Looks like ALS hit a peak of about $30 in 2007. I checked out their balance sheets for the past three years - looks like they bought back their own shares which reduced their outstanding shares a bit but this is getting offset by generous distribution of options?
Also, the oil refinery was in bankruptcy where ALS owned equity. Typically, in a bankruptcy, equity gets wiped and creditors take possession. I couldnt find anything obvious to say that ALS will have something in the refinery. To be conservative with estimates, I gave it a value of zero.
Their business model is definitely interesting/smart.
Looking at their Q2 financial statements, I see cash, marketable securities, accounts receivable and income tax receivable at ~172 million. The total equity is around 232 million. The revenues from continuing operations dont seem to be adequate to explain the rest of the market cap - so pretty much people are betting on the remaining exploration projects to pay off....