Ethanol producer VeraSun Energy Corp. said Tuesday it swung to a first-quarter profit on higher volumes and prices, but its earnings per share missed Wall Street expectations.
Net income for the three months ended March 31 was $7.6 million, or 8 cents per share, compared with a loss in the year-earlier quarter of $312,000, or break-even per share.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected, on average, earnings per share of 16 cents.
The company used a higher number of shares outstanding to calculate per-share earnings in the recent quarter.
Revenue jumped to $516.5 million from $144.5 million. Analysts expected revenue of $500 million. The volume of ethanol sold more than tripled and average ethanol prices increased 20 cents per gallon, or 10.2 percent, compared with 2007.
Corn costs surged to $1.68 per manufactured gallon sold compared with $1.43 per gallon produced for the same period in 2007.
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