It was a huge day for energy stock Vertex Energy (NASDAQ:VTNR), thanks to a combination of factors. Vertex’s earnings report definitely laid the ground for something impressive, and its announced plans for the near term gave it all the momentum it needed to rocket upward. At one point, Vertex Energy was up over 15% in today’s session, which shows how enthused investors were.
Earnings turned out well for Vertex Energy, as it posted a loss of $0.24 per share, but analysts expected a loss of $0.26. Meanwhile, Vertex also posted $2.79 billion in revenue, which came out ahead of the $2.7 billion analysts expected. Vertex’s total throughput was 77,964 barrels per day, which was actually slightly better than what should have been the plant’s maximum capacity of 75,000 barrels per day.
A fine start, and it got better from there. Vertex also announced plans to begin production of “renewable diesel” at its plant in Mobile, Alabama, starting this March. That production might be a bit light at first but will quickly ramp up. In addition, Vertex’s production capability got a leg up when it purchased a refinery from Shell (NYSE:SHEL) last year for what was considered a “bargain price” at the time.
Overall, Vertex stock is considered a Strong Buy with an average price target of $13.38, giving it 42.95% upside potential.
