Top 10 Energy Stocks For 2014

Top 10 Energy Stocks For 2014: Cosan Ltd (CZZ)

Cosan Limited (Cosan), incorporated on April 30, 2007, is a holding company. The Company is engaged in the production of ethanol and sugar, the marketing and distribution of fuel and lubricants in Brazil, and logistics services in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Company imports, exports, produces and sells ethanol, sugar, sugarcane and other sugar by-products. It distributes and sells fuel and other fuel by-products. The Company produces and markets electricity, steam and other co-generation by-products. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 (fiscal 2011), it operated 24 mills. On February 18, 2011, Cosan, through its subsidiary Cosan S.A. Acucar e Alcool acquired 100% of the voting corporate capital of Cosan Araraquara Acucar e Alcool Ltda., (Usina Zanin).

The Company operates in three in segments: sugar and ethanol (S&E), fuel distribution and lubricants (CCL) and sugar logistics (Rumo Logistica). The sugar and ethanol segment operates and produce s a range of sugar products, including raw, organic, crystal and refined sugars and consumer products under the Da Barra and Uniao brands, which are sold to a range of customers in Brazil and abroad, as well as produces and sells hydrous, anhydrous and industrial ethanol, which are sold to the Brazilian market. The sugar and ethanol segment also includes energy co-generation activities and land development businesses. Its fuel distribution and lubricants segment includes the distribution and marketing of fuels, mainly through franchised network of service stations under the brand Esso throughout the national territory, and production, distribution and marketing of lubricants licensed from ExxonMobil International Holdings B.V.. Its sugar logistics segment provides logistics services for the transport, storage and port lifting of sugar.

Sugar and Ethanol segment

As of March! 31, 2011 the Company leased 437,698 hectares, through 2,128 land lease contr acts with an average term of five years. During fiscal 2011,! it harvested from owned or leased lands 27.4 million tons, of the sugarcane and purchased from third-party growers the 26.8 million tons of sugarcane. During fiscal 2011, its accumulated sugar extraction was 139.0 kilograms of total sugar recovered (TSR) per ton of sugarcane and its agricultural yield was 91.4 tons of sugarcane per hectare. It produces ethanol through a chemical process called yeasting. It produces and sells three types of ethanol: hydrous ethanol and anhydrous ethanol for fuel and industrial ethanol. It sells ethanol through gasoline distributors in Brazil mainly at the mill that sell it to retailers that then sell it at the pump to customers.

During fiscal year 2011, the Company sold 4.3 million tons of sugar. The Company produces a range of standard sugars, including raw sugar, crystal sugar and organic sugar, and refined sugars, including granulated refined white sugar, amorphous refined sugar, refined sucrose liquid sugar and refined inve rted liquid sugar. Its Sao Francisco mill and the Da Barra mill produce refined sugar. It also sells industrial alcohol, which is used in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors. It sells sugar to a range of customers in Brazil and in the international markets. Its customers in Brazil include retail supermarkets, foodservice distributors and food manufacturers, for which it sells refined and liquid sugar.

Fuel distribution and lubricants

The Company's fuel distribution business is engaged in sourcing, storing, blending and distributing primarily gasoline, ethanol, diesel and fuel oil through its retail network of approximately 4,500 Esso and Shell-branded stations. During fiscal 2011, it sold approximately 1.03 billion liters of fuels, consisting of 96.0% diesel and 4.0% gasoline, ethanol and other fuels to its industrial and wholesale clients. During fiscal 2011,! Cosan Co! mbustiveise Lubrificantes S.A. (CCL) sold a total of 166.4 million liters o f lubricants. Its lubricant operations consist of a wholly o! wned Lubr! icants Oil Blending Plant (LOBP), located in Rio de Janeiro, with annual production capacity of 1.4 million barrels of lubricants per year, including 48,000 barrels of grease per year.

Sugar Logistics

The Company owns and operates a sugar-loading terminal at the Port of Santos in the State of Sao Paulo through its subsidiary Rumo Logistica. It offers logistics solution to sugar producers located in the Center South of Brazil by transporting sugar from the mill by truck or rail to be loaded at its bulk sugar port terminal in Santos. It also offer sugar storage services.

The Company competes with Copersucar, Sudzucker AG, Petrobras, Ultrapar S.A., Shell Brasil Ltda. and AleSat Combustiveis S.A.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  ADM's renewable-fuel business grabs most of the attention from investors. The drought has also had a big impact in this segment as well, as ADM has had to idle ethanol production facilities because of low corn supplies following the drought. Moreover, with sugar-based ethanol competitors Bunge (NYSE: BG  ) and Cosan (NYSE: CZZ  ) already benefiting from pricing disparities between sugar and corn, prospects of potential tariffs on U.S. ethanol in Europe could give Brazilian sugar-based ethanol a competitive advantage, further hurting ADM.

• [By Maxx Chatsko]

  Partnership outlook
  I am still hoping that Codexis will be tapped by Raizen, a joint venture between Shell and sugar giant Cosan (NYSE: CZZ  ) , as its exclusive cellulase enzyme provider. Raizen has not been shy about its cellulosic ethanol ambitions -- planning a 10 million gallon per year facility -- but has yet to choose an enzyme technology. Investors should be careful not to assume that Codexis is a lock for the partnership (Raizen is the l! argest in! vestor in Codexis), but with more than 580 million gallons of first-generation ethanol capacity the opportunity is enormous.

• [By Maxx Chatsko]

  Lesson learned
  The financial situation at Amyris is less than enviable. Whereas fellow industrial biotech company Solazyme has hit every major milestone and had no problem raising funds, Amyris has had to take the more dilutive route for shareholders. Still, large commercial partners Total (NYSE: TOT  ) and Cosan (NYSE: CZZ  ) haven't backed down in their support of the company. Total upped its investment in Amyris during several rough patches in the past year after incurring significant paper losses on the roughly 20% stake in the company. Total even has its own webpage for the partnership, which speaks to its long-term vision for Amyris' platform, especially in renewable diesel.

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-10-energy-stocks-for-2014.html