I am a private investor interested in exchanging ideas and information with other investors about the economic side of the Titanic.
Last year I read about the company RMS Titanic Inc. and its parent company Premier Exhibitions Inc. who is the exclusive salvor in possession of the Titanic wreck and organizes the worldwide exhibitions of the Titanic artifacts.
I was excited by the information that these artifacts have been appraised at over $50 million while they are in the company's books only at cost with about $3 million. This is an enormous potential appreciation of the company's assets which is not yet valued by the market.
One reason is certainly that the company, which is actually traded on the OTC BB under the ticker PXHB (will soon move to NASDAQ), is still widely unknown as a public company and as an investment opportunity.
Another reason is in my opinion the fact that the legal position as salvor in possion gives the company the exclusive right to salvage artifacts from the RMS Titanic wreck and to show them in their expositions, but is not equivalent to an ownership title which would allow them to dispose of the artifacts in order to recover the salvaging cost or even profit from their investment.

Anyway there has been a decisive and very positive judgement this year where the the Court of Appeals has decided that Premier has a right to a salvage award which will have to be determined by the District Court.
Premier has seeked for an award of $225 million. The award will most probably not reach this number, but considering the market value of the artifacts, we can expect an award of several tens of millions, which would boost the company's assets by a factor of at least 200-300% and thus increase its market value significantly. The actual stockholders equity (i.e. assets minus liabilities) is about $17 million, and the stock is trading around $4.20.
Of course nobody knows when this will happen and what will be the exact amount, the only certain thing is that it will happen, and very probably it will not take more than a year or two from now.

Another important part of the courts decision is that it vacates the previous District Courts refusal to recognise Premiers title to the so called "French Artifacts" which alone have been appraised at over $16 million.

What is more important to me as an investor, though, is the fact that Premier Exhibitions has been profitable for several quarters now and that the company projects the net earnings for the current fiscal year to about $0.40 per share. I think (and other investors are of the same opinion) that this projection is rather conservative and it could be more than that. Considering that peer companies (public companies working in the same industry) are valued with an average P/E factor of more than 20 (i.e. the share price is higher then 20 times the annual net income per share), a correct valuation of the company under this aspect would be $8 to $10.
This means that the stock is actually heavily undervalued (less than 50%) and thus offers a rare investment chance which may double its value in less than a year.
The company already satisfies al requirements for a listing on the more prestigious NASDAQ, so this will happen quite soon. Once listed on the NASDAQ this undervalued stock will become a target for investment funds who generally do not invest in OTC stocks. Thus we can expect a significant increase of the share price just as a consequence of higher buying pressure. Eventually the share price will find its equilibrium around the average market valuation of 20-25 times the annual net earnings.

Add to this that Premier has proven to have a very serious and shareholder friendly management which has been able to produce growing revenues, net income and stockholders value in the recent past, then the outlook is very positive. The growth is certainly not limited to this fiscal year.
Three different permanent locations for Titanic exhibitions are being discussed and will will add to the company's success.

Of course I cannot discuss all aspects in one post, but you may want to check out out this website Premier Exhibitions Inc. Investors Organisation to get a better idea.

Probably the Titanic section will be of particular interest for you, especially the part about the ownership and the value of the artifacts.

Besides the Titanic investmentment, the company owns the wreck of the Carpathia and is very successful with its "Bodies" Exhibitions.

Perhaps this aspect of the RMS Titanic might even merit its own forum and not just a thread.

As a post script, I am a private person living in Europe, and in no way affiliated with the discussed company but I am holding shares of it.

I wonder who added the stupid poll about cats and dogs to this thread.
It has nothing to do with the Titanic and even less with this thread. Is this a kindergarten?

Since my first post on this topic you could have made a nice profit with the Titanic stock, had you invested then.
The share price then was $4.20, yesterday the stock closed at $5.50. This is up 31% during the last 2 months, and the stock is still undervalued.
The share price is expected to be at least $10 by the end of this year and $20 by the end of next year.

Meanwhile the stock moved from the OTC to the Nasdaq and changed ticker sign to PRXI.

The next quarterly income statement is expected to be very positive, so the price will continue to rise.