Head to Head Survey: Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) vs. Aemetis (AMTX)

Green Plains (NASDAQ: GPRE) and Aemetis (NASDAQ:AMTX) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Green Plains and Aemetis’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Green Plains	$3.55 billion	0.22	$203.78 million	$0.17	111.47
Aemetis	$149.11 million	0.15	$393,000.00	($0.96)	-1.22

Green Plains has higher revenue and earnings than Aemetis. Aemetis is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Green Plains, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Green Plains and Aemetis’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Green Plains	0.19%	0.68%	0.28%
Aemetis	-13.47%	N/A	-26.98%

Dividends

Green Plains pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Aemetis does not pay a dividend. Green Plains pays out 282.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Volatility and Risk

Green Plains has a beta of 1.42, suggesting that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aemetis has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

18.9% of Aemetis shares are held by institutional investors. 6.4% of Green Plains shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 24.1% of Aemetis shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Green Plains and Aemetis, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Green Plains	0	1	5	0	2.83
Aemetis	0	1	0	0	2.00

Green Plains presently has a consensus target price of $27.00, indicating a potential upside of 42.48%. Aemetis has a consensus target price of $2.00, indicating a potential upside of 70.94%. Given Aemetis’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Aemetis is more favorable than Green Plains.

Summary

Green Plains beats Aemetis on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

Green Plains Company Profile

Green Plains Inc. is an ethanol producer. The Company owns and operates assets throughout the ethanol value chain, including upstream, with grain handling and storage through its ethanol production facilities, and downstream, with marketing and distribution services. It operates through four segments: Ethanol Production, Agribusiness and Energy Services, Food and Food Ingredients, and Partnership. The ethanol production segment includes production of ethanol, distillers grains and corn oil. The agribusiness and energy services segment includes grain procurement. The food and food ingredients segment includes a cattle feedlot operation. The Company’s master limited partnership, Green Plains Partners LP (the partnership), provides fuel storage and transportation services by owning, operating, developing and acquiring ethanol and fuel storage tanks, terminals, transportation assets and other related assets and businesses.

Aemetis Company Profile

Aemetis, Inc. is an international renewable fuels and biochemicals company. The Company is focused on the production of fuels and chemicals through the acquisition, development and commercialization of technologies that replace traditional petroleum-based products by conversion of first-generation ethanol and biodiesel plants into biorefineries. Its segments include North America and India. The North America segment includes the Company’s approximately 60 million gallon per year capacity ethanol manufacturing plant in Keyes, California and its technology lab in College Park, Maryland. The India segment includes the Company’s over 50 million gallon per year capacity biodiesel manufacturing plant in Kakinada, the administrative offices in Hyderabad, India, and the holding companies in Nevada and Mauritius. The Keyes plant produces denatured ethanol, Wet Distillers Grains, corn oil and Condensed Distillers Solubles. It produces biodiesel and refined glycerin at the Kakinada plant.