Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (ASX: LNG) started 2014 as a relatively unknown $125 million LNG company trading at 26 cents per share. It ended the year up 895% at $2.35, reaching a high of $4.49 along the way, to finish with a market capitalisation of over $1.1 billion.
The Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd of 2015
An early favourite for the title of Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd of 2015 is Ensogo Ltd (ASX: E88), previously known as iBuy Group under the ticker IBY. The company was founded by the same two Asia-based entrepreneurs that started iCar Asia Ltd (ASX: ICQ) and iProperty Group Ltd (ASX: IPP) and owns a stable of Asian deal websites in the same model as Catch Of the Day and Groupon.
The company had a terrible 2014 as the share price tumbled from a high of 70 cents to a low of 7 cents in late December.
Huge Rally
The stock has since jumped over 100% in just a few trading days to sit at 14.5 cents at the end of trade on Tuesday. It was as high as 17.5 cents during the day on Tuesday. The surge appears to be a result of speculation linking a host of rivals as potential suitors looking for a takeover of the company.
Time to Buy?
I doubt it. Despite the success that the group appears to be having with iCar and iProperty, it appears that that Ensogo's websites are struggling to achieve profitability and technical issues appear to be marring the user experience.
The company revamped its management team in December, following the renaming, and noted that it had "taken a very specific view in regard to the type of people Ensogo needs to attract in order to afford us the best chance of executing on the enormous opportunity that is e-commerce in Southeast Asia."
Ensogo appears to me to be no more than a toss of the coin to outperform in 2015 – but then again I didn't pick LNG either.
