Busy week it seems....
You may want to add ASW reporting on Wednesday NOV 14.
An interesting company, it has a p/e of 7.29 (@ 26.99 Friday's close) The stock reached an all time high of $50.00 in early September, after that, it has been quite volatile, ranging from its high to a low of 22 and change.
biz.yahoo.com
It is making money, and business seems strong as ever and improving.
The perceived risk is that its business is to provide "marine logistic" (shipping) for new and used cars and trucks between Europe and USA to North and West Africa.
This came into close scrutiny a few weeks ago when Nigeria decided to place a ban on the importation of cars older than 5 years old. This caused a sell off that took the price down to the low 20's. While these news have been circulating, the company officials or its port agents have NOT yet received an official notification of the law. Evidently, the market places an important weigh to the risk of doing business in Africa. The company, on the other hand, simply keeps making money. This coming earnings report may shed some light as to its current and continued profitability.
As indicated, it seems as an interesting play given its volatility of late and that it reports on Nov 14th. before the market opens, the expectations are for a profit of 1.34/sh.
In addition, the company is registered in Cyprus, (with a low tax rate, plus logistically well situated given its business), headquartered in Antwerp (Belgium) and with offices in Los Angeles. While there has been speculations that the Cyprus registration could be cause of concern since it has been said that banks in Cyprus would be friendly to money laundering operators. However, the company's bankers are in Luxembourg, not to mention the fact that they have been in business since 1978, with no known problem in this respect.
While the company has acknowledged that the ban could cost the company up to .24/share to the bottom line, it is estimated that 2002 profits can reach $6.68/share (revised form better than $7.00 prior to the ban).
In response to the recent controversy and sell off, the company has also announced that they have authorized the purchase of up to 1 million shares. They are sitting on 82.4 million in cash and have NO debt.
Currently, there are 14.2 million shares with a float of 6.4 million. (insiders, mainly one owner, owns 55% of the company).
Lastly... JP Morgan and BB&T Capital Markets have issued reports on the company and their projection based on their estimated 2002 earnings (a low of $6.68) calls for a price of $70.00/share.
Further than that... do your own DD as there has been a considerable amount of controversy as to the degree to which these regulations will (or not) affect the company. Perhaps the market knows something I do not and the recent sell off could be justified. I guess next Wednesday we will find out.
Happy trading. |
