Why Now? Because...... I could write a novel on this. Granted, the market is littered with failed exploration companies, but let's think about the upside and downside of GNE at this price point.
DOWNSIDE Protection: Current Equity value (incl. Preferred) of $162M. Less $118M in net cash & WC, equals $44M of enterprise value. Just from the retail energy division, they'll generate ~$250M of revenue and ~$15M of stabilized EBITDA. Without consideration to any of their exploration and activities and intellectual property from GOGAS, this is a compelling valuation.
UPSIDE: Take into the possible huge upside from their two Israel projects (I believe their in-situ project in central Israel will be restarted in 2015) as well as their Mongolia and Colorado projects and you're getting a potentially very valuable call option for free. The Northern Israel project that finally got the thumbs up this week is the real catalyst I care about.
TIME VALUE: Genie Energy is also paying a ~3.5% dividend while you wait for the homerun.
I've studied every inch of this company for two plus years, I understand the risks (everything from Syria/ Golan Heights politics to the long time horizon on the in-situ projects), however, as opposed to most small E&P companies, there's lots of protection here and the insiders are very very incentivized both monetarily and through their Israel connections.
It's a good gamble. Kona Capital
