santafe2
3 years ago
Excellent article on BLDE in Barron's this weekend.
Why Blade Stock Is Ready To Take Off
Blade Air Mobility is bringing ride-sharing to helicopters—just don’t call it the Uber of the sky. The stock can take off without that comparison.
Lately, new aircraft with the fancy name of “electric vertical takeoff and landing”—eVTOL— have been generating lots of buzz, as visions of The Jetsons dance in investors’ minds. These zero-emission aircraft are potentially disruptive technologies, but shares of companies dedicated to them are fraught with risks that come with highly speculative, forward-thinking companies: High valuations, no earnings, no sales, and a ton of cash burn.
Blade Air Mobility (ticker: BLDE) is a less risky way to invest in the eVTOL future, though certainly not risk-free. It’s easy to see why the New York–based company has been likened to Uber Technologies (UBER).
Like Uber, it doesn’t own vehicles, but instead has a network of 29 operators with many different aircraft transporting passengers and high-value cargo in cities around the world. It makes money by charging customers combinations of annual fees and per ride ticket prices, and, like Uber, it takes a slice of sales.
That’s where the comparison falls apart, however. Creating a network of pilots ferrying people to airports and dealing with landing fees and federal air-traffic control is a little different than having a fleet of drivers.
“I’ve given up fighting it,” says Blade CEO Rob Wiesenthal, of the Uber analogy. Blade deals with pilots and not gig-economy workers, he adds. And the level of complexity is higher.
Blade became a publicly traded company in May after merging with a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC—one of the first listed urban air-mobility companies. Other eVTOL companies followed, with manufacturers Joby Aviation ( JOBY), Archer Aviation (ACHR), and Lilium (LILM) completing SPAC mergers in August, September, and October, respectively.
Those three companies hope to reshape aviation by offering low-cost aircraft the way SpaceX created new commercial space opportunities with reusable rockets. It won’t be easy.
They have to navigate Federal Aviation Administration approvals while spending billions on aircraft development and watching out for rivals.
Their stocks, which have dropped 30% on average from post merger announcement highs, look a little too speculative given the cash they need to spend and competition between competing eVTOL designs.
Blade, for its part, is happy to see all of the investment going into eVTOL. That isn’t just because it will eventually lower costs. Blade can now offer flights for as low as $95, down from $695 in 2014. New eVTOLs will be much quieter than traditional helicopters, which are too loud to fly in some urban areas. “It’s about quiet,” says Wiesenthal. “When it’s quiet, we can build in more places.”
Blade operates about 10 routes and plans to expand to 28 by 2024, organically and through acquisitions. For instance, the company bought organ transplant transportation firm Trinity Air Medical in September for $23million. Trinity had about $16million in 2020 sales operating in 16 states. Being able to fly on Blade’s larger, existing network means that hospitals can save money, while offering another revenue stream for pilot partners and providing Blade with a foothold in new markets.
Other deals could be announced soon, says J.P. Morgan analyst Bill Peterson, who has an Overweight rating and a $16 price target on the stock, 58% above Friday’s close of $10.10 This isn’t to say that Blade’s stock is a safe bet. The company isn’t profitable. It burned through about $10 million in the calendar second quarter, though it has more than enough cash to expand infrastructure and its network using traditional helicopters and planes, in preparation for eVTOL commercialization. Nor is Blade cheap. Its stock was valued at about $500 million, net of the roughly $300 million in cash. That’s about seven to eight times estimated 2022 sales of $68 million.
Blade is getting close to profitability. During the first nine months of its fiscal year, sales amounted to about $30 million, up 100% year over year. Gross profits—essentially profits before administrative costs, interest, and taxes—came in at $6 million, up from about $1 million a year ago.
Blade needs greater scale to spread over its fixed costs, which were roughly $20million to $25million over the first nine months of its fiscal year. The more sales that Blade can generate off its base, the more profits it earns. Credit Suisse analyst Stephen Ju sees Blade sales growing from $43million in 2021 to $193 million in 2025, and gross profit increasing from about $9 million— a 21% profit margin—to $80 million, or a 41% profit margin. The company should reach positive free cash flow in 2025, enabled partly by Blade’s asset light business model, says Ju, who rates Blade stock an Outperform with a $14 price target—the lowest on the Street— a gain of 39% from Friday’s close.
And that’s just using good, old fashioned helicopters until 2025. If eVTOL does fly, it’s one more reason that Blade can take off.
TruckingAngler
3 years ago
BLDE to Buy Organ-Transportation-Company Trinity Air Medical 9/09/2021.
**This is HUGE- BLDE could then provide immediate transport of organs by AIR!**
Blade Air Mobility Inc. said it would buy Trinity Air Medical Inc., a multi-modal organ-logistics and -transportation company, for an upfront purchase price of about $23 million.
The deal, expected to close next week, includes potential additional contingent consideration based on Trinity achieving Ebitda growth targets over a three-year period.
Blade said it expects the acquisition to accelerate revenue growth in Blade's MediMobility business.
"We expect the combination of Trinity's substantial flight volume with Blade's fast-growing MediMobility business to create the largest dedicated organ air transport company in the United States and enable us to secure more dedicated aircraft, resulting in better availability and pricing for the hospitals we collectively serve," said Blade Chief Financial Officer Will Heyburn.
Trinity is profitable and generated revenues of about $16 million in calendar year 2020, working with transplant centers and organ-procurement organizations in 16 states, Blade said.
"Trinity's end-to-end services integrate air missions with ground transport. Given the existence of landing pads at most hospitals today, we have the ability to immediately replace Trinity's ambulances with helicopters on certain hospital-to-hospital missions, while preparing for a transition to both existing 'last-mile' cargo drones as well as Electric Vertical Aircraft, as soon as they become available," said Blade Chief Executive Rob Wiesenthal."
GLTA
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TruckingAngler
4 years ago
BLDE nice move with merger news today 5/27...
"Blade Air Mobility Says Enters Into Alliance With MagniX For Electrification Of Lima's Amphibious Seaplanes For Urban Air Mobility Flights On Key Blade Routes
8:10 am ET May 27, 2021 (Benzinga) Print
Blade Urban Air Mobility, Inc. ("Blade" or the "Company"), a technology-powered urban air mobility platform, today announced an alliance whereby magniX USA Inc. ("magniX"), a leading manufacturer in electric aviation, will supply its Electric Propulsion Units ("EPU") to Lima NY Corp. ("Lima"), one of Blade's largest aircraft operating partners, for the conversion of Lima's Blade-branded fleet of amphibious Cessna Caravans to all-electric aircraft starting in early 2023, subject to certain conditions.
Blade is the exclusive platform for Lima flights offered to the public. Key routes include flights between the Blade Aqua Lounge at the East 23rd Street seaplane base in New York City, the eastern end of Long Island, New York, and the Blade Terminal in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
Based on current estimates, the all-electric Caravans will operate emission-free at the same speed as the current generation turbine Caravans, with a significantly reduced noise footprint and lower operating costs.
As part of the alliance, Lima will be the exclusive owner in the northeast United States of the supplemental type certificate ("STC") for the conversion of the Caravan's current generation turbine engine to the magniX EPU.
Blade President Melissa Tomkiel said, "Amphibious seaplane service has always been an essential part of our urban air mobility strategy, given the aircraft's unique ability to access city centers through conveniently located waterways, such as Manhattan's East River, as well as traditional airports. The electrification of our accessible fleet of Blade-branded aircraft, made possible through our alliance with magniX and Lima, one of our key operating partners, will further accelerate our transition to quiet, emission-free flight, allowing us to reduce the environmental and sound impact in and around the communities where we fly."
"Partnering with Blade and Lima to bring electric aviation to one of the largest cities, and highly populated regions in the United States, is an incredible proof point to the value of offering communities zero emissions, reduced noise, and lower operating costs," said magniX CEO Roei Ganzarski. "With electric propulsion as our cornerstone, magniX continues to build toward the new electric age of aviation."
Blade's alliance with magniX and Lima comes on the heels of a recent agreement for Blade to secure up to 20 BETA Technologies' ALIA Electric Vertical Aircraft ("EVA") on behalf of Blade's network of operators with scheduled delivery beginning in late 2024, and arrangements for Wisk Aero LLC, a joint venture between Boeing and Larry Page-backed Kitty Hawk, to own, operate and maintain up to 30 EVA for exclusive use across Blade's U.S. route network."
GLTA !
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