Lightbridge Corp (NASDAQ:LTBR) Running Up The Charts

Lightbridge Corp (NASDAQ:LTBR), the nuclear fuel developer, recently released its Q1 2017 earnings results, which surprised the market. The share price went in a few days from trading at $1.27 to $1.85. This is a approximately 45% return in less than ten days. Surprised by this astonishing returns, the editorial team decided to research this small company. We figured out, while studying the LTBR's profile, that it is not only delivering solid results, but it is also slightly underdeveloped, works with very important European industrial groups, and has a solid balance sheet. Check out the price action.SourceBusinessLightbridge says on its website that is responsible for the development and marketing of the "next generation of nuclear fuel technology that will significantly improve the economics and safety of existing and new reactors, with a meaningful impact on preventing climate change". For those who are not familiar with the lucrative nuclear business, the product is distributed to nuclear power plants in the following assembly, which contains the fuel:Lightbridge full-size PWR fuel assembly mock-up (Source)Additionally, LTBR provides consulting services to other organizations and governments around the world. In fact, the company stated in its last quarter that its entire revenue stream comes from this activity.

"At the present time, all of our revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016 is from our consulting services business segment. The fee type and structure that we offer for each client engagement is dependent on a number of variables, including the complexity of the services, the level of the opportunity for us to improve the client’s electricity generation capabilities using nuclear power plants, and other factors." Source

Let's have a look now at the most recent earning release.Q1 2017EarningsThe following numbers were reported:- Net Income: ($0.2) per share, which is better than the same quarter in 2016- Company’s cash flows: $1.1 millionHowever, the most interesting news was not the financial figures. The company is still in the R&D stage, developing the product, thus traders don't really look at the numbers, but at the partners collaborating. The bigger they are, the better for a small company like LTBR. The most intriguing development was the announcement of the creation of a joint venture with AREVA.

“We continue to progress towards commercialization of our proprietary next generation nuclear fuel for current and future reactors. We are advancing towards the creation of a formal joint venture agreement with AREVA to develop, manufacture and commercialize fuel assemblies based on our fuel technology, which we expect to finalize in the coming months. We believe AREVA is the ideal partner, bringing its leading expertise in nuclear fuel assembly design, licensing and fabrication, as well as an established global customer base.” Source“At the same time, we are advancing our discussions with a leading U.S. nuclear utility toward an end-user agreement for the first use of Lightbridge-designed nuclear fuel in a commercial reactor in the United States. Also, we remain on track for irradiation testing of our nuclear fuel samples at the Halden reactor in Norway.”

Areva is a French multinational group, specializing in nuclear power and renewable energy, headquartered in Paris. It is very big player in the nuclear industry, which will be able to bring a lot of revenues to the company. In our opinion, it is what traders celebrated. In addition, the fact that the company may have a "leading U.S. nuclear utility" as a client is very good news.Balance SheetThe following are the most relevant assets:

• Cash in hand: $5,215,035
• Patent costs: $1,203,354
• Total assets: $8,135,956

Thus, the company is cash rich. Taking into account that the amount of shares outstanding is about 9.9 million, the cash per share is about $0.52, and this is not all, as the company is backed with $1.2 million in intangible assets. Furthermore, the amount of assets is about 7x times the amount of liabilities and the company has no long term debt. Have a look:

• Accounts payable and accrued liabilities: $1,159,163
• Long term debt: $0
• Total liabilities: $1,159,163

To sum up, the financial situation of the company is quite good.Earnings callIf this financial review is not enough, the investors can find more information about the company's results in the earnings transcript, which we found here. Linda Joan, CFO of the company, gave her opinion in the conference. In the conference, the CEO added some information about the JV with AREVA in the Q&A time. We believe that the following remarks are interesting:

"Well, what I think, first of all, is that the deal has been changing in some ways from the initial concept that we think are better for Lightbridge and Lightbridge's investors than a straight licensing deal; to have a 50-50 JV with AREVA. What we're trying to do is more expansive. We'll also fold again now direct work with 2 utilities, leading toward end user agreements. We're not just trying to have qualifying fuel in a reactor in Norway." Source

ConclusionLightbridge Corp has some very interesting features that the market is finally noticing. First of all, the company is signing deals with big partners, such as AREVA and other utilities. Furthermore, the financial situation of the company is remarkable. The balance sheet is very stable, the company has a lot of cash on hand, intangible assets and no long term debt. We believe that all these facts provide a very interesting platform and will sustain the company in the future, when its fuel is ready to be sold. Additionally, the company seems to have the clients already waiting at the door. To sum up, there is a lot to like in LTBR, so try to stay alert. We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on LTBR, sign up below!Disclosure: We have no position in LTBR and have not been compensated for this article.