New York, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 9, 2014 / SeeThruEquity, a leading independent equity research and corporate access firm focused on smallcap and microcap public companies, today announced that it has issued an update note on Aemetis, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMTX).
Ajay Tandon, CEO of SeeThruEquity stated, "We are maintaining our price target of $26.11 and view Aemetis as an attractive play in the biofuels space. Favorable ethanol operating environment in the U.S. and significant ramp up in production and revenues at the India plant provide significant potential for AMTX stock in the medium term. We are also optimistic about AMTX’s immediate prospects and project a 43% increase in revenues to $255mn in 2014E over 2013, which will be driven by robust ethanol business environment in the U.S. and the ramp of production at the India plant."
Additional highlights are as follows:
Solid second quarter 2014 results. AMTX reported a 21% YoY increase in revenues to $57.2mn for 2Q2014 and a 76% YoY increase to $117.9mn for 1H14. The increase in revenues is primarily attributable to operating the Keyes plant in the U.S. at ~110% for the full six months compared to operation for only a portion of the period in the prior year (plant was idle from January 15, 2013 through April 23, 2013). Gross margins for 2Q14 were nearly 20% compared to 8% in 2Q13, as cost of feedstock per ton at its Keyes plant decreased by 37% during the quarter. Operating margins were 13.6% in 2Q14 compared to a negative 0.8% in the prior year quarter, attributable to reduced SG&A expenses (6.0% of revenues in 2Q14 vs 8.0% in 2Q13). Adjusted EBITDA came in at $9.1mn for the quarter while net income was $2.7mn or $0.13 per share.
Strong EBITDA help reduce debt by $13.6mn. Aided by a strong positive spread between the prices of ethanol and WDG and the prices of feedstock and natural gas, AMTX reported strong EBITDA (adj) of 9.1mn for 2Q14 and $23.3mn for 1H14, which helped the company to reduce debt by ~$14mn to ~$77.8 as of June 30, 2014 from about $91.8mn as of December 31, 2013. We believe the company could reduce its debt by another $10mn by year end 2014 on continuing strong cash flows from operations, and remaining cash balances ($4.8mn as of June 30, 2014). Additionally, AMTX is actively pursuing $36mn low-cost EB-5 funding ($5mn raised already), which would be used to pay half of long term debt while substantially reducing interest costs.
The note is available here: AMTX Update. SeeThruEquity is an approved equity research contributor on Thomson First Call, Capital IQ, FactSet, and Zack’s. The report will also be available on these platforms.
Please review important disclosures on our website at www.seethruequity.com.
About Aemetis, Inc.
Aemetis, Inc. operates as an international renewable fuels and specialty chemical company focused on the production of advanced fuels and chemicals, as well as the acquisition, development, and commercialization of innovative technologies that replace traditional petroleum-based products and convert first-generation ethanol and biodiesel plants into advanced biorefineries. It operates in two reportable geographic segments, North America and India. The company owns and operates a biodiesel plant in Kakinada, India; and an ethanol plant in Keyes, California. Aemetis, Inc. sells biodiesel and glycerin to resellers, distributors, and refiners through its sales force and independent sales agents, as well as to brokers who resell the product to end-users. It also provides ethanol, wet distiller grains, corn oil, and condensed distillers soluble. The company was formerly known as AE Biofuels, Inc. and changed its name to Aemetis, Inc. in November 2011. Aemetis, Inc. was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Cupertino, California.
For more information, please go to www.aemetis.com.
About SeeThruEquity
SeeThruEquity is an equity research and corporate access firm focused on companies with less than $1 billion in market capitalization. The research is not paid for and is unbiased. We do not conduct any investment banking or commission based business. We are approved to contribute our research to Thomson One Analytics (First Call), Capital IQ, FactSet, Zacks and distribute our research to our database of opt-in investors. We also contribute our estimates to Thomson Estimates, the leading estimates platform on Wall Street.
For more information visit www.seethruequity.com.
Contact:
Ajay Tandon
SeeThruEquity
(646) 495-0939
SOURCE: SeeThruEquity