Ton Mile Trader

The Alpha Male Network: A pretty solid drubbing across the board. The softening AG rate atmosphere may have led to the initial slide – and the broader stock market took over from there. With earnings announcements right around the corner – “nimble” buying and selling will be required to capture the best of this sector. Keep an eye on the NAT dividend, as it could provide some upside to this name. RAMS is another story – though so far, the apocalypse has not occurred – so the charitable trust remains long but less than strong.
Dry Bulk : The dry collapse wasn’t completely unpredictable since the run up on the prior day made absolutely no sense. The broad market sell-off only added to the misery. We would love to report that TBSI should bounce back after its 10% debacle – but we have all seen these movies before. While some form of mean reversion is possible – so is more pain. Keep that in mind.
Asia : Asian stocks finished mixed today. Korea Line saw the biggest gain (+4.1%), while Shanghai-listed shares of Cosco (-3%) went the other route. Over the last three months, Asian dry bulk equities are down by an average of 15%.

In ratings news…

- Greg Lewis maintains his NEUTRAL rating on RAMS , though he cuts price target to $7 (from $9). He estimates NAV at $8.50/share - though believes a 20% discount to this number is called for.

- Natasha Boyden maintains a BUY on KEX and raises price target to $67 (from $69) citing positive outlook on the inland tank barge segment.

- Alex Brand at Stephens maintains his EQUALWEIGHT on KEX ($57), citing solid fundamentals for 2008.
- Henrik With maintains a HOLD on Wilh Wilhelmsen (NOK 195).

Anyone interested in the LPG sector should note below from Henrik With at DNB:

· Although we had expected LPG shipping rates would rise in 2Q/3Q, the earnings development has been much stronger than anticipated

· In addition to elevated transportation volumes, an overall negative effective fleet growth so far this year has supported the market

· A massive delivery schedule of new vessels for the remainder of the year and in 2009 should however cap rate levels going forward

· We hence keep our muted outlook for LPG shipping in 2008-2009, with rates likely to remain highly volatile

· Despite our significant earnings revisions, many stocks in this segment are still not attractively priced in our view

· We still favour companies exposed to smaller vessel classes, and our top picks thus remain IM Skaugen and Camillo Eitzen