KiOR INC

3 High-Growth Stocks in Clean Energy

By Federico Zaldua - March 21, 2013 | Tickers: KIOR, SCTY, SZYM

Clean energy is poised to grow quickly. But as in most new industries, its not easy to identify the companies that will succeed. Within the clean energy space, companies with seemingly bright futures, like Sun Power or First Solar, have destroyed an enormous amount of value. After researching the industry, I've identified three high-growth companies that might be building strong businesses

Let's review Solazyme (NASDAQ: SZYM), SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY more »)
Is There Hope in Biofuels

By Dana Blankenhorn - February 19, 2013 | Tickers: GEVO, KIOR

There is a rule for investing in renewable energy. We'll call it Dana's Rule of Renewable Investing.

Until costs drop below those of alternatives, you want to be on the buy side of the transaction. You want to be creating a market, not producing product. Once costs drop below replacements, you want to pile in on the sell side.

Failure to understand this basic rule has caused a more »
Investing Beyond Peak Oil

By Dana Blankenhorn - December 17, 2012 | Tickers: KIOR, SU |

Don't just ask how much oil or gas there is in the reservoir. Ask how much it will cost to pull that energy out of the ground.
Is Hugo Chavez Getting Nervous?

By Robert Zimmerman - December 3, 2012 | Tickers: CLMT, XOM, KIOR, SSL

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez loves railing against the United States. Unfortunately, his country exports about 40% of its oil to those imperialist Yankees and owns three refineries in the United States through Citgo. The Orinoco belt produces most of the country’s oil, a heavy, high sulfur content (“sour”) oil. Sour oil needs specialized refineries, and these are located primarily in the United States. Venezuela has expanded its customer base more »
Continuing Challenges in Biofuels

By Joshua Bondy - December 1, 2012 | Tickers: AMRS, GPRE, KIOR

Biofuels promise energy independence and local jobs. Sadly such promises have not played out exactly as was hoped. The ethanol craze came about and the resulting pressure on corn prices and the world's food supply soured investors’ opinions on the technology. As the price of crude came off of its highs of $150 per barrel investors became more conservative. Higher input prices and lower revenues are not encouraging trends more »
When Scaling up Brings You Down

By Maxxwell A.R. Chatsko - November 26, 2012 | Tickers: AMRS, CDXS, GEVO, KIOR, SZYM

Despite sky-high hype before their IPOs and the honeymoon periods shortly thereafter, nearly all sustainable chemical producers trading on the public market are deep in the red today. The capital intensive and headache-filled task of scaling up has been met by Mr. Market’s valuation catapult with a one-way ticket back to reality. Investors who fell to the Siren Song of these greentech IPOs are now (wrongly) questioning the viability more »
Solazyme: A Lesson in Patience

By Maxxwell A.R. Chatsko - November 6, 2012 | Tickers: AMRS, BG, CVX, KIOR, SZYM

I have given the investment community targeted warnings about Solazyme’s (NASDAQ: SZYM) valuation in February ($14.34 per share), March ($15.13 per share), May ($9.71 per share), and August ($13.50 per share). Despite these words of caution I have been constantly drowned out in a sea of overconfidence and opinions that shift to fit the situation at the moment. Now I know how Kyle Metivier feels more »
Keep Your Oil, OPEC!

By Robert Zimmerman - November 2, 2012 | Tickers: COG, EPB, KIOR, LINE, PAA

And good riddance, too.

Oil industry economist and consultant Philip K. Verleger, Jr. recently predicted that the United States will export more energy than it imports within a decade. Five, certainly ten years ago, to make such a claim would require someone smoking some pretty strong stuff. Today, they would likely be viewed as overly optimistic. That optimism may not be altogether unfounded. First, American consumers and businesses are more »
How Did This Hedge Fund Return 25% Last Quarter?

By Meena Krishnamsetty - October 26, 2012 | Tickers: FIO, IMAX, KIOR, OVTI, SONS

Artis Capital Management was a top performing hedge fund during the third quarter. Coming in with the fourth best Q3 performance, the fund’s long stock picks had a weighted average return of 25.5% during the first half of the year, and returned 24.6% for the third quarter, boosting the fund’s year to date performance to 56.4%. Artis Capital was founded in 2001 and is a more »
Biofuels aka Organic Oil: Big Risk, Bigger Opportunity

By Nihar Patel - October 5, 2012 | Tickers: GEVO, KIOR

I despise filling up my car with overpriced gasoline, and I would prefer cheaper biofuels. I don’t mind the idea of using a burning fluid in my car, but I would just like it to be easily available, sustainable, and renewable. I don’t think that is asking too much, but perhaps I just have very high standards.

Everything related to energy is getting unnecessarily expensive. Thankfully for my more »
An Energy Game Changer?

By Robert Zimmerman - August 25, 2012 | Tickers: AVAV, FSLR, GE, GEVO, KIOR

Earlier this year, Senators John McCain and Jim Inhofe took measures to restrict the Pentagon's ability to buy fuels made from alternative sources. The senators pointed out that the fuel was terrifically expensive and the Defense Department couldn't afford it. True, $28 a gallon for fuel made from chicken fat is a bit rich, but I believe this to be a short-sighted decision.

Despite increased domestic production of more »
More Alternative Energy Stocks for the Future

By Kevin Gill - August 21, 2012 | Tickers: FF, KIOR, SZYM

As I stated in a previous article, the writing is on the wall for traditional energy sources. To recap quickly, the world is past peak oil, natural gas is requiring the troubling practice of fracking more and more and coal is just as limited and increasingly harder to reach as natural gas and oil. This leaves the human population with a rather simple choice: adapt to alternative energy or adopt more »
Beware Facebook, Hubris Killed Sustainable Chemicals

By Maxxwell A.R. Chatsko - May 22, 2012 | Tickers: AMRS, CDXS, FB, KIOR, SZYM |

A lot of attention has been paid to Facebook’s (NASDAQ: FB) IPO. Is the social media giant overvalued? The answer is clear to Peter Cauwels and Didier Sornette, entrepreneurial risk analysts at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, who have published their detailed valuation tools for social media companies. The duo believes Facebook is really only worth about $30 billion. With overvaluation fresh in mind, I want to more »
Uncertainties Weighing on KiOR

By Meena Krishnamsetty - March 29, 2012 | Tickers: CVX, HYH, KIOR

Clean technology stocks don’t exactly have a great reputation, and the Solyndra debacle certainly has not helped. The term “financial parasites” has been applied to companies in the space, many of which are pre-revenue (an exception is Solazyme (SZYM)).

What is exciting to investors and what these companies pitch is a technology with the potential to be industry-changing. Many people think they are betting on the idea itself, but more »
Stock Upgrades And Downgrades From 2011/12/15

By DividendYields - December 16, 2011 | Tickers: BPAX, BWA, CTAS, CCNE, FSLR, ITC, KIOR, LRCX, LEAP, LUFK, LAVA, NYCB, NVLS, SWKS, TMUS, TE, VPHM

Upgrades and downgrades are positive (negative) changes in the rating of a security. An upgrade is usually triggered by a steady improvement in the fundamentals and financials of the entity that has issued the security. Downgrade ratings are vice versa. Changes in the analyst rating could hit the company’s stock price significantly. Watch out the current rating decisions. Here is a current list of recent company upgrades and downgrades more »