Aemetis (NASDAQ:AMTX) reported third-quarter 2026 net income of $5.2 million as revenue rose 49% from a year earlier, helped by growth in its California ethanol and dairy renewable natural gas businesses and federal clean fuel production tax credits.
Revenue increased to $88.2 million from $59.2 million in the third quarter of 2025, Chief Financial Officer Todd Waltz said on the company’s earnings call. Net income amounted to $0.07 per basic share, compared with a net loss of $23.7 million a year earlier.
Operating income was $20.9 million, compared with an $8.5 million operating loss in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, rose to $24.8 million from negative $5 million.
Tax Credits Boost Quarterly Results
Section 45Z clean fuel production tax credit revenue totaled $24.7 million, including $20.1 million from dairy renewable natural gas and $4.6 million from California ethanol, Waltz said. The total included an approximately $11 million cumulative adjustment for the first half of 2026 following regulatory updates to the model used to calculate the credits.
Aemetis received $22.4 million from the sale of Section 45Z credits in September. Chief Executive Officer Eric McAfee said the credits sold that month represented values of approximately $62 per million British thermal units, or MMBtu, for dairy renewable natural gas and $0.33 per gallon of ethanol for 2026, before sales discounts and transaction costs.
McAfee said the company generally models an all-in discount of about 15% when selling the credits, including costs for insurance, legal services and brokers. He added that the modeled discount is probably higher than the company is actually receiving.
Cash at quarter-end was $3.4 million. Capital investments in energy efficiency and biogas production were $20.2 million in the quarter and $35.3 million for the first nine months of 2026, Waltz said.
Biogas Expansion Depends on Financing
McAfee said Aemetis operates 14 biogas digesters that take waste from 17 dairies, with biogas transported through a 36-mile pipeline to its renewable natural gas facility. The company has participation agreements with more than 50 dairies, he said.
Seven California Low Carbon Fuel Standard pathways have been approved for the business at an average carbon intensity score of negative 380, compared with the negative 150 default score previously used for those digesters, McAfee said. Six additional pathways are nearing approval, he added. Lower carbon intensity scores can increase the credits generated per unit of fuel.
Two new methane-capture digesters were completed in the month before the call, and the company has received cleanup and compression units for 13 more digesters. McAfee said financing is in process and that a financial closing is needed to accelerate deployment beyond the current pace.
Andy Foster, president of Aemetis Advanced Fuels, said digester production has exceeded forecasts for the past two years. He cautioned that output tends to decline during cooler months because the systems are affected by ambient temperatures.
Ethanol Project Benefits Expected in 2027
Aemetis is installing a mechanical vapor recompression system at its Keyes ethanol plant that management expects to reduce natural gas use and improve the value of fuel credits. McAfee projected the project would add approximately $32 million in annual cash flow, or roughly $0.50 per gallon in additional margin.
Foster said the company hopes to complete construction by the end of the first quarter of 2027, though the broader estimate is the first half of the year. He said commissioning would take additional time and that the larger financial impact would likely appear in the second half of 2027. Natural gas savings should begin more quickly once the system is switched on, he said.
McAfee added that cash from associated credits could be deferred into later quarters, in part because an updated Low Carbon Fuel Standard pathway will be needed.
The company has also installed two of three planned corn oil separation units at the plant. The third is scheduled to operate in December, and the combined units are expected to approximately double corn oil production from the first-quarter 2026 rate, McAfee said.
India Biodiesel Sales Recover
India biodiesel sales rebounded to $7.3 million in the third quarter from $2.5 million in the second quarter as deliveries resumed to three oil marketing companies under a $17 million allocation, Waltz said.
Aemetis has applied for approvals from Indian and European authorities to export biodiesel to Europe. McAfee said the company expects the approvals in the fourth quarter of 2026, but that feedstock shipments and biodiesel logistics would constrain export volumes.
The company also continues to prepare documentation for a potential public offering of a minority stake in its Universal Biofuels subsidiary, subject to market conditions, McAfee said.
About Aemetis (NASDAQ:AMTX)
Aemetis, Inc is a renewable fuels and carbon-reduction company that develops and operates projects designed to produce lower-carbon alternatives to petroleum-based fuels and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Its activities include renewable natural gas, ethanol, renewable diesel, and other advanced fuel technologies.
The company’s California operations include dairy-based renewable natural gas projects that capture methane from dairy waste and convert it into pipeline-quality fuel. Aemetis also operates an ethanol production facility in Keyes, California, which produces ethanol and related co-products from agricultural feedstocks.
