Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Big Dog's Boom Boom Room -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: excardog who wrote (38115)	1/4/2005 4:27:55 PM
From: Snowshoe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 206093

Amazingly, my amateur pick SYNM (Syntroleum) is now leading the 2005 BDBBR portfolio with a gain of 11.71%. Do any of you more experienced folks here think it staying power? Or is it just a flash in the pan? I added some more today after reading these comments... Good Holiday News Drives These Stocks thestreet.com By Jonathan Moreland RealMoney.com Contributor 1/4/2005 1:30 PM EST Syntroleum (SYNM:Nasdaq - commentary - research) recently announced that it licensed some patents from ExxonMobil (XOM:NYSE - commentary - research) relating to the oil giant's gas-to-liquids (GTL) process. Syntroleum has plenty of its own GTL-related intellectual property, and this is crucial to support of our investment thesis for this position. The company has spent more than $100 million over the past 20 years and has 116 existing or pending patents to show for its efforts. But the basic chemistry of all GTL processes is based on the work of Fischer and Tropsch, two German researchers in the 1920s. Over the decades, plenty of other firms besides Syntroleum have generated patents on technology that improve on the original "Fischer-Tropsch" processes. ExxonMobil has been particularly interested in the field, and it has developed quite a few important patents in the area. However, Syntroleum had been forced to work around ExxonMobil's intellectual property in its own GTL process. This was considered an annoyance but not a huge cause for concern. Even so, some industry observers apparently harbored doubts that Syntroleum was working far enough around the ExxonMobil patents. For its part, Syntroleum felt that its work-arounds made its process less efficient than it could be. The importance of this just-announced licensing agreement is that it effectively removes both the doubt of outsiders and the admitted inefficiencies in Syntroleum's proprietary GTL process. And although the license obviously cost Syntroleum some undisclosed amount of money, the company believes that the money saved from not having to work around the patents more than offsets any payment. With Syntroleum's GTL process now more efficient and out from under a potential cloud of infringement, it is not surprising that the stock reacted well. The next news for Syntroleum should be its selection of a partner for its Nigerian initiative (discussed in detail in past columns). This news was originally expected by year-end but is now only likely by the end of January. Interest has apparently been high in the project, and it has taken Syntroleum longer than expected to process and decide on the bids that have come in. Syntroleum also expects to have updates in January regarding three wells that are part of its land-based exploration-and-production initiative in the Central Kansas Uplift. With good news expected on both fronts, and the stock trading well lately even on poor days for the market, the stock remains a buy.