Green Plains (GPRE) Stock Analysis & Winston Score

Green Plains Inc. is one of the largest ethanol producers in the United States. It turns corn into ethanol, a fuel that gets blended into gasoline at gas stations across the country. The company also produces distillers grains and corn oil as byproducts, which are sold as animal feed and ingredients to livestock farmers and food producers. Green Plains earns money by selling ethanol, animal feed ingredients, and corn oil, mostly to fuel blenders, agricultural companies, and food manufacturers. It operates a network of ethanol plants primarily in the Midwest, where corn is cheaply and abundantly available. The company has been investing in high-protein animal feed technology to move beyond basic ethanol and improve its thin profit margins. The main risk is that ethanol margins are heavily tied to the spread between corn prices and fuel prices, making earnings volatile and difficult to predict.