Let's scrape the bottom of my old mailbag once again to see if newsletter publishers have found any winning stocks. Jonathan Kolber, who variously promotes himself as an energy analyst, futurist, and such, sent out a teaser brochure for "The Kolber Report." It's not the same as the Comedy Network show with a similar-sounding name, but some readers may find it entertaining. My entertainment came from the stock touted this time: American Petro-Hunter (AAPH), yet another oil penny stock searching for earnings and investors.
I got the teaser a few months ago when the stock was trading about where it is now. Why hasn't the stock jumped in price, as Mr. Kolber suggested it would in big bold letters? Probably because it's been losing money for three years straight. It has been public since 1999 and has almost never been worth more than a few cents with the exception of nice run in 2000.
Reading about their Poston oil project in Kansas is funny. Basic math really helps here. If their most optimistic engineering prediction holds true and the property can eventually produce 110 bbls/day, then we can expect it to produce 40,150 bbls/year. Check out the most optimistic estimate of recoverable reserves on that page: 240,000 bbls. This means that full production will exhaust the entire property in only six years. Properties like this are better off as part of a an oil and gas royalty trust, where their recoverable lifespans can be amalgamated with many other wells.
I won't waste my time or my readers' time looking any deeper for value. Wildcatters are welcome to pay as much as they like for investment newsletters that will pump their stock. I'm not interested in that way of doing business.
Full disclosure: No position in AAPH, ever.
I got the teaser a few months ago when the stock was trading about where it is now. Why hasn't the stock jumped in price, as Mr. Kolber suggested it would in big bold letters? Probably because it's been losing money for three years straight. It has been public since 1999 and has almost never been worth more than a few cents with the exception of nice run in 2000.
Reading about their Poston oil project in Kansas is funny. Basic math really helps here. If their most optimistic engineering prediction holds true and the property can eventually produce 110 bbls/day, then we can expect it to produce 40,150 bbls/year. Check out the most optimistic estimate of recoverable reserves on that page: 240,000 bbls. This means that full production will exhaust the entire property in only six years. Properties like this are better off as part of a an oil and gas royalty trust, where their recoverable lifespans can be amalgamated with many other wells.
I won't waste my time or my readers' time looking any deeper for value. Wildcatters are welcome to pay as much as they like for investment newsletters that will pump their stock. I'm not interested in that way of doing business.
Full disclosure: No position in AAPH, ever.
