'Pennies: Going In Raw' Respond To Torchlight Energy Bears, Talk To Hims And Hers CEO

"Pennies: Going In Raw" hosts Dan Deity and Hugh Henne pitched Torchlight Energy Resources Inc TRCH as an undervalued stock on Benzinga's "Power Hour" on Friday, Feb 12. Since then, the stock has grown more than 20%. In the most recent episode of "Pennies: Going in Raw," the duo updated their thesis.

What To Know: Torchlight Energy is an oil and gas exploration and production company located in Plano, Texas. Henne likes the stock because he believes the company is an innovator and has the potential to pivot to clean energy as part of a merger with photonics company Metamaterial.

Last week, cold fronts swept through parts of the United States, leading to an increase in demand for energy. Torchlight, and other oil and gas companies, benefitted from this increase in demand as the price of crude oil skyrocketed to 12-month highs.

However, Henne's bull case for Torchlight is centered on the company's potential as a takeover target, as opposed to demand for its current services. 

"Part of the reason that I bought ($TRCH) is because the CEO of Meta came out a month ago and said they had 48% of the vote for the merger," Henne said. "No, Torchlight doesn't have any revenue. If the merger doesn't go through, Torchlight is only worth their assets." 

Why It's Important: Metamaterial is in multiple emerging markets including energy, MRIs and EVs. Henne is hoping that investments into Torchlight now will pay off in future endeavors with Metamaterial.

Henne responded to critics that reached out to him questioning why he would invest in a company with zero revenue.

"They're selling their assets… they're going to be spun off into a clean energy company," Henne said. "That's part of the bullish thesis, that they're selling their assets… if there's no merger news then I'm out."

Bull Vs. Bear: A Feb. 18 article on Seeking Alpha from White Diamond Research said shares of Torchlight should be worth only 35 cents a share. Henne did not hold back on the "Pennies" Feb. 21 podcast on how he felt.

"It's clickbait, he's trying to get people to click on it to read the article… well guess what? It ($TRCH) was at $1.50 a few weeks ago," Henne said. Henne offered to bring White Diamond on the show and debate him head to head.

Later in the show, Henne and Knight welcomed Hims and Hers HIMS CEO Andrew Dudum. The young executive shared some of his insights on the future of health care.

"I believe we're in the first batter of the first inning of a 17-inning baseball game with Hims and Hers," Dudum said. "All of health care in the next five to ten years will go to a system like Hims and Hers."

HIMS stock recently had a boost after Cathie Wood's ARK fund disclosed it had bought nearly half a million shares of HIMS. Dudum spoke confidently that telehealth will remain the norm of medical care in the future, even in a post-COVID society.

Benzinga is a sponsor of "Pennies: Going In Raw."