Covered OPBL at insightertrading.com....
I profiled OPBL to my members at www.insightertrading.com on 11/20 @ $1.82, here's the text:
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[11/20/2006] OPBL - Buy it here? It's Optionable.....
09:00:05am
2006-11-20
I've been watching Optionable Inc. (OPBL) since last week when it was in the $1.50's, but I've been waiting to see if it would pull back from it's run. As of this writing, it's done no such thing and is now printing $1.82 giving the firm a market cap just shy of $100mm.
OPBL exclusively handles energy futures contracts on the NYMEX for institutional clients and hedge funds. This is a great space to be in now for several reasons.
1) The amount of money flowing into private equity houses is mind boggling. At last count there are something like 9,000 hedge funds in the US and you can safely assume the majority of those are trading energy futures contracts.
2) Options contract volumes on energy derivatives is growing exponentially and setting records each month. You need to look no further than the NYMEX's IPO last week that doubled on it's first day, and you'll get an indication of how folks view the strength of the energy futures trading business.
OPBL is profitable, with operating margins north of 40% and they're growing like a weed. They've developed a trading software system for their clients and this has allowed them to grow the business beyond the trading they could have handled on the floor in the public outcry pits.
Here's a snippet from the last 10Q to give some color on their growth trajectory...
Optionable Inc Reports Record Results for the 2006 Third Quarter, First Nine Months
Wednesday October 25, 7:45 am ET
BRIARCLIFF MANOR, N.Y., Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Optionable, Inc (OTC Bulletin Board: OPBL - News), a leading provider of natural gas and other energy derivatives brokerage services, announced today record results from operations for its third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2006, posting strong gains in revenue, net income and EPS. The Company said that revenues increased 166 percent and 123 percent, respectively, compared to prior year periods, and net income also reached all time highs, increasing 216 percent and 270 percent, respectively, from the prior year periods.
Revenues for the third quarter ended September 30, 2006 were $4.5 million, up from $1.7 million for the third quarter of last year. Net income for the third quarter increased to $2.2 million, up from $694,218 for the third quarter of 2005. Gross profit increased 153 percent to $2.7 million for this year's third quarter compared to $1.1 million for the same period last year. Diluted earnings per common share increased to $0.04 per share, on 51,680,993 diluted shares, for the third quarter of 2006, versus $0.01 per share, on 51,461,963 diluted shares, for the third quarter of 2005.
CEO Kevin Cassidy commented, "It is clear from the recent news headlines that there is increased interest in derivatives trading. And we feel that the best is yet to come for Optionable. Our record results for the third quarter have primarily been achieved through traditional means of service of delivery, voice-brokerage and open outcry. Our electronic platform, OPEX, which we recently introduced, will gain adherents in the energy commodities markets and, ultimately, with other commodities markets. The latest addition to our services offering, OPEX Analytics, enables us to offer a broader variety of solutions to satisfy our clients' needs. We certainly would not be where we are without providing consistent, timely, and outstanding quality services to our clients."
For the nine months ended September 30, 2006, Optionable reported that revenues increased to $9.2 million from $4.1 million for the first nine months of last year. Net income for the 2006 first nine months increased to $3.7 million compared to $996,795 for the prior year period. Gross profit increased 156 percent to $5.4 million for the first nine months of this year compared to $2.1 million for the same period last year. Diluted earnings per common share increased to $0.07 per share, on 51,688,736 diluted shares, for this year's nine-month period, versus $0.02 per share, on 51,449,427 diluted shares, for comparable period last year. As of September 30, 2006, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $4.4 million.
OPBL has shown incredible strength and may in fact be overbought here, I would use our incremental approach here. Initiate a small portion of your desired position here and then monitor the shares for a dip that we can add on. Look for support levels at around $1.40 and $1.25.....
(sidenote) another player in the same space is NYFX....keep an eye on that one too.....
Related Industries: New Pick -
Initial Stock Price: $1.82
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