By: Tomas Ronolski - AllPennyStocks.com News

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans created about 251 million tons of municipal solid waste in 2012. Municipal solid waste consists of trash such as packaging, food waste, grass clipping, bottles, paper etc. 34.5 percent of that trash, or about 87 million tons, was recycled or composted. That doesn’t sound like too bad of a figure, and it’s a far cry better than two decades earlier, but it still means that 164 million tons makes it to landfills, incinerators and elsewhere. Of those 164 million tons that are discarded, nearly 18 percent, or about 29 million tons, is plastic. Globally, the plastic pollution rates are essentially the same, with only about 10 percent of the 300 million tons of plastic waste each year making it to the recycling center. Sadly, it’s estimated that 7 million tons of plastic ends up in the ocean annually where no individual nation is responsible to clean it up. At AllPennyStocks.com, we’re always glad to see companies that have devised productive technologies to reuse plastic waste; companies like Axion International Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB:AXIH). Axion uses a patented process developed in conjunction with scientists at Rutgers University to reconstitute plastics into structural products that are made in the USA. The New Providence, New Jersey-based Company has a full line of offerings sold under the brand names ECOTRAX and STRUXURE, including railroad ties, walkways, construction pads, pilings and more.

We last mentioned Axion in an interesting article on Greystone Logistics Inc. (OTCQB:GLGI) in May 2012 on “green” plastic products that are growing in popularity. Both companies have risen substantially and are holding uptrends at this point.

Made from 100-percent recycled material, Axion’s products are earth friendly and provide superior benefits over legacy materials like wood, concrete and steel. Because the products are inert, they do not absorb moisture and can’t be infested by insects, meaning that they require essentially no maintenance, while still being able to withstand heavy loads.

The growing list of Axion products is in use both domestically and internationally. A quick scroll through their news feed over the past few months shows a steady stream of significant orders that is translating into growing revenue. In the latest quarterly report (filed November 14, 2013), the company logged sales of $1.3 million in the three-month period ended September 30, representing a 59-percent improvement over the year prior quarter. Gross margin increased to 6.6 percent of revenue from 1.6 percent a year earlier. Axion also invested $2 million to double the manufacturing capacity of its Waco, Texas facility. The company still operated in the red, reporting a net loss of $1.35 million, or 4 cents per share, which was slightly better than the loss of 5 cents per share in the 2012 quarter.

In December, Axion said that its new subsidiary Axion Recycled Plastics Inc., penned a 3-year, $42 million contract to supply recycled materials to a major thermoplastics company. The agreement came less than one month after Axion expanded vertically by acquiring the assets previously owned by Y City Recycling in Zanesville, Ohio to establish itself as a player in the recycled plastic and plastic composite business and add a new revenue stream to corporate coffers.

Axion announced on Tuesday that it has received a purchase order for 600 ECOTRAX rail ties to be shipped to Russia and installed with a major metro transit line. It was the second order from the same customer and arranged by Axion’s Russian distributor TVEMA. With over 85 million kilometers of track, Russia’s rail network is the second largest in the world.

After hitting $1.43 in December, the highest levels since February 2011, shares of AXIH have traded lower in January and February and are lower so far in March. In this consolidation, shares are coming down upon a support level at 70 cents, which would mark another higher low, should it hold, as part of an uptrend that began in August 2012 at a bottom of 28 cents. Savvy investors will be on the lookout for the results from the latest quarter, which should be coming soon, and going forward to see the impact of the new subsidiary and if the company can continue to turn the corner towards profitability, as it looks like that day could be coming in the not too distant future. Proper due diligence is, as always, encouraged.

Copyright © 2014 AllPennyStocks.com. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of AllPennyStocks.com's content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AllPennyStocks.com. AllPennyStocks.com shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.