O.K. got lots of stuff to do this afternoon so this may be my last post of the day. I mean I don't charge much for this service, so what do you expect? I should just stay glued to my computer screen and hash out stuff for you all day long? Just kidding!
Anyhow, came across what must be considered a dot.com again. Some of these are turning into real businesses! eSpeed, Inc. (ESPD) "...operates global interactive electronic marketplaces that enable the trading of financial instruments and other products instantaneously, more effectively and at lower cost than traditional trading methods." according to CNN.Money. ESPD announced today that they will be having their earnings "call" on August 14th..and I guess that anticipation of good results was enough to fire up the stock. ESPD is currently trading at $18.98, up $2.17 or 12.91% on the day.
Since we don't have the latest earnings...which are to be reported in six days...let's take a look at the latest REPORTED earnings....came out on May 12, 2003. First quarter revenue 2003 increased 13% from last year to $34.0 million from $30.0 million. Now get this, this is not their revenue, but contained withing this quarterly report is an indication of the volume of transactions....electronic "volume" (not revenue or earnings) was $6.8 trillion....yes TRILLION in the first quarter. (How many zero's is that?)....anyhow their net income was $.17/share compared to $.10 last year.
This is a very new company and Morningstar.com shows revenue of $34.7 million in 1999, $91.0 million in 2000, $125 million in 2001, and $139 million in 2002.
Free cash flow has turned positive (I guess you could stay they have stopped 'burning' cash...one of those problems for those miserable dot.com's): ($22) million in 2000, ($9) million in 2001, $49 million in 2002 and $37 million in the trailing twelve months.
Looking at the balance sheet as reported on Morningstar.com we find this company LOADED with cash with $175.1 million in cash on hand reported compared to a small $16.0 million in current liabilities and $100,000 in long-term liabilities.
Yahoo.com shows this company with a market cap of $929.0 million with 55.2 million shares outstanding and only 17.7 million of them float. No dividend is paid. The p/e ratio is a downright reasonable 21.02, and as of 7/8/03 there were 1.03 million shares or 5.8% of the float out short...a decrease from 1.06 million the prior month. This represents 2.49 trading days worth of volume.
Overall this is a very interesting, if slightly (?) speculative position. Much may depend on the results of next week's earnings report and if this stock is anything like other stocks...then stock may very well sell-off short-term on the earnings news if it merely hits expectations. But longer-term, this stock is very interesting, and if I had some free cash...lol...I would buy a few shares! Needless to say, I don't own any shares of this company nor do any members of my family!
Regards! Have a great weekend everyone. I will try to update the trading portfolio and stock prices later this weekend.
Bob