Imperial Petroleum (NASDAQ: IMPP) is trending on Tuesday after soaring more than 56%. Year-to-date, the IMPP stock price is down by -72.69% while the S&P 500 is down -9.32% over the same period of time.
What is Imperial Petroleum?
Imperial Petroleum is a holding company, which engages in the provision of international seaborne transportation services to oil producers, refineries and commodities traders. The company was founded on May 14, 2021 and is headquartered in Athens, Greece.
IMPP was a subsidiary of StealthGas, which was its parent company prior to the completion of a spinoff in 2021.
As of the end of December 2021, Imperial Petroleum owned four standard tankers, three product tankers, and one Aframax tanker with an average age of 12.9 years.
Even though all of its tankers were currently on period charters with multiple charters extension options in place, last year was difficult for the tanker segment.
The tanker market faced weak demand and lower exports amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Financial Metrics Today
Market Cap: $10m
P/S: 0.1
Q3 Highlights
Unfortunately, Q3 was disappointing for IMPP shareholders. The company had to deal with a COVID outbreak on one of its product tankers that had to deviate to a port of refuge for quarantine and lost 20 days of income. This, along with another product tanker operating in the spot market being idle for about 40% of the quarter resulted in lost revenue and heavy voyage costs incurred during the vessel's downtime.
The company has since raised financing via a share placing.
Investing in IMPP stock
Many retail investors prefer funds to individual stocks as financial professionals operate them with inside knowledge and insight.
IMPP shares could alternatively be purchased via a mutual fund to potentially reduce investment risk and volatility.
For instance, IMPP stock is currently included in:
Royce Micro Cap Trust
Fidelity NASDAQ Composite Index Fund
Energy stocks face several headwinds but benefit from elevated oil and gas prices. As a junior stock Imperial Petroleum is a high-risk and speculative investment prone to share price volatility.
If you are interested in shipping stocks why not read our ZIM stock analysis.