Underdog Taking on the Giants!
Here’s something a little off the beaten path for you… a genuine underdog story.
A tiny company – and I do mean tiny – is taking on some of the biggest manufacturers in the game.
And it’s succeeding.
The company is called Powerdyne International (PWDY).
It makes, installs, maintains and leases its own portable electric power generation equipment.
That puts the company in direct competition with powerhouses like Caterpillar (CAT), Cummins (CMI) and Mitsubishi.
What sets Powerdyne apart, though, is its technology.
The generators produced by the big-name companies are behemoths. They can weigh in at more than 90,000 pounds.
They can also come with an intensive maintenance schedule and high operating expenses.
But Powerdyne’s generator, called the PDIGenset, is different.
For one thing, its size (weighing in at just 14,000 pounds) makes it seem downright petite.
That makes it easy to transport to remote areas – something far more difficult for the big behemoths. It can even be airlifted and dropped by parachute to a location – especially useful for small mine sites high in the mountains.
The PDIGenset is also designed to run at much higher altitudes – something the standard power equipment from the big operations can’t do efficiently.
So where did this cutting-edge technology come from?
Cleared for Takeoff
The idea first saw light back in the year 2000 with a simple question: Why not use an airplane engine to power a generator?
At the time, the answer was simple, as well: Because running a generator on aviation fuel would make the idea cost-prohibitive.
But after five years of experimentations and setbacks, the engineers behind Powerdyne finally did it. They created a portable generator, powered with an airplane motor – only now it runs on gaseous fuels, such as propane, natural gas and hydrogen.
The airplane engine – the Pratt and Whitney R2800 radial, the same engine that helped win World War II – makes the generator more compact, as well as air cooled. And the modifications make it environmentally friendly and fuel efficient.
The basic PDIGenset unit can produce 1MW of power, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
It has an impressive life span, as well, capable of running 20,000 hours (about three years) nonstop before needing major maintenance or replacement.
But one of the most unique things about the Powerdyne system is its business model.
See, while the PDIGenset can be used by factories and hospitals to augment power from the grid, it’s also designed to be used as a primary electrical generator.
And Powerdyne is taking a page from the playbook of another hyper-successful power company – SolarCity (SCTY).
Instead of simply selling the generators, Powerdyne comes and installs the units for free – in many cases, with the stipulation that the company owns the power generated.
Better still, because the generator is fuel efficient and customizable, the customer can usually buy the energy back from the company at a steep discount to the regular power grid.
Taking Stock
All that being said, there are a few caveats with this stock.
I mentioned earlier that it was tiny. And it is – right now, it has a market cap of just about $7.7 million.
It’s listed over-the-counter, so the 193 million shares aren’t super liquid – even at $0.04 per share.
And to put it politely, the company is “pre-revenue,” a nice way of saying it’s not yet profitable.
Still, I like the idea behind this company. Its technology is sound. It solves a lot of the problems inherent to larger, less-efficient generators. And the business model could work nicely, just as it has for SolarCity.
There’s the potential for revenue on the horizon. The company claims that within the next 12 to 18 months it expects to build and install its first 10 units. It’s also actively marketing its solutions to prospective customers: towns, states, hospitals, etc.
And once the first units are installed, Powerdyne projects it will lead to additional orders – as many as 20 to 50 units over the following two years.
But that’s all in the future.
At the very least – I think this one is worth keeping on your radar.
And “the chase” continues,
Tim Diering
