Marrone Bio's Amplitude Available For 2018 Growing Season

Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBII) has announced the availability of a cost-effective and high-performance biological fungicide, Amplitude, for the 2018 growing season. Utilizing the same active ingredient in the recently EPA-approved Stargus, Amplitude broadens the use of this new product to large acre crops, the company noted.

Amplitude is based on a new strain of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. It has shown strong performance against soil diseases and white molds including Rhizoctonia (pink rot and black scurf of potatoes), Phytophthora and Fusarium, as revealed in field trials conducted in the United States, Europe and Canada.

Amplitude is the direct result of Marrone Bio’s directed screening discovery program. It is additive and complementary to the broad spectrum of diseases covered by the company’s first biofungicide, Regalia.

According to the company, the unique biofungicide will help growers to control soil diseases and white molds on a vast range of large acre crops, pulses, tuber and root crops.

Marrone Bio and partners are testing this Bacillus-based product for seed treatment applications. Moreover, the company has been issued a patent on the novel strain used in Amplitude. The biofungicide product has also been submitted to Mexico and Canada for approval, while the dossier is being prepared for the European Union.

Potato and pulse crop acres affected by white mold increase every year in the United States. For instance, the yield loss to white mold can easily reach 50% for pulse crops such as lentils. Europe and Canada are expected to grow 6.7 million and 9.3 million hectares of Canola (oilseed rape) in 2017, respectively, and white mold is the most serious disease facing these crops.

Shares of Marrone Bio have declined 16.1% in the past three months, underperforming the industry’s 6.1% growth.

Marrone Bio, during third-quarter earnings, said that it has made a significant progress in penetrating the United States and overseas markets and also remains positive on the long-term outlook of its business. The company also expects its ongoing manufacturing process improvement initiatives in R&D to continue to contribute to an improvement in margins moving ahead.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Marrone Bio currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE:WLK) , Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) and Kronos Worldwide Inc. (NYSE:KRO) . All three stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.

Westlake Chemical has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 10.6%. Its shares have moved up 80.7% year to date.

Daqo New Energy has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 7%. Its shares have surged a whopping 153.5% year to date.

Kronos Worldwide has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 5%. Its shares have rallied 115.2% year to date.

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