Contango Oil & Gas (MCF) has been one of the real microcap success stories over the last 12 years. CEO Kenneth Peak is a bit of a rockstar in the smallcap oil & gas industry and rightly so. The company has gone from $0.20 in 1999 to $59 today. For FY 2011, the company did $200m in revenues with $100 million in operating income. Yes, you are reading that correctly. Outside of management execution, a common attribute I see amongst most microcap success stories is a management that treats their shares like gold. The story of Contango is below, it’s an easy read. Read More …
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The Contango Oil & Gas Story
Posted August 8, 2012 By Ian Cassel in Blog, Companies Mentioned, Inspirational With | 1 Comment
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Prospect Generators – The Mining World’s Sleeping Giants
Posted August 6, 2012 By David S. in Blog, Companies Mentioned, Educational With | 1 Comment
The mining business is a tough no matter what stage of life a mining company is at. If it’s a pre-production company, the issues range from permitting to failure in proving up an economic resource. If the company is a producing company the issues are even vaster, but can span the gamut from nationalization to mine collapse. Whatever you masochistic bent, there’s a mining horror for you. But, there may be one or two “safe havens” for those of us who aren’t inclined to the pain of watching investments get cut off at the knees. Read More …
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Whole Foods Market: Top Trends In Food
Posted August 1, 2012 By Ian Cassel in Blog, Companies Mentioned With | 1 Comment
I wrote an article this May called: Global Market Trends and The MicroCap Benefactors. In it I described how I and many other microcap investors go about potentially finding the next big microcap stock. In general, first you identify an emerging trend, find the microcap participants in that trend, and then purchase the best microcap company. Read More …
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Vertex Energy: A Classic Valuation Gap
Posted July 25, 2012 By Sean Marconi in Blog, Companies Mentioned With | 1 Comment
I started following Vertex Energy (VTNR) in May of 2011 when the stock was around .70c and watched it go to $4 within a few months. The stock has come back down to $1.30 (near a 52 week low), which I find highly compelling given the fundamentals of the company and the comps in the marketplace. Vertex Energy currently trades 0.15x FY 2011 Sales and 3.5x its FY 2011 EPS of 0.39. Comps in the public market are trading between 1–2x sales and 20-165x TTM EPS. The purpose of this article isn’t to conclude an irrational multiple but to propose that if VTNR simply trades at 0.5x TTM sales and 12x TTM EPS, the stock is a multi bagger from current prices. The company has been able to profitably grow its revenues from $38m in 2009 to $109m in 2011. Vertex has approx. 15m shares out FD, over $4m cash, an undrawn $3.5m LOC with BofA, and zero debt. This company has just about everything that I look for within an investment opportunity. Read More …
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Disposition Case Study: Asure Software
Posted July 19, 2012 By Mark Vonderwell in Blog, Companies Mentioned, Educational With | 4 Comments
In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about why investors should pay close attention to microcaps that choose to get smaller via dispositions. I then wrote Part 2: Broadway and Seymour, and Part 3: Clearfield Inc which showcased examples of value that was generated via dispositions. In this writeup, we will look at yet another example, Asure Software (ASUR). Read More …
