Ethanol will be one of several alternative fuel sources that will help break the country’s petroleum habit. Over the past several months, advances in diesel and biodiesel, liquification and hybrid power technologies will share these duties.
On top of the ethanol heap is Archer Daniels Midland (ADM: NYSE), worth $25.6 billion. Share prices are up almost 70% so far this year. (continued)

The second-largest ethanol producer in the U.S., VeraSun Energy (VSE: NYSE).
The IPO raised enough money for VeraSun to skip over the world of small-caps, posting a market cap today of more than $1.8 billion. In fact, VeraSun’s shares were up 30% on its first day of trading. (The
IPO was at $23 per share, a little more than expected.)
“Aventine Renewable Energy buys virtually all of the ethanol VeraSun produces.
Recognizing the potential of a conflict of interest that this creates, especially as
Aventine starts to increase its own production of ethanol, VeraSun has informed
Aventine that the distribution deal will end in March 2007,”
Will Avantine and VeraSun succeed once the partnership is severed? Only time will
tell, but some of these red flags are too much for me to stomach. It might be best
to look elsewhere for the time being. Continued tomorrow.