Vic, because it's tapping into hunger for companies addressing our country's power woes.
Btw
I copied this.
Besides If you search back to the energy IPOs that have come public this year, you won't find any that are involved in sub-sea construction services. Is that a good thing? Yes, because there is rotation within this broad-based energy sector that will give this stock an extra push in its debut, provided the broad market hasn't fallen apart.
I know you are not going to be impressed knowing that they believe they are the leading installers of pipelines in the water depths of less than 200 feet in the Gulf of Mexico. Try and be a little enthusiastic for the next few minutes, because they do have a story to tell.
Market share is one of the constants in the evaluation of a company's future and Torch has increased their footprint from 15 percent in 1997 to 23.4 percent in 1999. Good, but not great you say? Sure, but keep in mind that they are not the only players in this game.
There has also been a marked increase in their fleet of construction and service vehicles, that only adds to their determination to continue their solid gains in the field. A continued commitment to capital improvement was evidenced by their expansion, upgrading and modernization of their fleet in the last downturn in the oil and natural gas industry, when others chose to cut costs. That's smart thinking now that might have been labeled as an excessively speculative venture at the time.
If you need a refresher about the energy market, here's how it works for the companies that make their livings from it. When the price of oil goes up, customers in that field generally spend more money on their capital budgets to expand their exploration efforts.
Without getting into a lot of theory in this sector, why don't you just look at it as the price of oil going up or remaining high as the first domino to fall. Oil and gas field services stocks are near the beginning of that chain.
I also found a sentence in the prospectus that struck a chord with me. Call it finesse on the part of whoever wrote it, but if it represents the true mentality of the company, then Torch has a management team that is wired to the shareholder's interests. The simplicity of saying their strategy is to "add value for our stockholders by continuing to take advantage of opportunities on the Shelf while expanding our niche services into the deepwater markets."
Adding value for the stockholders? What a bold concept. Call me foolish, but that worked for me in the past. |
