StealthGas hit the road this week, trying to drum up new investors in New York, sweetening the pot with promises of buybacks and fleet growth.
According to Jefferies analyst Randy Giveans, who accompanied StealthGas to the meetings, the Harry Vafias-led company was looking to sell investors on its "attractive valuation" and a positive outlook for the LPG sector.
For their part, Giveans wrote in a Friday afternoon note, investors "were curious about how management seeks to close the gap between [StealthGas'] intrinsic value and the market price."
He said the company told investors it plans to use the $80m cash on hand repurchase shares, delever, and buy some secondhand ships.
Over the last year, StealthGas shares have floated between $2.73 and $4.25 on New York's Nasdaq. In midday trading Friday, shares were up by a cent to $3.53.
Giveans, who reiterated a buy rating, said those figures represent 50% of the company's net asset value.
Vafias has said in the past that newbuildings were off the table, preferring the secondhand route.
He was less committal on a repurchasing program as late as last month.
On the LPG carrier owner's fourth-quarter earnings call 21 February, Vafias said he wanted to see what happened in the first quarter of the new year.
"If, obviously in Q1, we have a much stronger quarter and obviously this cash that we have is at this approximately the same levels, yes, obviously we will buy stock and we have done that in the past," he said.
For the fourth quarter, StealthGas booked a loss of $5.3m and a $12.2m loss for the calendar year.
