Steven Cohen of Point72 Asset Management, a 644 stocks’ portfolio with a total value of $14,251 million, increased his stake in Green Plains Inc (GPRE) on May 5, according to GuruFocus’ Real Time Picks.
He increased his stake by 1166.13%, reaching a total of 1,899,200 shares held with an average gain of 24%.
The company has a market cap of $1.21 billion and is a producer, marketer and distributor of ethanol. The ethanol it produces is fuel grade and is an alcohol produced principally from the starch extracted from corn.
It is now trading at a P/E(ttm) of 11.30 that is very cheap compared to the Global Specialty Chemicals industry’s median of 29.20. The price is now -31.03% from its 52-week high and +57.16% from its 52-week low and during the last 12 months it rose by 23%.
GPRE has positive returns that are topping its industry (ROE of 15.41%, ROA of 6.71% and ROC of 20.18%) and a financial strength rated 9 out of 10. This healthy condition is confirmed by steady growth rate of the last 5 years, with the revenue that grew by 8.90%, EBITDA by 18.40% and EPS by 19.90%. All these data are confirmed even during the last 12 months, with a revenue growth rate of 8.80%, EBITDA growth rate of 25% and an EPS growth rate of 40.80%.
The company is paying an annual dividend yeld of 0.88% to its shareholders. The yield had an increase of 133.30% in the last year.
For the first quarter of 2015 it reported a loss of $3.3 million or $0.09 a share as a result of ethanol crush that put GPRE's margins under pressure.
About Q2 of 2015, Todd Becker, president and CEO of the company, said :
For the second quarter of 2015, we are approximately now 80% hedged as of today and have 10% hedged for Q3 and looking to add more. While stocks remain historically high, margins really rate asset factor which we follow yesterday’s EIA data validated the fact that stocks are starting to come down and production is starting to come down as well.
We felt compelled based on this situation to start hedge our book of the lows of the first quarter. Gasoline demand remains solid coming in the driving season. The run rate of the industry as I mentioned has come down after a strong winter production season now to maintenance shutdowns and warmer temperatures.
