JES

JES: 39m shares translates to 3.3% of shares out. Add that with the 34.6m shares sold in early Jan, this translates to a combined 6.3% stake sold by the CEO within a period of one month. The shares have risen ~67% from the low of $0.135 on Christmas eve, to the current $0.225. Over this period, there were market whispers that JES might be an acquisition target. However, if this were true, it would make more sense for the CEO to hold on to his majority stake in order to extract a control premium for his shares. If we do not see a new significant shareholder emerge as a result of today's transaction, by contradiction, we can conclude that there is low probability that the rumors are true. Valuation wise, JES trades at 0.67x P/B, below its larger peers Yangzijiang and Cosco at 1.3x and 1.7x respectively. Though conversly, JES trades at a higher 24.9x P/E, vs YZJ's 5x P/E and Cosco's 17.8x P/E.