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A Conferencing we did go!
Two sleepers from Singular's "Best of the Uncovereds Conference" - financial services facilitator INTL FCStone (INTL) and direct seller turnaround Youngevity (YGYI). From SeeThruEquity: PESI to the rescue and ARTH out to stop life-threating bleeding after surgery or injury in seconds versus minutes today.
By Robert J. and Brian D. Flaherty
Widening the value gap between them, large- cap stocks as a group have surged upwards in 2014 while many small caps have been falling. But which tiny tots are truly bargains? At the November 12th SeeThruEquity and the November 20th Singular Research Best of the Uncovereds conferences in NYC my son Brian and I found fine overlooked micro-cap emerging growth stocks with good management and very reasonable total stock market caps. Most were past the risky start-up stage and starting to perform. Let's start off with two which besides soaring revenues already have profits.
Two scoops on INTL FCStone Inc. Facilitating but never speculating as rival intermediaries shrink, INTL connects underserved clients with vital specialized financial services transactions in increasingly regulated, complex global markets.
"Who has published on your company?" an analyst in the audience asked.
"No one besides Singular Research" responded 51-year-old, South African- born Sean O'Connor, founder and CEO of New York City -based INTL FCStone Inc. (NASDAQ: INTL-18.36).
Instantly, we knew we could give readers a few scoops. One is INTL's booming global payments business could be worth more than the entire company is being valued for in the stock market today. Besides being the most scalable with a growth rate of 30%, payments has the highest margins of close to 60% "We can provide one stop straight-through payments in 135 countries," says O'Connor proudly.
Here's another scoop. If short term interest rates rise from today's trifles to 2% (and some day they will) INTL's EBITDA of $44 million would double. That's because while INTL can't use the $1.8 billion it holds in segregated customer funds from futures margin transactions in its business, INTL can keep the majority of the interest on this huge float. A big driver for INTL going forward will be what happens to interest rates.
"One of the upsides of the financial crises is we have done in five years what we thought would have taken 15 years," says O'Connor. After spending his early career in financial services working mostly for international banks, he started his own business on his dining room table and took over a tiny shell. Today that business has 32 memberships on global exchanges, 35 global offices including five large ones and 1,100 professional employees.
INTL's specialized financial services include commodities, OTC products, global payments, foreign exchange trading and risk advisory services. Markets where the company executes for clients but does not speculate for its own account include grains/oilseeds, metals, securities, energy, dairy, renewable fuels, meats/livestock, forest products and financial futures.
INTL provides foreign exchange and treasury services, securities execution, physical commodities trading and execution, wholesale market making in select foreign currencies. It is involved in origination, structuring and placement of an array of debt instruments. It provides clearing and execution services related to exchange -traded futures and options for institutional and professional traders, asset and commodity financing and facilitation and risk management advisory services.
Over 12 years stockholder's equity has risen from $2 million to $346 million. For its fiscal year ending 9/30/14 INTL had $491 million in operating revenues and a recent stock market cap of $335 million. EBITDA for fiscal year 2014 was $44 million and net income $20 million.
"We differentiate ourselves by having deep relationships as we connect our 20,000 customers with the financial markets," says O'Connor. About half are commercial entities who have to be in their industry markets such as commodity hedging and other functions for their long run survival. The others are mostly financial institutions and traders. INTL provides consultative advice, market intelligence to allow customer to use the markets to manage risk or produce returns or financial solutions. In addition, it provides executions in a variety of markets globally.
Increased global regulation has been a huge and positive game changer for INTL. After the recent large financial crashes regulators everywhere woke up to the fact speculative activities in derivatives , hard- to- understand OTC products, commodities and stocks had put their big banks or even their entire economies in danger of collapse. Everywhere law makers and regulators have clamped down hard with huge penalties. Red tape and rules have increased costs of being in financial services and lowered profits in many niches. In self -defense many banks have cut back or withdrawn from some activities such as trading OTB Bulletin Board stocks.
"With all the regulatory pressures not a week goes by when INTL is not approached by smaller competitors to take over their business. Massive consolidation is taking place driven in large part by increasingly costly and burdensome regulations. The costs and complications of being in the financial services business has gone up. The smaller players are being driven out of the business
Smaller boutiques have decided the effort and cost required to ramp up and meet new regulations was too much and sold out. In the Futures Commission Merchant space the number of participants dropped from 200 about 80 now and will probably be around 40 next year.
Also the number of securities broker/dealers has declined dramatically with devastating consequences of slower growth and less job creation for the American economy. An unintended consequence of regulation is that trading in micro-caps and many small cap companies has become less liquid. In self-defense investors back away from buying illiquid stocks which they might not be able to exit or sell without a loss.
Another unintended consequence has been the daily price volatility in share trading has grown more extreme and frightening. The situation makes it much more difficult for smaller firms to raise capital.
In taking much of the profitability out of being a broker/dealer the regulators have driven many of the honest firms disgusted with the red tape and new risks out of the market. Ironically, many bad guys lurking in the shadows are still there. They never followed the rules anyway. What a mess!
Still O'Connor stresses the added risk and volatility bring more clients to INTL. Remember those surviving endangered broker/dealers play a crucial and unappreciated role. Without many market makers trading their stock, many deserving start-ups become financial orphans. These tiny tots cannot gain the financial traction to reach crucial critical mass and grow into medium- sized employers or even giants and benefit the entire economy.
Adapt or die! As firms trimmed services, sold out or shut down, O'Connor saw opportunity where others saw disaster. Some firms would perform the vital intermediary work in these ever more complicated but growing global financial service mine fields. He built a multi-asset class platform to service mid-sized customers to provide them global access to financial markets required to run their businesses efficiently.
As the number of players in various niches has consolidated and contracted, INTL's budding empire expanded with 18 acquisitions in the last two years. "Most of our peer group companies when regulatory complexity got to be too much they withdrew," says O'Connor. "They shrank. They didn't want to take on the investment required. In contrast we invested. We expanded. We hired people. When talent and market share were cheap we significantly expanded our footprint. We are poised to grow."
Globalization means trading must be more interconnected. INTL broadens to have different ways to access liquidity and find the best executions. Multi classes of assets are added to their capabilities. Customers and counter partners want transparency and to know who they are dealing with. Being a public company helps INTL.
Completing most transactions seamlessly is what makes global commerce possible so INTL's long run future is bright. "We think we are in a good spot," O'Connor sums up. "We are large enough to keep up and stay ahead of the global regulatory boom. We are broad and diverse enough to provide customers what they need. A lot of banks are getting out and their customers come to us."
For more information please visit: https://www.intlfcstone.com/.
Youngevity International's jigsaw puzzle of 1,000 diverse products takes shape! Presenting at both conferences Chief Financial Officer Dave Briskie of Chula Vista, CA-based Youngevity International, Inc. (YGYI-0.24) outlined a spectacular turnaround in progress. He also explained how its present jigsaw puzzle of over 1,000 seemingly unrelated products and services actually makes perfect sense. They include: nutritional products, health and wellness related services , weight loss products, pharmacy discount cards, sports and energy drinks, lifestyle products for pets , spa and bath, garden, skincare, cosmetics, apparel with online fashion shows, jewelry , digital products including scrap books and memory books, packaged foods and gourmet coffee with health benefits.
In 2011 Youngevity emerged from the union of Essential Life Sciences, a direct seller of nutritional and life style products, and Javalution Coffee Company where Briskie was CEO. So Youngevity started in two main sectors, direct selling also known as network marketing (or a pyramid scheme if you are a short seller), and the commercial coffee sector.
To achieve its strategic goals the base needed to get larger and it has. From $22 million at the time of the merger and $85 million for all of fiscal 2013 ending last month booming revenues for the first three quarters of fiscal 2014 already hit $96.7 million. Because of changed pricing strategy, elimination of unprofitable segments and key investment in infrastructure, net income declined. Still this expanding base has remained profitable for 9 consecutive quarters.
What captured our imagination was not just the upward trajectory of revenues, but how the stage is being set so Youngevity can grow to become a very large and important company.
Decades ahead of his time, founder Dr. Joel Wallach's suggestion 25 years ago to put selenium in baby formula just was recommended by the FDA last year. Growing up in zoos with a veterinarian background, Wallach wondered why we were able to wipe out diseases and keep animals healthier yet human beings were suffering and dying from the same types of illnesses. So he created what today is the company's core product- 90 essential nutrients and minerals that everybody should take every day for the rest of their life. That led to additional supplements for those challenged by problems like high blood sugar, heart trouble, joint pain Etc.
But the new direct selling enterprise includes not just these products but a rapidly expanding line over 1,000 diverse seemingly unrelated products. That is because management is taking advantage of an acquisition opportunity. Direct selling attracts entrepreneurs who are often good at starting companies and generating sales. Alas many fail to prosper from lack of capital, diverse products or sufficient support infrastructure.
Over the last 3 years 12 acquisitions have been brought into the parent's business. All their operations have been taken over like their financing and production. That happens because the parent company has created a platform and infrastructure so all facets of a new direct selling operation can be dialed into the company.
Here is how it works. Acquire a new operation with direct sellers who are following their individual passion, be it in fashion (see Mkcollab.com), memory booking (like Shutter Fly), pet care , jewelry , you name it. These direct sellers still deal with their customers interested in their own lines. Soon the new sellers learn they are also dealing with people who can benefit from Youngevity's health and wellness products and other wholesome consumer products too.
How does the standalone coffee business fit in? CLR Roasters is a mid-sized coffee roaster that produces gourmet coffees under its own boutique brands, Café La Rica, Josie's Java House and Javalution. It also produces for a variety of private labels including major cruise lines. Borrowing from parent company nutritional knowhow, it markets a unique line of coffees with health benefits known as JavaFit.
This year CLR acquired its own 1,000 acre plantation in Nicaragua that is Fair Trade, Organic and Rain Forest Alliance Certified. It also operates a 19 acre processing plant and vertically integrated CLR Roasters with the same certifications. As drought conditions reduce green coffee production in Brazil, this operation expects to increase its green coffee distribution business dramatically. It also developed K- cup coffee with health benefits to accommodate direct sellers.
Clearly Youngevity is not just a health and wellness company. It covers all areas of direct selling. "We like to think of ourselves as the Amazon of the direct selling space," says Briskie. A multitude of websites accommodate the growing diversity of products.
While Youngevity sells products in 60 countries a mere 8% of sales are foreign. This compares with 70% for the direct selling industry. So the biggest future growth should be international. By way of Russia Youngevity recently moved into Eastern Europe opening an office in Moscow. It also opened an office in Guadalajara, Mexico where current American direct sellers with roots in Mexico should be able to do lots of cross selling. The rest of the globe awaits!
For more information please visit: http://ygyi.com/
Perma-Fix to the rescue! PESI has an exciting new process to produce Tc-99m for the coming global medical crisis. Leading off the SeeThruEquity conference CEO Louis Centofanti made his case that in being undervalued few stocks can beat his Atlanta, GA -based Perma-Fix Environmental Services Inc. (NASDAQ:PESI-4.33).
In the third quarter of 2014 PESI underwent a dramatic turnaround and return to profitability. The prior losses did not come so much from loss of business as delays in funding ongoing government-related environmental programs. With a recent total stock market cap of around $50 million, PESI operates four major nuclear waste treatment facilities, including one in Oak Ridge, TN. These facilities could not be replaced at many times the current stock market cap.
Providing nuclear services to the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense, this unique waste innovator also assists commercial facilities like America's 104 nuclear power plants. It services customers including numerous medical institutions which must safely dispose of nuclear waste from imaging procedures for the heart, cancer and other internal body organs. Both PESI's Treatment and Services segments are now profitable with excellent growth prospects. PESI generated over $3.5 million of EBITDA in the most recent quarter and has over $20 million of cash and restricted cash.
Barriers to entry are nearly insurmountable. They include technological, financial and constantly changing political pressures as well as federal and state regulatory waste treatment mandates driving demand. PESI has sufficient capacity to support future expansion and improved profitability. Dealing with nuclear waste is a huge and expanding global problem. Dating back to the creation of the first atomic bomb and overkill quantities accumulated in the Cold War plus decommissioning of aging nuclear power plants the problem of how to dispose of nuclear waste continues to grow larger. PESI knows how to do its job. Politics, not technology, postpones solutions while the environmental pollution clocks tick.
The latest exciting development is PESI owns 64% of a public medical isotope business with a stock market cap trading over $30 million. The startup has disruptive medical isotope production technology and is positioned to become a major supplier in a multi-billion dollar industry.
Did you ever wonder why the U.S. versus Iran nuclear power negotiations have been so difficult? The media raises the specter of Iran developing a nuclear bomb. But Iran justifies its program because they want to produce these vital medical isotopes using the current production process which requires highly enriched uranium. You can decide if this is their real intent, but meanwhile they move forward with their enrichment program. At the same time not just Iran but the rest of the world is facing a shortage of such isotopes. Obviously, there is a need for a new process that does not use weapons grade, highly enriched uranium.
There are currently only a handful of specialized reactors around the world capable of producing Technetium-99 (Tc-99m), and two are scheduled for shut down in the coming years. PESI developed a unique resin out of its ability to treat toxic waste created by DOE. Using this resin, Perma-Fix can produce massive quantities of this medical isotope using standard research reactors, which will help address a coming crisis in medical imaging.
Perma-Fix Medical was formed to develop and obtain FDA and other regulatory approvals and commercialize a new process to produce Technetium-99 (Tc-99m). This is the most widely-used medical isotope in the world. "If you take a stress test the doctor will probably inject you with Tc-99m so he will get a great picture of your heart," says CEO Centofanti. PESI's version will relieve supply chain concerns because it is less expensive and does not require the use of government -subsidized weapons grade materials and can be easily deployed around the world using standard research and commercial reactors.
Nearly all the world's supply comes from the thermal fission of highly enriched uranium targets in a small number of highly specialized reactors, all of them outside of the U. S. This process is costly and unreliable and raises serious proliferation concerns. The process creates materials which could be used for nuclear bombs.
Beginning in 2016 a reactor in Canada will no longer receive government funding for isotope production. Some 40% of the Tc-99m supply in North America is derived from this one Chalk River Reactor. The OSIRIS reactor in France is scheduled to close in 2018. Hopefully its replacement will go on stream without disruption. Without an alternative source of Tc-99m, these planned shut downs will put millions of U.S. medical procedures at risk. No wonder Iran claims to want its own supply of enriched uranium!
PESI's new process doesn't use uranium, but natural molybdenum. Besides here in the U.S. the new process was validated at POLATOM. This national center for nuclear research in Warsaw, Poland is a producer and seller of Tc-99m.
In 2014 Perma-Fix Medical listed on the New Connect Market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. It hopes to up list onto the Main Market there and then onto NASDAQ. It is not a layup. Prototypes must be built but the future is promising.
If profitability and growth in the core waste treatment and services segments continue and the new Tc-99m start-up blooms, PESI will be a big winner!
For more information please visit: http://perma-fix.com/
Arch Therapeutics wants to stop surgical and accidental injury bleeding sooner and safer! At the SeeThruEquity conference my son Brian covered the presentation by Co-founder, President and CEO Terrence W. Norchi, M.D. of Wellesley, MA -based Arch Therapeutics, Inc. (ARCH-0.21) where Avtar Dhillon serves as chairman.
I always enjoy writing about a new enterprise where Avtar serves as chairman. That's what I wrote in our October 9, 2014 issue #46 "Take a look at Stevia First!" Besides naturally wanting to make money, each new venture must be an effort to tackle a serious unmet medical need.
What's the big idea? What's Arch's unmet medical need whose solution would leave mankind better off?
After cutting a hole in the body to do surgery or treating trauma from accidents or military wounds doctors have lots to worry about. "Stopping bleeding is a challenge and the products on the market here are not effective," claims Norchi. "Current products to stop bleeding have drawbacks." They can be slow to work, sometimes unreliable. Some using animal products can trigger a life threatening immune response in patients which can lead to death. Over 7 million Americans are on blood thinners and excess bleeding can lead to clots.
"If you don't like blood, now is the time to close your eyes," warned Norchi as he showed the first of two videos. Operating on rats and applying Arch's new spray on technology produced this result. "The bleeding stopped promptly."
Professor Rutledge Ellis-Behnke, Ph.D. is co-founder and advisor to Arch. He is a Director of the Nanomedicine Translational Think Tank at the Medical Faculty Mannheim of the University of Heidelberg in Germany. In addition, he holds affiliate faculty positions at M.I.T. as well as Wake Forest and the University of South Florida. Ellis-Behnke received his Ph.D. from M.I.T. in Neuroscience; a Bachelor of Science from Rutgers and graduated from Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program.
CEO Terry Norchi earned his M.D. degree from Northeast Ohio Medical University and moved to MA to complete his internal medicine residency at Tufts University School of Medicine. Then he earned his MBA from M.I.T. He went on to become portfolio manager of one of the largest healthcare mutual funds and a pharmaceutical analyst at Putnam Investments.
Arch is a medical device start-up offering an innovative, elegant and superior approach to rapid cessation of bleeding (hemostasis which is the opposite of hemorrhaging) and control of fluid leakage (sealant) during surgery and trauma care. Technology licensed from M.I.T supports a platform of smart materials to transform the landscape of interventional healthcare with products to seal and protect leaking and bleeding tissue.
Arch's first product currently in preclinical development is AC5 Surgical Hemostatic Device designed to achieve cessation of bleeding in minimally invasive (laparoscopic) and open surgical procedures. Because it is not sticky or glue-like it is ideal for use in the laparoscopic setting. It is transparent enabling a surgeon to operate through it in order to stop bleeding as it starts -an important advancement that Arch has branded as Crystal Clear Surgery. Most importantly, AC5's time to blood cessation is typically measured in seconds, rather than the many minutes by much of the competition.
It is self- assembling. Self -assembling? AC5 is designed for application as a liquid or spray which will conform to irregular wound geometry. This self -assembling peptide creates a physical, mechanical barrier which could seal organs or wounds that are leaking blood.
Worldwide this $4.5 billion market is growing at 10% but to enter Arch must conduct human clinical trials. If successful, this extraordinary concept could eventually lead to product adoption available in every surgical setting across the globe.
But proving that costs money that Arch presently doesn't have. With only enough cash to get into March 2015, Arch needs to raise $5 million to $8 million of additional capital to complete the regulatory milestones to obtain a CE Mark to sell its medical device in Europe. Obtaining regulatory approvals in the U. S. including conducting required clinical trials would require at least an additional $8 million to $10 million in capital.
The time is short but Chairman Avtar Dhillon and CEO Terry Norchi will find a solution. Arch's idea is too good to die for lack of financing. For the good of mankind it needs to succeed or fail by being tested in the real world.
For more information please visit: http://www.archtherapeutics.com/.
FOLLOW UP: Our last issue of Flaherty Special Situation #37 on unknown start-up BioSig Technologies (BSGM) turned out as well as any we have ever written but so far has attracted little attention.
You have a heart. It's still beating. What BioSig is trying to do concerns you. The new technology it is introducing can improve how you and your loved ones will be treated in the future. So take a second look at heartbeat signal recording upstart BioSig. This six-year innovator is racing to introduce transformational technology to shake up the innovation -starved treatment of arrhythmia (irregular, fast or slow heartbeats).
Success in this huge and rapidly growing market should produce winning investment returns and somewhere down the road attract a lucrative bid from one of the several pharma giants who dominate the market today. Executive Chairman Ken Londoner is an institutional investor turned entrepreneur. Even better Ken managed money for our late guru Sir John Templeton for 3 ˝ years and benefited from his wisdom. For this December when quality micro-caps are on the bargain counter BioSig is a perfect stocking stuffer.
Click Here Direct Link To our BioSig Special Situation #37 Report
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs141/1101855435216/archive/1119260363421.html
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