based downgrade," says the analyst, complaining that "Bloom has reached a level where we are no longer comfortable recommending it." Image source: Getty Images. Now what That's putting it mildly. Put aside the fact that it's hard to argue Bloom Energy is worth 80% more today than it was less than two months ago, without some reason (such as an earnings report) to think the company's value has increased. Bloom Energy is almost impossible to value accurately right now because it has never earned a profit. The stock sells for just 1.8 times sales, which could be an argument in its favor. But so long as Bloom Energy has a profit margin of negative 31.9% -- losing $0.32 for every $1 in sales it brings in -- I'm not sure even applying a price-to-sales valuation to this stock is much help. Until Bloom proves itself capable of earning a profit at least once, investors -- along with Raymond James -- are right to be cautious. 10 stocks we like better than Bloom Energy CorpWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Bloom Energy Corp wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of December 1, 2019 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source