VeraSun Energy Corp has just posted much improved Q2 results on 2005 - quarterly profits of 19-six (m) million dollars or 29 cents per share.

The South Dakota-based company is attributing its revenue growth to increased capacity and higher prices. Its Fort Dodge, Iowa, plant added 36 million gallons of capacity and a per-gallon price of one dollar and four cents higher than during the second quarter of 2005.

It has also been noted elsewhere that Bill Gates now has a large stake in Pacific Ethanol. But Bill Gates is not Warren Buffet. Brilliant as he has been in his stewardship of Microsoft, no one is yet proclaiming him to be an investment guru.

So potential ethanol investors would do well to look at this well-balanced piece published in Barron's yesterday, before succumbing to the stardust of celebrity or big name investment.