Technology

Green Plains stock jumps after company announces strategic review, standstill with Ancora

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2 years ago

February 7, 2024

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Ethanol plant in Milton, Wisconsin.

Getty Images

Ethanol producer and agri-tech company Green Plains said Wednesday that it would initiate a strategic review, a year after activist investor Ancora sent a letter to its board encouraging it to do just that.

Shares jumped more than 15% in midday trading following the news, which was announced alongside the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter results. Ancora, a 6.8% shareholder per FactSet data, and Green Plains have also signed a cooperation agreement, which includes a standstill.

The strategic review will explore value enhancements up to and including a merger or sale, the company said.

“The board has decided to review the company’s strategic alternatives to determine the best way for Green Plains and its shareholders to realize the full value of the transformation we have made and are continuing to make,” CEO Todd Becker said in a release.

Ancora sent a letter to Green Plains’ board in January 2023, expressing support for Becker’s “positive” engagement but saying that the company was undervalued and should pursue a sale process.

Green Plains had diversified beyond pure-play ethanol production to build out clean sugar and corn oil production. Ancora said that while the expansion into agri-tech presented a high-margin opportunity, the ethanol business masked “the value of its strategic and highly competitive co-products.” It urged the company to explore a sale to a strategic acquirer.

Green Plains is one of the largest domestic producers of ethanol and was founded in 2004. Ethanol is blended with gasoline to help reduce transportation emissions, and the U.S. is by far the largest producer of ethanol globally, according to the Department of Energy.

Ancora is an activist investor that has taken positions in numerous companies, including Norfolk Southern, Disney, C.H. Robinson and Hasbro, according to 13D Monitor. It managed $8.8 billion in assets as of December.

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Meta acquiring AI wearable company Limitless

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2 hours ago

December 5, 2025

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Meta acquiring AI wearable company Limitless

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wears the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, as he delivers a speech presenting the new line of smart glasses, during the Meta Connect event at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, U.S., Sept. 17, 2025.

Carlos Barria | Reuters

Meta is acquiring artificial intelligence wearable startup Limitless, the companies said Friday.

“We’re excited that Limitless will be joining Meta to help accelerate our work to build AI-enabled wearables,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.

Limitless makes a small, AI-powered pendant that can record conversations and generate summaries.

Limitless CEO Dan Siroker revealed the deal on Friday via a corporate blog post but did not disclose the financial terms.

“Meta recently announced a new vision to bring personal superintelligence to everyone and a key part of that vision is building incredible AI-enabled wearables,” Siroker said in the post and an accompanying video. “We share this vision and we’ll be joining Meta to help bring our shared vision to life.”

Salesforce shares pop 5%, continuing post-earnings rally and leaving stock poised for best week since 2023

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4 hours ago

December 5, 2025

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Salesforce shares pop 5%, continuing post-earnings rally and leaving stock poised for best week since 2023

Sheldon Cooper | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Salesforce shares popped 5% on Friday after the company posted better-than-expected third-quarter earnings on Wednesday despite falling short of Wall Street’s revenue estimates.

The stock, which is up 13% over the past five days, is aiming for its best week since 2023.

The company reported adjusted earnings per share of $3.25, topping Wall Street’s estimates of $2.86 per share. Revenue increased 8.6% year over year to $10.26 billion but just missed analyst projections of $10.27 billion.

Although the artificial intelligence boom has pushed several tech companies into record surges, cloud software firms have seen a rocky year as investors wonder whether AI will render the industry obsolete.

Salesforce is hoping to persuade Wall Street that AI will be able to bolster its products rather than replace them.

Investors “somehow think software companies are under arrest from AI, when the opposite is true,” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday.

During the third quarter, the company acquired startups Regrello and Waii, which uses AI to generate code with natural language instructions.

Despite Salesforce’s shares being down 21% year to date, compared with the Nasdaq’s 22% gain, analysts are more optimistic for 2026.

“CRM [Salesforce] continues to be levered to digital transformation, and we expect the company to grow at a solid rate going forward,” Mizuho analysts wrote. “At the same time, we believe CRM will remain fiscally disciplined and that it can continue to drive higher operating and FCF margins.”

Analysts highlighted Salesforce’s AI platform Agentforce, which builds agents that automate business tasks and streamline workflow.

Despite initial investor skepticism over the platform, Cantor analysts were encouraged by its strong adoption in the customer service space.

“We think CRM is starting to formalize and mature the strategy, which should make it easier for customers to understand, and therefore adopt, Agentforce,” the Cantor analysts wrote.

Annual recurring revenue of Agentforce jumped 330% year over year to $540 million.

“Why everyone is so excited about Agentforce is because this is what AI was meant to be,” Benioff said. “It brings together humans and data and AI and apps, and delivers an incredible experience for companies.”

WATCH: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff goes one-on-one with Jim Cramer