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LODE, Comstock Inc.
Comstock commercializes innovative technologies, systems and supply chains that extract, process, and convert under-utilized waste and natural resources into clean energy and supporting products, including sustainable solutions that produce renewed and repurposed electrification metals and minerals from end-of-life solar panels.
Bioleum Corporation ("Bioleum"), the Company's subsidiary, seeks to commercialize technologies that produce renewable fuels from waste, energy crops and other forms of woody biomass.
We approach the challenge of sustainability head-on by innovating, developing and commercializing technologies that accomplish more while utilizing fewer natural resources, protecting our ecosystem from the negative impact of carbon emissions and toxic materials, and enabling and empowering the next industrial revolution.
The business
What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.
Next report By 11/13 · the 10-Q for the quarter ended late September · due within 45 days of period end · has filed ~37 days after · the wire records it on arrival
The business in brief
read the 10-K →What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.
- What it is
- Revenue is Metals (90%), Mining (9%) and Corporate Segment and Other Operating (1%).
- Situation
- Unprofitable. No meaningful revenue yet; the record is the cash on hand against the burn.
- What moves the needle
- The spread and utilization. What decides it: the gap between product prices and feedstock costs, how full the plants run, and where it sits when the commodity cycle turns down. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on pricing power & competition, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
- Is it a good business?
- Return on capital has rarely cleared the cost of capital (median −29%, above 15% in 0 of 10 years). Owner earnings, the cash-based check, have been thin too. This is price-taker territory, where the balance sheet and the cycle matter more than any multiple; the rest is in the 10-K.
Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.
Where the money comes from
read the 10-K →Metals is 90% of revenue, with Mining the other meaningful segment at 9%.
- Metals90%$1M
- Mining9%$136K
- Corporate Segment and Other Operating1%$17K
- Strategic Investments0%$0
- Bioleum0%$0
From the segment footnote of the company's own 10-K. Shares are of total revenue; the profit bar shows each segment's share of segment operating profit, before unallocated corporate costs.
The record
Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.
The record, 2016–2025
realized figures from each filing · older years to the left| 2016’16 | 2017’17 | 2018’18 | 2019’19 | 2020’20 | 2021’21 | 2022’22 | 2023’23 | 2024’24 | 2025’25 | TTMTTMJun 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | |||||||||||
| $5M | $104K | $150K | $180K | $202K | $862K | $178K | $1M | $3M | $2M | $1M | RevenueRevenue |
| — | — | — | — | $150K | $590K | $178K | — | — | ($1M) | — | Gross profitGross prof. |
| — | — | — | — | 74% | 68% | 100% | — | — | −69% | — | Gross marginGross mgn |
| 69% | n/m | n/m | n/m | n/m | 643% | n/m | 988% | 421% | n/m | n/m | SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev |
| — | — | — | — | 0% | 48% | n/m | 480% | 633% | 793% | n/m | R&D / revenueR&D/rev |
| ($10M) | ($9M) | ($7M) | ($5M) | ($5M) | ($6M) | ($19M) | ($13M) | ($40M) | ($38M) | ($59M) | Operating incomeOp. inc. |
| −201.4% | n/m | n/m | n/m | n/m | −743.0% | n/m | −989.0% | n/m | n/m | n/m | Operating marginOp. mgn |
| ($13M) | ($11M) | ($9M) | ($4M) | $15M | ($30M) | ($47M) | — | $53M | $43M | — | Pretax incomePretax |
| ($13M) | ($11M) | ($9M) | ($4M) | $15M | ($25M) | ($47M) | $9M | ($53M) | ($43M) | ($61M) | Net incomeNet inc. |
| — | — | — | — | 0% | — | — | 0% | 0% | 0% | — | Effective tax rateTax rate |
| Cash flow & returns | |||||||||||
| ($3M) | ($7M) | ($4M) | ($2M) | ($4M) | ($7M) | ($12M) | ($14M) | ($14M) | ($24M) | ($31M) | Operating cash flowOp. cash |
| $6M | $4M | $3M | $2M | $1M | $1M | $3M | $2M | $2M | $4M | $5M | Depreciation & amortizationD&A |
| $4M | ($146K) | $2M | ($319K) | ($20M) | $16M | $31M | ($25M) | $37M | $15M | $25M | Working capital & otherWC & other |
| $747K | $130K | $2M | $2M | $131K | $78K | $1M | $2M | — | — | — | CapexCapex |
| 14.7% | 124.8% | n/m | n/m | 64.8% | 9.1% | 569.2% | 142.7% | — | — | — | Capex / revenueCapex/rev |
| ($3M) | ($7M) | ($6M) | ($5M) | ($4M) | ($8M) | ($13M) | ($15M) | — | — | — | Owner earningsOwner earn. |
| −66.0% | n/m | n/m | n/m | n/m | −878.1% | n/m | n/m | — | — | — | Owner earnings marginOE mgn |
| ($3M) | ($7M) | ($6M) | ($5M) | ($4M) | ($8M) | ($13M) | ($15M) | — | — | — | Free cash flowFCF |
| −66.0% | n/m | n/m | n/m | n/m | −878.1% | n/m | n/m | — | — | — | Free cash flow marginFCF mgn |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | $12M | $0 | — | $0 | AcquisitionsAcquis. |
| $3M | $979K | ($2M) | $3M | $3M | ($16M) | ($4M) | $4M | ($6M) | ($22M) | — | Investing cash flowInv. cash |
| ($1M) | $7M | $4M | $192K | $2M | $27M | $12M | $11M | $18M | $62M | — | Financing cash flowFin. cash |
| ($1M) | $2M | ($2M) | $527K | $1M | $3M | ($3M) | $1M | ($3M) | $16M | — | Change in cashΔ cash |
| -34% | -35% | -32% | -15% | -17% | -6% | -26% | -15% | -47% | -33% | -44% | ROICROIC |
| -90% | -89% | -101% | -16% | 47% | -27% | -87% | 12% | -89% | -40% | -44% | Return on equityROE |
| −90% | −89% | −101% | −16% | 47% | −27% | −87% | 12% | −89% | −40% | −44% | Retained to equityRetained/eq |
| Balance sheet | |||||||||||
| $184K | $2M | $489K | $1M | $2M | $6M | $3M | $23M | $954K | $17M | $31M | Cash & investmentsCash+inv |
| $0 | — | — | — | — | — | $5M | $26K | $2M | $1M | $1M | ReceivablesReceiv. |
| $805K | $321K | $405K | $923K | $314K | $633K | $714K | $1M | $3M | $2M | $2M | Accounts payablePayables |
| ($805K) | — | — | — | — | — | $4M | ($1M) | ($434K) | ($982K) | ($769K) | Operating working capitalOper. WC |
| $8M | $8M | $9M | $13M | $21M | $14M | $31M | $23M | $13M | $21M | $58M | Current assetsCur. assets |
| $2M | $1M | $2M | $4M | $5M | $24M | $32M | $15M | $8M | $10M | $18M | Current liabilitiesCur. liab. |
| 3.3× | 7.0× | 3.6× | 3.0× | 4.3× | 0.6× | 1.0× | 1.6× | 1.5× | 2.1× | 3.2× | Current ratioCurr. ratio |
| $15M | $13M | $10M | $8M | $9M | $15M | $13M | $15M | $9M | $30M | — | Net PP&ENet PP&E |
| — | — | — | — | $0 | $13M | $0 | — | $0 | $2M | $2M | GoodwillGoodwill |
| $34M | $31M | $29M | $40M | $43M | $127M | $100M | $106M | $91M | $170M | $194M | Total assetsAssets |
| $9M | $10M | $9M | $5M | $4M | $4M | $8M | $10M | $8M | $0 | $0 | Total debtDebt |
| $9M | $8M | $9M | $4M | $1M | ($1M) | $5M | ($13M) | $8M | ($17M) | ($31M) | Net debt / (cash)Net debt |
| -13.6× | -5.2× | -5.2× | -6.1× | -13.0× | -37.9× | -11.7× | -7.7× | -13.3× | -19.8× | -68.6× | Interest coverageInt. cov. |
| $19M | $19M | $19M | $16M | $11M | $34M | $44M | $28M | $32M | $59M | — | Total liabilitiesTotal liab. |
| — | — | $0 | $270K | $0 | $3M | $3M | $0 | $0 | $3M | — | Noncontrolling interestsNCI |
| $14M | $12M | $9M | $23M | $32M | $90M | $54M | $78M | $60M | $108M | $137M | Shareholders’ equityEquity |
| 0.4% | 0.0% | — | 0.0% | 101.3% | 53.8% | 270.6% | −0.2% | 1.4% | — | 4.1% | Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev |
| — | — | — | — | — | $6M | $13M | — | $9M | $9K | $9K | Goodwill written downGW imp. |
| Per share | |||||||||||
| 35.3M | 41.1M | 11.9M | 19.5M | 30.6M | 50.4M | 74.5M | 10.5M | 16.6M | 36.7M | 70.9M | Shares out (diluted)Shares |
| $0.14 | $0.00 | $0.01 | $0.01 | $0.01 | $0.02 | $0.00 | $0.12 | $0.18 | $0.04 | $0.01 | Revenue / shareRev/sh |
| $-0.37 | $-0.26 | $-0.79 | $-0.20 | $0.49 | $-0.49 | $-0.63 | $0.87 | $-3.21 | $-1.17 | $-0.86 | EPS (diluted)EPS |
| $-0.09 | $-0.16 | $-0.48 | $-0.24 | $-0.13 | $-0.15 | $-0.18 | $-1.47 | — | — | — | Owner earnings / shareOE/sh |
| $-0.09 | $-0.16 | $-0.48 | $-0.24 | $-0.13 | $-0.15 | $-0.18 | $-1.47 | — | — | — | Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh |
| $0.02 | $0.00 | $0.14 | $0.13 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.01 | $0.17 | — | — | — | Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh |
| $0.41 | $0.29 | $0.79 | $1.19 | $1.04 | $1.78 | $0.72 | $7.44 | $3.60 | $2.93 | $1.94 | Book value / shareBVPS |
The diluted share count moved ×1/3.45 into 2018 — shares retired, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
The diluted share count moved ×1.63 into 2019 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
The diluted share count moved ×1.57 into 2020 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
The diluted share count moved ×1.65 into 2021 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
The diluted share count moved ×1.48 into 2022 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
The diluted share count moved ×1/7.08 into 2023 — shares retired, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
The diluted share count moved ×1.58 into 2024 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
The diluted share count moved ×2.21 into 2025 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
The diluted share count moved ×1.93 into TTM — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
| 9-yr | 5-yr | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / share | −12.7%/yr | +45.0%/yr |
| Capital spending / share | +35.0%/yr (7-yr) | +4.5%/yr |
| Book value / share | +24.5%/yr | +23.0%/yr |
Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.
In fiscal 2023 the business reported $9M of profit but ($15M) of owner earnings: $25M less than the profit line, taken out by capital spending and the timing of cash.
| FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 | FY2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reported net income | $9M | ($47M) | ($25M) | $15M | ($4M) |
| Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back | +$2M | +$3M | +$1M | +$1M | +$2M |
| Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost | −$2K | +$482K | +$464K | +$204K | — |
| Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items | −$25M | +$31M | +$16M | −$20M | −$319K |
| Cash from operations | ($14M) | ($12M) | ($7M) | ($4M) | ($2M) |
| Capital expenditurecash put back in to keep running and to grow | −$2M | −$1M | −$78K | −$131K | −$2M |
| Owner earnings | ($15M) | ($13M) | ($8M) | ($4M) | ($5M) |
| Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue | -1212% | -7364% | -878% | -1931% | -2641% |
Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the capital it must spend to hold its position . The cash-flow statement also adds stock comp back as non-cash, but it is a real cost paid in shares; counted as the expense it is (less ($2K)), owner earnings is nearer ($15M).
Much of fiscal 2023's profit didn't arrive as operating cash; it sits in “working capital & other” above. That can be a real inventory or timing swing, or profit that doesn't run through operating cash at all: a heavy tax year, equity-method earnings, or investment income booked through investing. For a year like this, owner earnings understates the cash earned; the full cash-flow statement carries the rest.
Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.
Quality & stewardship
Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.
Owner’s Scorecard
Will it survive?
- Can it pay its interest? -19.8×Does not cover its interestOperating income ($38M) ÷ interest expense $2M
What this means
A full year of operating profit didn't cover the interest bill. This is the zombie zone: the business depends on refinancing, asset sales, or forbearance to service its debt.
- Net cash, debt-freeCash $17M − debt $0
What this means
Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by $17M, on net the company owes nothing, and can act from strength when others can't. Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.
- Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Is it a good business?
- Below average through the cycle10-yr median, range -47%–-6%; -33% latest = NOPAT ($30M) ÷ invested capital $91MIndustry peers: median -81%
What this means
The rate the business earns on the money tied up in it, Buffett's north star, because over time a stock tracks the ROIC beneath it. Above ~15% sustained hints at a moat; a return below the cost of capital (~8%) erodes value as a business grows rather than building it — the test Buffett weighs most. The headline is the median of the last 10 years (it ran -33% most recently), so one peak or trough year doesn't set the verdict. Asset-light businesses (R&D expensed, little capital) read artificially high, pair this with Owner Earnings.
- Not enough dataIndustry peers: median -48%
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
- Are earnings backed by cash? ($24M)Loss, and burning cashNet income ($43M) · cash from operations ($24M)
What this means
The company reported a net loss, so a conversion ratio isn't meaningful. What matters then is whether operations still threw off cash, here, they did not.
How is the cash used?
- Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
- Investing or harvesting? —Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
The promise and the pay packet
- Growth is being boughtSelling and marketing $1M ÷ revenue $2M
What this means
Sales and marketing as a share of revenue, kept apart from administrative overhead because it answers a different question: how much a business must spend to win the next customer. A company whose product pulls customers in spends little here and keeps the difference; one that must buy its growth is running to stand still, and the spending has to keep rising for revenue to keep rising. Read it beside the growth rate, not alone.
Graham’s defensive tests · 2 of 4 met
Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.
- Adequate size MissRevenue ≥ $2B · $2M
What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
- Strong liquidity PassCurrent ratio ≥ 2× · 2.06×
What this means
Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.
- Conservative debt PassDebt ≤ working capital · $0 vs $11M WC
What this means
Graham's rule that borrowings not exceed net current assets. Capital-heavy and buyback-heavy firms routinely fail it, read it next to interest coverage, not alone.
- Earnings stability MissA profit every year (10-yr record) · 8 loss years
What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
- Dividend record —Uninterrupted dividends · no dividend line tagged in the data
What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. This record carries no dividends-paid line in any year — common for partnerships, whose distributions file under tags the chain doesn't read — so the criterion is withheld rather than judged on silence.
- Earnings growth —Earnings +33% over the record · —
What this means
Earnings were negative early in the record, a growth rate isn't meaningful.
- Moderate price —P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price
What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $-0.38/share (latest year $-0.57), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $1.42/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.
Durability & moat, 2016–2025
Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.
- Profitable years 2 of 10
What this means
Lost money in 8 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.
- Return on capital ≥ 15% 0 of 10 yrs
What this means
A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.
- Operating margin −4545% → −1586% (3-yr avg ends)
What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about −4545% early to −1586% lately, median −2714% — pricing power intact or improving.
- Reinvestment, incremental ROIC −29%
What this means
Reinvested capital came back at a negative incremental return over this window — the invested base grew while operating profit did not. The filings show where it went.
- Worst year 2022 · −10868.0% op. margin
What this means
Operations went underwater in 2022, understand why before trusting the good years.
- Share count +0.4%/yr
What this means
Roughly flat share count, little dilution, little buyback.
All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.
Current Position
as of the latest quarter, Jun 30, 2026Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.
- Cash & short-term investments$31M
- Receivables$1M
- Other current assets$25M
- Accounts payable$2M
- Other current liabilities$16M
From the company's latest filing.
Acquisitions & goodwill
from the balance sheet & the 10-year cash-flow recordGoodwill grows only when a company acquires and falls only when it concedes it overpaid. The size of that bet, the cash put into buying rather than building, and how much has already been written off.
$28M written down across 4 years (2021, 2022, 2024, 2025): goodwill the company has already conceded it overpaid for, charged against earnings. A write-down costs no cash (the cash went out when the deal was signed), but it is management marking its own past judgment to market.
Beside that spending sits $9M of cumulative amortization of acquired intangibles charged against earnings since fiscal 2020 — the purchase price of past deals, expensed over time.
Goodwill, acquired intangibles and equity from the latest balance sheet; acquisition spend and amortization summed across the company's full tagged history, write-downs across the 10-year record, from the company's own filings.
Management, ownership & pay
read the proxy →From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid, beside what the business earned for its owners in the same years.
| Fiscal year | Chief executive | Pay, as filed | “Actually paid” | Net income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Corrado De Gasperis | $551k | $687k | $9M |
| 2024 | Corrado De Gasperis | $502k | $228k | ($53M) |
| 2025 | Corrado De Gasperis | $559k | $559k | ($43M) |
Both pay figures are the company’s own, from the pay-versus-performance table its proxy statement files. “As filed” is the Summary Compensation Table total: salary, bonus, and equity awards at their value on the day of grant. “Actually paid” is the SEC’s prescribed recalculation, which re-marks those equity awards to what they became as they vested; it can swing far above or below the filed figure in either direction, and negative years occur. Net income is the whole business's, as filed, for the same fiscal years.
- Insider ownership2.7%
The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2026 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.
What an owner would ask, FY2025
read the 10-K →- Which reported numbers are a judgment call?Management names Income taxes as critical estimates
each rests partly on management's judgment; the filing's note sets out the assumptionsverify →
The questions the record and the charts do not answer on their own; each carries the figure and the place to look.
Peers, Chemicals
The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each column names the period it is read over, and a median resting on fewer than three years carries that count beside it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each figure against.
| Company | Revenuelatest FY, USD | Gross marginmedian over the record | Op. marginmedian over the record | ROICmedian over the record | Owner earn. marginmedian over the record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEVOGevo Inc. | $161M | -37%4y | -97.9% | -22% | -104% |
| FSIFlexible Solutions International Inc. | $39M | 32% | 12.5% | 12% | 8% |
| ASPIASP Isotopes Inc. | $24M | 32% | -443.6%2y | -81% | -290%2y |
| PCTPureCycle Technologies Inc. | $8M | — | — | -45%2y | — |
| LODEComstock Inc. | $2M | 68%3y | -472.2%2y | -29% | -472%2y |
| LOOPLoop Industries Inc. | $514K | 62%2y | -132.6%1y | -266% | -19%1y |
| ADURAduro Clean Technologies Inc. | $167K | — | — | -180%2y | — |
| SSLSasol Ltd. | as filed: R 249.1B | — | 7.9% | 2%4y | 9% |
| Group median | — | 32% | -115.2% | -37% | -62% |
The price
What a price has to assume.
What the price implies
reverse-DCFThe owner-earnings base could not be formed from this filing’s tagged data (operating cash flow or capital spending is missing), so the owner-earnings reverse-DCF has no base to grow. We read the price from both ends instead: type a price to see the profitability it demands, then set the mature margin you would believe and weigh the two against each other. Nothing leaves your browser unless you enter it in your notebook.
Revenue, delivered58%/yr’20→’25
Enter a price to run it.
A dated snapshot of the price you typed, the assumptions you set, and what the page showed for them. A snapshot is never edited after it is saved. Your notebook is yours alone — the commitment states what is stored and what we will never do.
Two reads of one future. From your price: the owner earnings the company must reach, valued at a mature multiple and discounted back at your rate, expressed as the margin it implies on revenue grown at your rate. From your belief: the mature margin you would credit, set on the dial above. When the margin the price demands runs above the one you would believe, you are paying for a future taken on faith. For a deep cyclical at a trough, normalized through-cycle earnings are the better lens; this mode is for the genuinely unprofitable, and for the profitable business whose capital spending currently outruns its cash.
Manual order: ← LOCO its page in the Manual LOGI →
Industry order: ← KWR the Chemicals chapter LOOP →