Energy
VeraSun Jumps at Open
TSC Staff
06/14/06 - 10:19 AM EDT
Ethanol producer VeraSun (VSE) surged 31% early Wednesday in its New York Stock Exchange debut.
Shares of the Brookings, S.D., corn fueler jumped to $30 early Wednesday. The company priced its 18.3 million-share initial public offering at $23 Tuesday. VeraSun is raising $421 million in the deal, which had been expected to price at $20 to $22 a share.
Up until recently, ethanol stocks like The Andersons (ANDE) have been among the market's top performers. But the marketwide selloff that started last month has crushed these names, with the Andersons down 37% from its spring peak.
The strong performance of VeraSun sounds an encouraging note for Wall Street, which has been hit by a number of poor debuts lately, notably Vonage (VG). Shares of the Internet phone shop lost 13% their first day and are off 36% in their three weeks on the Big Board.