Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE) smashed estimates after the bell today posting an EPS of $0.23/share vs the analyst estimate of just .13/share on revenues of $496 million vs the analyst estimate of $433 million.  That’s a 5% bump in EPS over the year ago quarter and a 37% surge in revenues.  That’s the sixth straight profitable quarter and the company expects to remain profitable next year.  Not too shabby for any company especially an ethanol company. 

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CEO Todd Becker commented: “In ethanol production, we continued to take advantage of opportunities to lock away forward margins as they became available. We also had another strong operating quarter, producing over 129 million gallons of ethanol which exceeded our expected capacity due to process improvements implemented over the past year.”

Mr. Becker is excited about the future as well and highlighted the acquisition of Global Ethanol LLC and the recent EPA ruling as major positives for the company.  The company expects a ruling from the EPA soon on older model cars 2001 – 2006.

Looking ahead the company predicts an even better 4th quarter due to improving margins in the ethanol space.  No word yet on estimates for the 4th quarter, but the company may give guidance in the morning.  I’d expect a nice pop in shares tomorrow.  Technically the stock has improved considerably in recent weeks, surging about 50% off the August low.  It has been a quiet consolidation pattern in the past two weeks and will likely break out of this pattern and make a move above resistance at the 200 day moving average due to the positive earnings report.  Shares are up nearly 4% in after hours trading.