Buying Dollars for Dimes

There's this thing called the Baltic Dry Index, which is a broadish measure of the supply vs. demand, or price, to ship certain stuff (bulk dry raw materials, if you care) around the world. It's cratered lately, to the tune of roughly 95% off peak. I shudder to think of my feeding quantities, which have already been cut by some 40% due to austerity measures and alleged stifle weakness, falling another 55%.

There's this company that ships bulk dry goods--and does some drilling, too--called, of all things, DryShips. Thing is, its equity, which consists largely of dry bulk ships and drilling rigs net of debt, is, according to their latest quarterly report, some $2.1B. As contrasted to their market cap, which is a mere $170M, or less than last quarter's net income of $179M. So really, the title shoulda been buying dollars for pennies. But pennies shouldn't exist anyway, given their prohibitive materials cost and negative utility, so let's compromise and say nickels, which doesn't alliterate nearly as well with dollars as does dimes. So provided dry bulk armageddon doesn't truly occur, since otherwise we're all doomed anyhow, the stock at current valuation shouldn't get much worse. But could it?

Well, as the sometimes-wise Keynes once said, "The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent."

Update: Though having seemingly caught a presumably local bottom for this stock, prudence dictates I direct you to this and especially this, in which I conclude the company probably isn't worth the risk. Unlike most, I'd rather be good than lucky, though wouldn't mind the luck if it were more systematic. The good kind, natch...