Investopedia: Solazyme May Pay Off On Green Dreams

As embarrassingly high-profile green company bankruptcies, in recent weeks, have reminded investors that governments may be poor at picking long-term winners, it is also worth repeating that it's not easy being green. Conventional methods of producing energy are cheap, easy and reliable, and those are high hurdles for new technologies to surmount. Nevertheless, while there is ample uncertainty left, Solazyme (NASDAQ: SZYM) is a green-tech company with technology well-worth a look from aggressive investors.   


Quarterly Results are Trivial 
In the larger scheme of things, Solazyme's quarterly earnings reports don't matter much right now because, frankly, there are no earnings. Solazyme did announce that revenue rose 93% from last year, but with total revenue still below $9 million, it's not all that significant. Likewise the GAAP net loss of $14 million is not so significant.


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One Small Step For Amyris

Exciting stories are usually built with a lot of boring announcements. To that end, Amyris's (Nasdaq:AMRS) recent announcement that it had finalized a joint venture with Brazil's Cosan (NYSE:CZZ) is not surprising or exciting, but it is a good example of the blocking-and-tackling type of announcements that will go into making the Amyris story and business model work over time. 

A Deal That Works For Both Sides
Amyris and Cosan will work together to produce and sell various so-called base oils that will be made with the farnesene that Amyris will produce in other facilities. It is a pretty typical win-win type of deal. Amyris needs to find as many customers as possible for its farnesene, while Cosan needs diversification away from ethanol as an end product of Brazil's prodigious sugarcane production. (For more, see Brazilian Stocks To Watch In 2011.)

Just One Brick In The Road
Ultimately, the success of this Amyris-Cosan venture in base oils is not critical to the overall success of Amyris, but it highlights what I think is an important part of the Amyris business model - working with other companies and finding as many potential markets for its products as possible. Where many failed ethanol companies like VeraSun and Aventine went wrong was in being just another commodity producer, but one that relied upon other commodity feedstocks (corn, notably) and government subsidies. In other words, they were refiners with pretty much one product to offer.

In contrast, Amyris has found a lot of potential uses for its genetically-modified yeast. The first key product will be farnesene, which can be used in a wide range of products including diesel and jet fuel additives, lubricants, detergents and flavors and fragrances. As time goes on, and the company's yields improve, it may be possible to produce a much wider range of products including fuels themselves, plastics and synthetic rubber. (For more, see Back To The Future With Ethanol.)  

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