Shares of several ethanol players climbed Wednesday on talk of pending consolidation in the industry. Privately held Poet LLC, the nation's top ethanol producer, said this week that it was talking with other companies about possible buyouts.
The first salvo may have been fired this week in a long-awaited shakeout for the U.S. ethanol industry. VeraSun Energy Corp., the nation's No. 2 ethanol producer, announced it had received an unsolicited takeover bid one month after seeking bankruptcy protection, and just hours after the nation's biggest producer, Poet LLC, said it was talking with other companies about buyouts.
Poet LLC, the nation's top ethanol producer, is in buyout talks with a number of ethanol companies, the company's founder told The Associated Press on Monday.
Shares of alternative-energy companies gained as Wall Street rebounded Friday, although JPMorgan analysts said the sector's 2009 outlook will depend on new government energy-conservation measures.
Pacific Ethanol Inc. on Monday increased the amount of an impairment charge by $14.3 million for suspending construction on a plant near Calipatria, Calif.
Pacific Ethanol, Inc. , the leading West Coast-based marketer and producer of ethanol, today announced an adjustment to its previously reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2008.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Poet LLC, the nation's top ethanol producer, is in buyout talks with a number of ethanol companies, the company's founder told The Associated Press on Monday.
DENVER (AP) - Shares of alternative-energy companies gained as Wall Street rebounded Friday, although JPMorgan analysts said the sector's 2009 outlook will depend on new government energy-conservation measures.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Pacific Ethanol Inc. on Monday increased the amount of an impairment charge by $14.3 million for suspending construction on a plant near Calipatria, Calif.
China bailout brings global cheer. Asia, Europe and U.S. futures all moved higher Monday (see below) after China rolled out a $586B economic stimulus package to kick-start its slowing economy. "Over the past two months, the global financial crisis has been intensifying daily," the State Council said in its statement. "In expanding investment, we must be fast and heavy-handed." Analysts praised the long-awaited plan, but doubted it could prevent China's economy from slowing further amid global economic slowdown. The package includes corporate tax cuts and incentives for rural development and technical...
Market Analysis Commentary: Relative Price Volume Momentum Tracks scans the Russell 3000 components for stocks that are moving up or down on relatively strong surging volume. Such stocks may signal institutional buying or selling and have a tendency to continue further in their current market direction. From a contrarian perspective, buying and selling on extreme volume also has a tendency to produce short term reversals of a stock’s market direction on the following day of trading.
The plunge in corn and natural gas prices has firmed up domestic ethanol refining spreads to levels not seen since March. Plainly, we weren't scraping the deck back in May when we limned the corn-ethanol spread in "Are We At The Bottom Of The Ethanol Barrel?".
Six of the biggest publicly traded U.S. ethanol producers have lost more than $8.7bn (£5bn) in market value since the peak of the boom in mid-2006 and the beginning of this month, according to the Financial Times. The newspaper focuses on Aventine Energy (AVR), VeraSun (VSE) and Pacific Ethanol (PEIX), where one of Bill Gates' private investment firms lost millions in 2005.
All of these stocks have seen considerable short covering three to four months. The percentage of AVR's Market Cap out on loan to short investors has decreased from 19% in July, down to 6% now. VeraSun has...
Corn prices settled below the $4 mark Wednesday for the first time since last October. December corn, the front-month contract, fell 23 1/4 cents to $3.88 per bushel. In the past month, corn prices have fallen $1.74 (31%) due to the rapid decline in both crude oil prices and the stock market. Luckily for U.S. ethanol producers, ethanol prices haven't been hit as badly as ethanol's crush spread has improved:
A new study by the University of Nebraska shows that current ethanol production technology is 2 to 3 times more efficient than previously thought. Earlier studies focused on older, less efficient technologies and this new study helps allay the fears that corn ethanol production uses more energy than it provides.
Here are some of the initial results from the study:
In May of last year, I took a look at competitive forces in the corn ethanol industry. While I was rather negative on the industry at the time, when ethanol stocks fell in the summer and fall of 2007, I called the bottom much too soon, and decided to dabble in the industry.
I thought that Pacific Ethanol's (PEIX) strategy of arbitraging the...
As many of you already know, a major problem with ethanol is that it cannot be transported through existing pipelines because it is highly corrosive and water soluble. It seems, though, that several companies have recently been working to fix this problem. The article states that Houston-based Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (EPL) plans to run a test batch of ethanol this month through its 105-mile long underground gasoline pipeline. If successful, the pipeline could be transporting ethanol on a commercial scale by...
Stating that the ethanol business is a challenge is an understatement! But could it be that a cross-over operating point is at hand at Pacific Ethanol (PEIX)?
Shares of Pacific Ethanol Inc. inched up 3 cents, despite a research firm downgrading the ethanol producer and marketer. Matrix Research downgraded the Sacramento-based company?s stock from ...
A technology that might be able to offer some respite to first-generation ethanol makers like Verasun and Pacific Ethanol has received a significant $25 million funding from backers including oil ...
The news on the ethanol front this morning is, shall we say, mixed. First, Pacific Ethanol (NASDAQ:PEIX) announced yesterday that it would increase its non-cash impairment charge for the suspended ...
Pacific Ethanol Inc. has adjusted its financial statements for the quarter ended Sept. 30 to include a $14.3 million charge related to its suspended Imperial Valley ethanol plant construction. The ...
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Pacific Ethanol Inc. on Monday increased the amount of an impairment charge by $14.3 million for suspending construction on a plant near Calipatria, Calif. When the ...
By Dale Kasler Pacific Ethanol Inc.'s third-quarter loss just got worse, although the adjustment won't affect the company's cash outlays. The Sacramento ethanol producer said today it's increasing ...
Pacific Ethanol announces adjustment to its third quarter 2008 financial results; increased its impairment charge by $14.3 mln Co announces an adjustment to its previously reported financial ...
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEIX) , the leading West Coast-based marketer and producer of ethanol, today announced an adjustment to its ...
By Bryan Sims Due to higher corn prices and suspended construction, Pacific Ethanol Inc. posted a net lost of $54.9 million in its third quarter earnings report, compared to a $4.8 million loss it ...
IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- FiSpace.net announces the availability of MarketStats and editorials for alternative energy companies in the news and driving markets today. MarketStats ...
VeraSun Energy’s bankruptcy marks the latest chapter in a boom-and-bust story written by the largest publicly traded, stand-alone ethanol producer in the U.S., as the biofuels business endures growing pains under a government mandate to boost production significantly in the next several years.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- UBS on Friday upgraded the beaten-down ethanol sector to a buy, saying margins are improving in the business of turning corn into ethanol for cars. Aventine Renewables rose 7% to $6.
VeraSun rose 14% to $5.75. Pacific Ethanol rose 14% to $2.16.
(Updates to add comments from Pacific Ethanol CEO, Aventine Renewable spokesman, Renewable Fuels Association president; updates stock movement.) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- VeraSun Energy Co.'s decision to delay the openings of two of the largest U.S. ethanol plants reflects the immense pressure ethanol producers are under as their margins are squeezed by high corn and natural gas prices. Heartland Ethanol followed suit, dropping plans to build seven ethanol plants in Illinois, according to The News Gazette of Champaign.
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- An increasingly bitter public debate over the role that corn-based ethanol has played in driving up food prices is pitting some of the nation's biggest food manufacturers against each other, with hefty U.S. subsidies and mounting commodity costs at stake.
The tricky world of energy trading is not getting easier -- even for this veteran trader. I've traveled 20 hours to the island nation of Singapore to meet with some of the best and brightest on the subject of alternative fuel and the answers are positive, but certainly not immediate.
SAN DIEGO (MarketWatch) -- The good news for VeraSun Energy Corp., one of the country's largest ethanol producers: Its most recent quarter beat gloomy analyst estimates.
Stocks 
Tom Konrad (
