Owing to the "shale revolution", the stock price of an outfit that had originated in the  stagnating business of supplying sand traps to golf courses, and which had been at death's door as recently as 2011, had gone parabolic.

Emerge Energy Services (EMES) presently traded at $145 per share, reflecting a red hot gain of 8.5X over its $17 IPO price fifteen months earlier. In a literal sense, silicon valley had come to the silicon dunes of Lake Michigan, as reflected in EMES' valuation at 43X its LTM earnings.

Given the fact that EMES' share price had most recently risen by $100 or $2.5 billion of market cap just since January 2014, the "momo" story was self-evidently all about upside growth, not current profits or cash flow. In fact, during its 14 quarters as a public filer, EMES had generated negative $50 million of operating cash flow after CapEx. So at a total enterprise value of $3.7 billion, the punters chasing the stock straight up the parabolic curve would seemingly have anticipated some stupendous growth indeed.