Is "the other Sirius" a viable long-term investment?

In a couple of "firsts", we're looking at a share which inspired one of the funniest song lyrics ever (arse... the size of a small countree!) along with another share which isn't even trading, due to a period of suspension. But it is potentially interesting!

The other Sirius (LSE:SRSP)

To deal with Sirius Petroleum first, it had been showing - from our perspective - early signals of something important happening. Then, suddenly, trade in their shares ceased pending some sort of announcement.

It results in the situation where we can now speculate on what is required to make the share useful as a longer-term punt or even as a near term trade.

When "they" pressed the pause button on Sirius, it was trading around 1.12p and, in the event of it resuming trade priced above 1.37, we're showing coming growth toward 2p as a viable ambition.

But if "they" opt to relist it above 2p, the game changes as movement toward 2.6 is hoped, perhaps even 3.5p. And, should some miracle take the share above 3.5p, we'd require to give the tea leaves a damned good shake and run the numbers again.

Of course, "they" could opt do the nasty on traders by relisting, then immediately diluting the number of shares in circulation. Only if this drove the price below the red line on the chart below (currently 0.92p) would we be seriously alarmed.

The only reason for bringing this up has been behaviour from a few other companies over the years who sometimes appear less concerned at their share price than we'd prefer.

National Express (LSE:NEX)

National Express and their place in our brain, due to featuring in a Divine Comedy tune, has a pretty amazing uptrend since 2009, with the share price now needing to break below 295p to reliably indicate a bump on the road.

Perhaps more important is the downtrend since 2007 and this indicates the price needs to go above 385p to signal something important is happening.

Given it is currently trading around 360p, it certainly does not require much movement to hit the 385p trigger - above that shows an initial ambition of 397p with secondary, if bettered, at 410p, where we'd anticipate some stutters.

Importantly for the longer term, closure above the blue line does shuffle the share into position for longer-term growth toward 477p.

Alistair Strang has led high-profile and "top secret" software projects since the late 1970s and won the original John Logie Baird Award for inventors and innovators. After the financial crash, he wanted to know "how it worked" with a view to mimicking existing trading formulas and predicting what was coming next. His results speak for themselves as he continually refines the methodology.

Alistair Strang is a freelance contributor and not a direct employee of Interactive Investor. All correspondence is with Alistair Strang, who for these purposes is deemed a third-party supplier. Buying, selling and investing in shares is not without risk. Market and company movement will affect your performance and you may get back less than you invest. Neither Alistair Strang, Shareprice, or Interactive Investor will be responsible for any losses that may be incurred as a result of following a trading idea. 

This article is for information and discussion purposes only and does not form a recommendation to invest or otherwise. The value of an investment may fall. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.