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November 18, 2004
Technology, Industrial Machinery,
Services, Capital Goods & Financial
Technology
Scientific Technical Instruments
MFIC Corporation (MFIC-OTC)
Our biggest customer base is in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. About
eighty percent of our sales are to those industries. We have made some progress in the
food industry in areas such as soymilk manufacturing and nutraceuticals. Soymilk
producers like our process because it produces a better product in terms of texture and
taste, as well as being able to incorporate much more of the soy fiber into the product.
That makes a better product as well as doing away with a large waste problem. We think we
are going to make some progress there. We are continuing to focus on biotech and
pharmaceuticals and to extend our reach further into that area. - Irwin Gruverman
Industrial Machinery
Oil & Gas
Genoil Inc. (GNO - TSXV)
There is a shortage of the light oil that you need to make gasoline and an abundance
of heavy and thats our market. We are coming in to provide a solution, to take that
heavy oil and make it light; then supply the shortage. In addition to which, the Saudi oil
that is coming out is heavy, but they probably have 7 or 8 million barrels a day of light
oil thats coming out of there and if it were disrupted it would be a severe blow to
the western economy. That blow could be practically settled by using a technology like
ours to convert the heavy oil into light, of those 13 million barrels a day of residual
oil. We could then replace the Saudi oil off the residual oil that is presently being used
as heavy oil for heating. The heavy oil would have to be replaced by clean burning coal,
which we have domestically, or nuclear power. So there is a means of achieving energy
independence from the Middle East, through our technology. - David K. Lifschultz
Services
Business Services
Ventiv Health Inc. (VTIV - NASDAQ)
Weve had a very busy year over 2004. Its been an incredibly strong year,
particularly in terms of winning new business. We have won new business worth roughly $160
to $170 million on an annualized basis. We have added 1,600 representatives to our sales
and marketing business; indeed a very large amount of new business on top of our base
business. This has allowed us to continue to grow strongly in our sales and marketing
business. In tandem with that we have also substantially broadened the footprint of the
organization in two ways. Organically weve added and introduced a number of new
offerings to our clients, leveraging existing capabilities of the organization, such as
introducing The Therapeutic Institute, Professional Development services, Recruiting
services and our Total Data Solutions services, among others. Secondly, weve also
made two acquisitions that have further broadened the footprint of the organization. In
June of this year (2004) we acquired the Franklin Group, a leading player in the
compliance arena as well as in patient assistance. Most recently in September (2004) we
announced the acquisition of Smith Hanley Corporation, a leading player in the outsourced
clinical staffing business and recruiting arena. This gives us a leadership position in
that part of the market, late stage clinical, just before commercialization. So,
weve grown very substantially both from an organic point of view and weve
further strengthened the organization with a couple of key acquisitions, enabling us to
further build out our market leadership position across multiple arenas. John
Emery, CFO
Capital Goods
Misc. Capital Goods
Met-Pro Corporation (MPR-NYSE)
As I mentioned earlier Met-Pros Divisions and Subsidiaries have hundreds of
years of combined experience with a broad and diverse customer base. We have an
organization with outstanding employees and superior products. Each Met-Pro Division
or Subsidiary offers field proven, time tested product or system solutions to meet a
customers needs on time and on budget. - Raymond De Hont
Financial
Savings and Loan
Guaranty Federal Bancshares, Inc. (GFED-NASDAQ)
Guaranty Bank has a ninety year history of providing mortgage services to the
southwest Missouri area. We are starting with a firm foundation and history and we are
refocusing our efforts to regain the position as the top provider of mortgage lending in
the area. We have recently added three seasoned professionals from competing organizations
to our staff. We have relocated and consolidated our mortgage staff and greatly improved
our efficiency. We have expanded our product line and we can serve just about any
need that an individual would have. We have a high service level and do a good reputation
for meeting customers needs. - Shaun Burke
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November 4, 2004
Healthcare & Technology
Healthcare
Biotechnology & Drugs
Corgentech Inc. (CGTK Nasdaq)
Our drug is in the final
development stage in two Phase III trials for a single indication of prevention of vein graft failure. Our
first trial is in leg surgery. Here the
vascular surgeon will use the greater saphenous vein to bypass clogged arteries in the
leg, for patients who have leg pain at rest. That trial is fully enrolled with 1,400
patients in over eighty centers in the United States and we expect the results of that
trial by the end of this year. The second trial is for cardiovascular arterial bypass
graft (CABG) surgery has also completely enrolled all 2400 patients treated in over a
hundred centers in the United States. The
data from that trial will be available in the first quarter of 2005. We have Fast Tack
designation from the FDA for both indications due to the high unmet medical need,
compelling pre-clinical data, excellent safety profile, and no other approved drugs. This designation could afford Corgentech a
shorter, six month, review cycle to approval. - Richard P. Powers
Technology
Digital Imaging Tools
CompuMed Inc. (CMPD-OTC: BB)
I believe the market for digital imaging tools is going to grow dramatically in the
next few years. Investors already know that filmless x-ray machines are a hot market, in
that hospitals are rapidly getting away from film. Any tools that are added to these
platforms are going to be natural winners. There is one aspect of our offering that people
miss- its not the product, the market or the intellectual property that is the
hidden jewel in the whole thing- it is the CPT code. Getting a CPT code is a three to five
year chore; it is very difficult. We have one dedicated to our technology, and it is a way
for the manufacturer to have a better sales tool, and that is going to drive them our way.
I feel that is going to become obvious to our investors very soon. - Jerry
McLaughlin
Technology
Software and hardware for on-demand solutions
Concurrent Computer Corporation
(NASDAQ: CCUR)
Customers are coming to us for a variety of reasons. Concurrent has extensive VOD
deployment experience. Also, there are many unique requirements in each market, and we
have a lot of expertise integrating with those different devices and software
capabilities. We also have a unique architecture that we believe is leapfrogging our
competition; it allows us to separate streams, storage and content ingest, giving
operators the ability to independently scale streams and storage based on their
customers needs. No one else does that. - Steven Norton
Technology
Software and programming
Island Pacific (IPI-AMEX)
Island Pacific has a product called IPMS, which is a full merchandising ERP for mid-tier
retailers. It is one of the most prominent packages in the retail software sector. We
compared the applications or Island Pacific to the applications of Retail Technologies
International (RTI), and realized the two combined would result in a full multi-channel
offering for the mid-tier retailer. The merger was completed in early June of this year.
As one company, we are stronger because we have a complete offering for mid-tier retailers
-- from the store to the back office; the merchandising suite and direct sales, and
catalog marketing. RTI was a global business with customers in seventy-three countries and
products fully translated into fifteen languages. Island Pacific now has a ready-made
distribution to deliver its products globally. - Michael Tomczak
Technology
Contactless Smart Cards
On Track Innovations Ltd. (OTIV - Nasdaq)
OTI America (Subsidiary)
We are selling solutions that are based on our hardware and software. The
hardware consists of contactless cards, readers and the software consists of different
applications we provide. We have one of the strongest backgrounds today in terms of the
technology. We have a superior technology that is tested and proven with a low risk from
the customer prospective and we provide the customer with a complete solution and not just
a component. That eliminates much of the
effort from the customers side. We have the experience and the intellectual property
on how to implement contactless solutions in a real life environment. - Ohad Bashan
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October 21, 2004
Energy, Healthcare, Technology,
Services & Business Services
Energy
Oil and Gas Operations
GeoResources Inc. (GEOI-NASDAQ)
We produce about thirty thousand barrels of oil a quarter. All of our oil is sold to
local crude oil buyers that are located in the Williston Basin, foothills and plains.
Because of the demand for oil, it is not hard to find a purchaser. We are not involved in
upstream operations or refining. We find and produce the oil and once we have it in tanks,
then crude oil buyers pick that up and purchase it from us. In the drilling segment, we
contract to other operators or others contract to us for the wells we drill and then drill
wells for operators under contract. That is a thirty day invoicing type of procedure much
like any other contract business. - Jeffrey Vickers
Healthcare
Infection-Control Products
ALDA Pharmaceuticals Corp. (APH-TSXV)
What was attractive to me about ALDA Pharmaceuticals was the fact that it had
platform technology called T36®. We have
a patent pending on that technology and it is a superior infection control technology. The
first product from that technology is called Viralex. It is a
surface disinfectant, which has been on the market for a couple of years now. We are
finding the product has an enthusiastic response from the customers, but the company was
virtually unknown outside our home province of British Columbia and Canada. Our task there
is very straightforward; we have to engage in a very effective sales and marketing effort
so that we increase our sales of that product. We are seeking expansion into the United
States; we have our EPA registration as pending any day now and that will probably take
120 days to review and if all goes well, we could be fully registered in the United States
within the year, in all states. That will bring a very large market potential to us as
well. What attracted me to it was the fact that there is a product on the market and we
have developed spin-offs from that product. - Terrance G. Owen
Healthcare
Medical Equipment & Supplies
Bio-Logic Systems Corp. (ALSC: NASDAQ)
Bio-Logic Systems is in an area where we typically have distinct advantages due to the
software and hardware technology that we offer, and we have exclusives in some of our
product lines which is very important. We have considerable experience in
electro-diagnostics across the board in both hearing and screening diagnostics and
neurology and sleep diagnostics. At least two out of three of those areas are growing at a
pretty decent rate, and we definitely have more growth potential and a high quality
balance sheet that investors are buying into. - Roderick G. Johnson
Technology
Nanotechnology
Arrowhead Research Corporation (ARWR & ARWRW)
We have over 180 patents and patents pending in the nanotech area, which provides us
protection for our products and an opportunity to license other people to use some of our
technology. Our plan is to expand our intellectual property base in the near future and to
accumulate as much intellectual property as we can. We are primarily working with Caltech
at this moment. Caltech is the birthplace of nanotechnology. Back in 1959, Richard Feynman
gave his famous speech called, There is Plenty of Room at the Bottom and that
was the starting point of nanotechnology. Caltech files more patents than any other
university in the United States. It is an active place and very prolific in producing
intellectual property. We plan to expand our model to additional universities but right
now our hands are full. - R. Bruce Stewart
Technology
Computer Services
Packeteer, Inc. (PKTR: NASD)
We are a company that is focused on application performance over the wide area
network and in giving our customers the ability to both improve and protect the
performance of their important applications and control non-business traffic. That is the
core of what we do. We provide distributed enterprises with visibility into what
applications are running on their network, and the ability to control them based on their
relative business importance. About a year ago, we added compression to create additional
virtual bandwidth, all with the goal of allowing companies to leverage faster WANs, faster
applications, and faster business. - Dave Côté
Services
CDK Services Ltd. (CDK-TSX: Venture)
The Companys patented Emission Eliminator chemical pump for natural gas wells
fills a timely market need and there are very real opportunities to significantly grow the
sales of the pump. I also believe that sales of the chemical pump are all upside since the
current market value of the company is supported by the existing businesses, which are
valve and BOP Sales and Service. - Wayne Thomson
Business Services
Computer Software and Processing
CSM Systems Corp. (CKX-TSXV)
We believe that the digital world is going to explode. Previously some of the
hardware costs have been such where it has been economically unfeasible for companies and
governments to start looking at this kind of technology. In the last year alone the prices
have fallen about 400% as demand grows. We believe that this type of technology is going
to replace what we typically see in retail environments. For example, it is going to be
more pervasive. We live in an information age and traditionally it has been based on
capital television technology. With the digital displays, it opens the door for a whole
realm of possibilities. That is what I think is exciting and enticing about the investment
end of things. We are poised to capitalize on it because we have the background in the
software end of things. - John Putters
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October 7, 2004
Consumer Products,
Consumer/Cyclical, Basic Materials, Entertainment, Financial & Capital Goods
Consumer Products
Tobacco
Wellstone Filters, Inc. (WLSF
OTC: BB)
We firmly believe that the cigarette market is going to be a commodity market; unlike
it has been in the last forty years, where people were very brand loyal. We feel that we
can make a return on investment even though we are offering a premium cigarette at a
discount price. People will buy our cigarette for the price and they will come back
because of the taste. - Learned J. Hand
Consumer/Cyclical
Personal, Household products
Female Health Company (FHCO-OTC-BB)
Unfortunately, the HIV/ AIDS issue is getting worse and it isnt going to go
away. There are drugs that help people live longer but there is no simple treatment
or cure. There is no preventative vaccine and some scientists think that if there ever is
one, it will be years away. We have one of only two products that help to prevent the
spread of HIV/AIDS, the female and the male condom, and ours is proprietary. We have a
business model that is low risk in that we do not invest in advertising in hope that
somebody will buy our product, or manufacture product in the hopes that we can sell it.
Beyond the break-even level, we should have a solid and profitable business. However, we
expect significant period to period variations, but substantial growth in the long
term. Mr. O. B. Parrish
Basic Materials
Gold
Goldcorp Inc. (GG-NYSE, G-TSX)
We have a very exciting expansion program going on at our Red Lake Mine, which will
take a little more than six months. By the second half of 2006, we will have completed an
elevator shaft that will be down 7,200 ft. below surface. It will allow us to increase our
production at our Red Lake Mine from 500,000 ounces a year to 700,000 ounces and allow us
to drop our cost of production below seventy dollars an ounce. It has a lot of extra
capacity built into it. We are excited about that new platform because it will allow us to
accelerate our new exploration. - Robert McEwen
Entertainment
Feature Film and Television Production
OBN Holdings, Inc. (OBNH.OB)
In July we recently completed producing a television special called From the
Heart, which is a 50th year anniversary and celebration of the Four Tops
singing group. Eclectic Entertainment is producing the concert and the television special.
In addition to the television special, which is going to premiere on Omni Broadcasting
Network, we are will be offering it to other networks that have already expressed an
interest in the special. We will also be selling it to television broadcasters in foreign
markets, which we already have interest from to acquire the rights to that particular
show. In addition to that, we will be producing a DVD and a CD that we are going to be
releasing on Retro Records, another OBN Holdings subsidiary. - Roger Neal Smith
Financial
Community Banks
Commonwealth National Bank (CWEA-OTCBB)
We hired highly experienced employees right from the beginning. We do not have
people who cannot make decisions. I have been in lending for thirty years and when someone
comes in for a loan, it does not take me very long to make a decision in terms of whether
or not we want to begin a relationship. In terms of the branches, they are empowered to
make a decision. If they need flexibility on an account, CD rate or whatever, they have
the authority to make the decision. It is not as if they have to go up two or three levels
of command to try and figure out whether they can take care of a particular
customers needs. I think what we have is a long-term commitment to grow and develop
relationships. We are willing to be flexible in the short run, if we think that in the
long term, it will benefit us and the customer. - Charles R. Valade
Financial
Consumer Financial Services
Silverado Financial Inc. (SLVO-OB)
For us at this point, all of our loans are straight broker and they are sold off to
investors, therefore we have no risk on repayment of those loans. As a direct lender, we
have some risk but it will only be the first payment risk and through the sure step
program on which we are working. We will not have any risk repurchase on those loans,
which is the biggest risk for a direct lender in this business. - John Hartman
Capital Goods
Construction Materials
Structures USA, Inc.
In the past six months we have moved into a full-scale factory type industrial park
and we are continuing on with code approvals for four different products. One is the
GigaCrete, which is the building system, anther is called Stuccomax, which is a
bullet-proof single-coat, one-application stucco, which has never been done before; we
have literally made history with it. It is applied very quickly and dries within a few
hours. The installer can then move on to the next, which typically they cant do;
they have to come back two to four times to re-coat the house. The essence behind the
whole business program is to build safer and faster with a superior product and then
extend that from the building side to the actual finishing that goes on in the structures.
Our goal is to go after mass affordable housing on a global basis, not just here in the
U.S. - Andrew Dennis
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September 23, 2004
Services, Energy & Technology
Services
Service Retail
HearUSA,
Inc. (AMEX: EAR)
This is very exciting for us because the administration wants to increase Medicare
Managed Care membership by 9 million people bringing the total to 13 million by January 1,
2007. Of the 4.5 million current Medicare Managed Care Members, we have capitation
contracts covering 600,000. This represents one third of the members with a hearing aid
benefit. Maintaining our percentage (13%) of the new members will generate significant
revenue for the company. - Paul A. Brown, M.D.
Energy
Specialty Chemicals, Hydrocarbon Fluids and Energy Marketing
Enerchem International Inc. (ECH-TSX)
Enerchem is an oilfield services company providing specialty chemical and
hydrocarbon fluid solutions to the oil and gas industry. There are three internal groups
inside of Enerchem. The Specialty Chemicals Group manufactures proprietary chemical
products. There is the Hydrocarbons Fluids Group, which manufactures drilling fluid,
fracturing fluids and specialty solvents and we have the Energy Marketing Group, which was
created to reduce feedstock costs, improve byproduct resale margins and to develop a crude
oil lease acquisition market. - Douglas F. Robinson
Services
Communications Services
Q Comm International Inc. (QMM - AMEX)
The big benefit of our product is that the retail merchant doesnt have to
stock what were called prepaid hard cards; these were cards that had actual
value to them in dollars, $20.00, $30.00, $50.00. Those cards historically have been
subject to theft by customers and even employees. They also represented a large inventory
carrying cost for the merchant. With our electronic distributions solution we are able to
take our terminal, put it in a retail store, have that connect to a data center that we
run and allow the whole sales process to be done electronically. Once that merchant sells
the product, after the fact we debit their bank account and only after the fact does that
happen. - Terry Kramer
Technology
Communications Equipment
Weida Communications, Inc. (WDAC-OTC: BB)
Our biggest differentiator is that we are in a niche of which no one else is
paying attention. We are the first ones in, the first ones in this category. It is a
category, which has been greatly affected by the Chinese government and certain mandates
of financial institutions, the Hazardous Recovery programs in-place. Right now, to the
best of my knowledge, we are the only ones participating in that with a proven capability
thats already been approved by China Telecom, because its a strategic alliance
with them to take over their major accounts. We are in a unique position. - Mitchell
Sepaniak
Technology
Computer Services
WindsorTech Inc. (WSRT-OTC: BB)
Anyone out there that doesnt think about identity theft, security and
environmental compliance for their IT for their computer equipment is really just fooling
themselves because these are growing responsibilities. Our mission is to continue to
educate businesses, institutions and consumers on how to handle these assets
appropriately. - Marc Sherman
September 9, 2004
Basic Materials, Technology, Natural Resources &
Healthcare
Basic Materials
Reclaimed Industrial Products
International Absorbents Inc. (IAX-AMEX)
Animal bedding is broken into the two areas of pet market and big boxes/ generic
food market. We attacked the pet market first and sell through Petco, Pet Smart; virtually
every pet-chain in North America. There is about an eighty million-dollar market for our
product in this market segment. We are selling 15-20% of that at this point and over half
of that market segment is held by hundreds of manufacturers of wood shavings and similar
kinds of products. The other segment of the animal bedding market is big boxes like
Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target and regular local grocery stores. We are just entering that market
with Wal-Mart and introducing a product called Critter Care. You can buy CareFRESH
at pet stores or you can buy Critter Care or HealthyPet at other big stores. That is
another eighty million dollar market and you are talking about 160 to 200 million dollar
market place for animal bedding in North America. - Gordon Ellis
Technology
Mobile Satellite
C-COM Satellite Systems, Inc. (CMI-TSXV)
The company has a potential upside because this technology is going to be pervasive
everywhere, not just in North America, but you will see it all over the world. You will
see it practically everywhere where one can have access to either by a vehicle or by rail
or even on foot as many of our products can be flown in and dropped off in more and more
places. Internet access has become an essential business tool around the world to many
people and C-COM is making it possible for companies to conduct business and stay
connected anywhere in the world. C-COM, being one of the first to actually deliver this
new technology is going to benefit dramatically both from the knowledge that we have
acquired and accumulated from 7 years of research and development and from our expertise
and ability to design, manufacture, sell and support this product all over the world.
There is nobody that can do this on the scale that we are doing it today. The upside is
enormous. - Leslie Klein, Ph.D.,P.Eng
Technology
Electronic INST. & Controls
NCT Group, Inc. (NCTI-OTC)
Right now we are focused on communications, specifically through our Artera
subsidiary. Artera is the developer of proprietary Internet accelerations and optimization
technologies for residential users, small businesses, enterprises, government agencies and
service providers. As a Virtual Bandwidth solution, Artera Turbo
routinely achieves speeds equivalent to broadband over standard dial-up (56 Kbs)
connections and wireless mobile telephones, a 5X speed improvement. Performance
improvements by up to a factor of five are also achieved over ISDN, DSL, T1/E1, cable and
even satellite links. When we apply Artera Turbo to broadband networks we reduce bandwidth
consumption by 70%-85%, yielding significantly increased network capacity with virtually
no capital expenditure. This is very compelling for business networks because the
optimization techniques we employ are equally effective for both Internet and private
Intranet traffic. Also, for ISPs, Artera technology can be applied simultaneously to the
network and used by subscribers which significantly impacts EBITDA per subscriber. This is
a very exciting area for our company, and we expect some pretty significant growth in this
subsidiary. - Michael J. Parrella
Natural Resources
Exploration
Serengeti Resources Inc. (SIR-TSXV)
We needed to differentiate ourselves. I looked around and there are many gold
explorers. I think there are fewer copper and gold explorers. Exploration is my strong
suit, given my background of thirty years experience. Some of the other people that have
come along with me to Serengeti have equally strong and successful backgrounds on the
exploration and development front, like George Tikkanen, who has also joined the board of
Serengeti. George has over forty years of experience in the mining and exploration
business. The key geological consultant that I have working with me, and a partner in the
early stage properties, is an expert on copper and gold exploration. Why Serengeti? It is
because of the people, our track record of discovery, the strategic focus and a growing
portfolio of attractive properties. These factors should heighten the potential for
success. - David Moore
Healthcare
Healthcare Facilities
Assisted Living Concepts Inc. (ASLC-OTC: BB)
We are now seeing the state and federal governments seeing assisted living as a
viable choice, not only in life enrichment, but also from a financial rearranging of the
money. - Steven Vick
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August 26, 2004
Financial Estate, Financial, Technology, Healthcare,
Energy & Mining
Financial Estate
Hotel Management
InnSuites Hospitality Trust (IHT-AMEX)
We were bloodied up by 9/11 as was the case with many hotels in the hotel industry.
We were recovering and then a year ago the Iraq war set us back again. Since October 2003,
we have been on a very solid up trend as far as revenues and profitability. Some of the
factors that worked against us previously are now working for us. For example, in our
industry occupancy is key. After 9/11, in order to maintain our occupancy we had to
dramatically lower our rates and that was a double negative in terms of our profitability.
Now, after October of 2003, our occupancy has gone up and we have been able to raise our
rates. Our occupancies continue to go up as a result of a double benefit is coming toward
us. As an example of that, in the first quarter our operating profits were up 28.9% and
revenue went up 12.6%. This shows the leverage working in our favor as opposed to what was
happening in the three years that it was working against us. - James Wirth
Financial
Regional Banks
Eastern Virginia Bankshares Inc. (EVBS-NASD)
Our focus during the last few years has centered around finding ways to take
advantage of economies of scale. We have invested in our company to ensure that our
operations and technology center are in a state of preparedness in terms of
infrastructure and technology to support de novo branching growth opportunities. We will
continue to open branches in markets where we see a need for a community bank. We have the
infrastructure built to facilitate bringing small banks into our organization, handling
their back room operations, and allowing them to retain their local identity. De novo
branching is a major initiative in our strategic plan, as we see this is our primary
growth vehicle. - Joe Shearin
Technology
Semiconductors
AMIS Holdings Inc. (AMIS-NASD)
Our factories are more flexible than you will find in a typical large company in the
analog and mixed-signal space. That flexibility requires a competency that is not
prevalent in terms of manufacturing in our industry. I think we are unique in that regard
and our customers appreciate that. Because we sell into markets such as medical,
industrial and automotive, our product life cycles are long and our customers want to have
long-term support from us. A standard products company may not be tolerant of that and
particularly of being flexible at the same time. That is what we believe is a key value
proposition for AMI and something that our customers appreciate. - David Henry
Healthcare
Biotechnology & Drugs
Bioanalytical Systems, Inc. (BASI: NASD)
We have a good patent portfolio on our products. We have a lot of innovative work to
do, and probably the number one thing for investors to consider is the quality of clients
we have. We do provide products and services to virtually all of the top 25 pharmaceutical
companies globally and we are very proud of that. - Peter Kissinger
Energy
Gas and Oil Exploration
Consolidated Energy Inc. (CEIW-OTC)
If investors look at the energy market, they will quickly see that there is a short
and quite possibly, a long-term opportunity for success related to natural gas and coal.
Investors can look at the natural gas market over the last several years and see that the
natural gas market is strong and will continue to be strong for quite some time. Both of
these fuels are going to be stable financial contributors for Consolidated Energy Inc. The
licensing of our Clean Coal technology, if you look at the amount of coal that is used
globally, and the amount of coal that is in need of a clean coal process, can contribute a
staggering amount to the companys profitability. When CEI is able to license
the use of the clean coal technology on a small percentage of the billions upon billions
of tons of low rank coal used annually, CEI will realize a substantial annual profit
contribution. - David Guthrie
Mining
Diamonds and Precious Metals
Sudbury Contact Mines Ltd. (SUD-TSX)
As a result of the expansion of the property position, we have a lot of work to do up
there and we are currently reviewing the plans for this work. Not only do we have to do
further assessments of our two most recent diamond discoveries, but we also have to do
target identification work on the additional claims that we have staked as well as drill
several promising targets that were identified in earlier work. To date we have only
drilled about a third of our high priority targets and that work discovered the two most
recent diamond bearing structures.4 There are still many targets, which need to be drilled
in this area. We are excited about the fact that we are now identifying multiple
diamond-bearing structures in an area that is not remote and is very close to
infrastructure. - Sean Boyd
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August 12, 2004
Energy, Healthcare, Mining & Technology
Energy
Oil/Gas Exploration
Aspen Exploration Corporation
(ASPN-OTC: BB)
I believe
weve drilled 17 gas wells out of 20 attempts over the last 3½ years. That is an 85%
success rate, so we have no trouble finding partners and as a matter of fact, I have a
waiting list of people who would like to get into some of our wells. - Bob Cohan
Healthcare
Medical Equipment and Supplies
Cambridge Heart Inc. (CAMH-NASD)
We are
immersed with the medical community, the ICD companies and Medicare regarding the role
that Microvolt T-Wave Alternans can play in a large population of people in helping to
identify people that are at-risk of sudden death and need to be treated, from those who do
not require invasive therapy. In the process of doing what the technology was
created for, we set ourselves up in a situation where we can be testing hundreds of
thousands if not millions of people a year. Our test costs Medicare about $338.00. The
test costs the physician about eighty dollars in disposable products, namely the Microvolt
T-Wave Alternans sensors. If you do the math, you can quickly come to the conclusion that
in a short time, we can be a very attractive company financially while doing something
that is good for the public health as well. - David Chazanovitz
Healthcare
Biotechnology & Drugs
Vical Incorporated (VICL - NASD)
We are a
product development company that is exclusively focused on developing vaccines for
infectious disease and cancer and all of our products are based on our patented DNA
technology, which is known as Plasmid DNA Technology. This technology actually does not
require handling of the pathogen itself but you actually use just the gene sequences from
the pathogen to invoke an immune response. Our focus is vaccines in infectious disease and
cancer and we are one of the few vaccine companies in the United States today. We are a
company that is dedicated to discovering and developing new vaccines where no vaccines
exist and doing it all with a brand new technology which is going to create a paradigm
shift in the entire vaccine business. - Vijay B. Samant
Mining
Gold Exploration
Unigold Inc. (UGD-TSX: Venture)
The next step
for us on our Dominican Republic properties will be to use a combination of exploration
techniques to evaluate the known gold mineralization and large hydrothermally altered
zones on our Neita property. We have about twenty anomalous areas that require work. On
these, we will be doing everything from regional geology to soil geochemistry to trenching
and hopefully finishing up with drilling. At the Los Candelones Gold Deposit on which we
are focusing, we will also conduct an integrated exploration program but weighted towards
drilling to continue to evaluate this mineralized area. We are probably looking at another
year of drilling on Los Candelones to fully understand and to start to develop the
resource. All indications are that it could be significant. - John P. Thompson, M.
Sc., P. Eng.
Mining
Gold, Copper and Nickel Exploration
Virginia Gold Mines Inc. (VIA Toronto)
We already
have close to a half a million ounces of gold in resource and a huge potential to add to
that resource. The fact that we have lots of partners spending millions on our properties,
which means that we are sharing the risk in exploration with other companies, helps us to
reduce the risk in exploration. For example our budget this year is $9.2 million, so that
makes us the most active explorer in Quebec. Of that $9.2 million, Virginias
contribution, our cost, will be $2.8 million, so you can see that we have a beautiful
leverage. The rest will be financed by partners and by the Quebec government through
incentive programs. - Andre Gaumond
Technology
Computer Services
CGI Holding Corporation (CGIH-OB)
WebSourced,
Inc. is a leader in its space called Search Engine Optimization. It assists clients
websites in achieving a top ten ranking when searches are performed on search engines such
as Google, Yahoo, and so forth. Research shows that the majority of people are not willing
to look past the first page of results and 98 - 99% of people are not willing to look past
the third page of results. So WebSourced helps clients redesign, link and do all the
things that need to be done in terms of a website that make it appeal to the search
engines and therefore show up in the top ten of search engine results. - Gerard
Jacobs
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July 29, 2004
Technology, Healthcare &
Financial
Technology
Semiconductors
Staktek Holdings Inc. (STAK-NASD)
We look at our company as the leading supplier of
intellectual property and services for miniaturizing memory components. We want to
continue our leadership position in this area and, at the same time, expand our products
and intellectual property for miniaturizing other widely used components including the
complete system. For example, modules: the module market is diverse and large, and we
think there are opportunities certainly in aerospace but also in automotive, medical, and
commercial modules where our stacking technology could be deployed. - James Cady
Technology
Entertainment Media
IA Global, Inc. (IAO-AMEX)
The reason we acquired the core technology from
QuikCAT, was so that we could get more access to the larger American market and also the
technology could then be deployed worldwide. We have only just completed the acquisition
of the core technology so we are still developing our network and we are working with some
partners on a worldwide basis to expand the reach of the QuikCAT technology. We do not
want it to be just in one area of the world. - Alan Margerion
Healthcare
Biotechnology and Drugs
Exact Sciences Corporation (EXAS-NASD)
PreGen-Plus is a test for the early detection of colon cancer and it uses
a stool sample from a patient. We isolate human DNA from the stool sample and look for
specific mutations and markers that have been associated with colon cancer; if the test is
positive, the physician refers the patient to a colonoscopy. If the specimen is negative,
the patient should be screened on a regular basis for the rest of his or her life; you
usually start screening for colon cancer at age fifty and above. Because it is a DNA based
test, it is much different than the other tests that have been historically used for colon
cancer screening, which are normally blood tests that are indirect measures for cancer. We
are looking for changes in the DNA that are indicative of cancer. - Don Hardison
Financial
Bank
Wilshire Financial Services Group Inc.
(WFSG-NASD)
In
April (2004), the Company sold its specialty servicing subsidiary to Merrill Lynch. That was a $50 million deal, which closed on the
April 30, 2004. This means that the Company has one main operating subsidiary, First Bank
of Beverly Hills. Because of that, we are going to propose a name change for the holding
company so it more closely links to the Bank; The name change will be Beverly Hills
Bancorp, a unitary holding company, and a $1.2 billion bank as its major operating
subsidiary. - Joseph W. Kiley III
Financial
Regional Banks
The Wilber Corporation (GIW-AMEX)
We continue to look at expanding our physical base. In March, we converted a loan
production office in Binghamton New York to a full service branch and in April, we opened
another loan production office in Kingston New York, which is about 100 miles to the east.
We like the model of the loan production office where we can find a good quality lender
that is familiar with a particular market, hire him or her and see if we can bring our
brand of banking into that market. If we are as successful as we were in the Binghamton
area, then we will expand into a full-service office. It is a conservative way to grow
because it doesnt cost very much to open a loan production office. If it
isnt successful, although we havent had one that hasnt been, you can
shut it down and move on. If you are successful, you move on and create a larger presence.
At the same time we have been doing that, we have been active in purchasing
branches. - Alfred S. Whittet
Financial
Regional Banks
Capital Bank Corporation (North Carolina)
(CBKN-NSDQ)
I think we have one of the best franchises in the Southeast. We have excellent
bankers in our markets, and theyre all taking care of customers
We have a
management team that is diverse in talent and is strongly committed to the long term
success of the bank and to a good return for our shareholders. - B. Grant Yarber
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July 15, 2004
Consumer Cyclical, Basic
Materials, Mining & Financial
Consumer Cyclical
Recreational Products
Russ Berrie and Company, Inc. (RUS-NYSE)
I am very enthusiastic about the
potential for this business and I dont see much in the way of meaningful barriers. I
believe that when you operate in a business that is as fragmented as this one is, and
there arent any major competitors that own more than two or three percent share of
the market, at a most fundamental level, the ability to arrive and compete effectively in
that kind of a marketplace is very appealing. - Andrew R. Gatto
Basic Materials
Gold and Silver
Canyon Resources Corp. (CAU-AMEX)
We are operating a mine in the desert of South Eastern California, and we own 13.7
million ounces of gold in three deposits in Montana, which represents a sizeable asset
base for Canyon. We are hoping to be able to bring these projects forward into mine
development. - Richard H. De Voto
Mining
Exploration-zinc, gold and copper
Karmin Exploration Inc. (KAR-TSXV)
We have the largest unexploited zinc deposit in Brazil, I think it is the second or
third in South America. Aripuanã is in the province of Mato Grosso, in central Brazil. We
have a new partner, Votorantim, who own the two zinc smelters in the country, and they are
looking to develop this mine as a source for this smelter. Base metal mines make a
concentrate that is sold to smelters and the smelters main market is the huge Brazilian
automotive industry. The Aripuanã project is 24 million tons and it contains zinc,
silver, gold and copper. - William Fisher
Financial
Regional Banks
Gateway Financial Holdings Inc. (GBTS-NASD)
I think the thing you will see is that our bankers are willing to meet with our
customers on holidays, weekends, nights, or early in the morning to have breakfast. They
will do whatever is necessary to accommodate the customers needs. They will go above
and beyond and interact with them socially to help accomplish various things in the
community. We have been supportive of a number of community activities; everything from
the little theatres to various public events and fireworks for the Fourth of July, and
just supporting things in the community to give people a better sense of community.
- D. Ben Berry
Financial
Regional Banks
KNBT Bancorp, Inc. (KNBT-NASD)
World class community banking is about listening to the customer and trying to deliver on
a better level of customer service. It is about delivering on a better level of technology
and ultimately, meeting our customers needs through a wider-span, super community bank. We
know that we are not there yet, but our vision is set high and our mission is to achieve
it. That is our goal. - Scott Fainor
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July 1, 2004
Financial, Technology, Capital Goods,
Healthcare & Mining
Finance
Misc. Financial Services
CVF Technologies Corp. (CNV- AMEX)
The common thread among the companies we chose to invest in is principally
environmental and principally early stage when we first get involved with them. We have
incubated these companies from the level of an idea in the inventors mind, to an
actual company that we helped create and develop. Typically there is an environmental
thread, so we have companies with air pollution controls and electric vehicle technology.
Anything that has to do with the environment is what we typically invest in. We have also
invested in some information technology companies where there is a socially interesting
aspect to them. - Jeffrey Dreben
Technology
Computer Networks
Castelle Inc. (CSTL-NASD)
If you look back at the last two years, the company was trading at 45 cents a share
and we have been consistently above three dollars a share in six to nine months, so there
has been a significant turnaround in the valuation and exposure of the company. You do not
find too many small, medium or large companies that have no debt and have cash. We are
generating a profit and we are growing. As I stated before, with FaxPress and our new
product, FaxPress Premier, we have an opportunity to grow in this worldwide network fax
server market. I think that is a nice opportunity or investment play for someone. We have
the ability, we know what we are doing and our mission is to grow in that marketplace. We
have experienced two years of growth and it remains to be seen if we will be able to
continue, but I think that we will have a good shot at continuing to grow in the network
fax server marketplace. - Scott McDonald
Capital Goods
Aerospace and Defense
Allied Defense Group, Inc. (ADG-AMEX)
People choose Allied because of our strengths and our potential. For example,
we have a very good diversified business model. We have a military and commercial customer
base, operate in high growth markets, have proprietary products and intellectual
properties, and we have the ability to design and engineer to meet the distinct needs of
each customer. These qualities and abilities extend to all six of our subsidiaries and
really separate us from other competitors. - John G. Meyer, Jr., Major General
(Retired)
Healthcare
Biotechnology
Oragenics, Inc. (ONI-NASD)
Bacteria in your mouth form cavities and there are 300 bacteria in your mouth
and one of them is called Streptococcus mutans (S.mutans), it converts sugar
into acid, and the acid eats away at the enamel on your teeth and exposes the soft tissue
dentin and allows cavities to form. We have a genetically modified S. mutans bacteria that
is identical in all respects except for the fact that it is missing the gene that produces
acid. It doesnt produce any acid but it still resides in the same niche in the oral
flora. It is going to be one simple application; you go to the dentist office, the dentist
will clean your teeth, put a solution in your mouth that you hold in your mouth for a few
minutes and that will allow the bacteria to begin to colonize and replace the bacteria
that you have in your mouth; it doesnt affect any other bacteria, only the Streptococcus
mutans. Within six months, you should be cavity-free. - Mento Chuck
Soponis
Mining
Gold and Silver Exploration
Argentex Mining Corporation (AGXM-OTC)
Argentex is a junior mining exploration firm with significant holdings in the
emerging gold areas of Somuncura Massif and Deseado Massif regions of Argentina. The
company has near-term exploration projects, based on existing gold discovery on one of its
properties, with longer-term potential to become the exploration leader in the region
based on proximity of the holdings to known gold reserves and mineralization. -
Chris Dyakowski
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June 17, 2004
Natural Resources, Services,
Financial, Healthcare &Technology
Natural Resources
Mining-Halloysite
Atlas Mining Company (ALMI-OTC)
Even though Atlas Mining is a small company, we are looking at getting our
halloysite clay property into production this year, but we are not going to stop with just
that, we are going to move forward and take on other properties and projects. We will
continue to grow. - William Jacobson
Technology
Online Video Rental
GameZnFlix, Inc. (GZFX OTC: BB)
The first series of commercials is targeted at the thirty to forty-year-old moms
with one or two children. In my opinion it is the women who suffer from mom can we
stop at Blockbuster and get a videogame. I believe that stay-at-home moms are
by far the most hard-working, underpaid people in the world; they put more hours in than
any person that goes out to work. There are those nice single moms who run their home and
go to work at the same time and God bless them all for that. I have more respect for a
working mom than anyone on the face of the earth. If she is a working mom with several
children maybe, then this is just one more source of aggravation. Our commercial with
Dennis Cole is directed at that mom, trying to make her life a little bit easier and that
is our first market. - John Fleming
Services
Real Estate Operations
United Dominion Realty Trust Inc. (UDR-NYSE)
I think real estate is a very secure, safe investment particularly apartments
since one out of every three people in America live in some type of rental property. It
does not go out of style and it is not replaced by technology; it is a safe way to invest.
We operate in one segment that is probably the most predictable and safest of all real
estate investments and that is apartments. We focus even further in the middle market,
which is a segment of the business. Third, we are focused on operations as our value
added. We are not a builder, which is fun and exciting but risky. We are focused on buying
existing communities and running them better than the ones before; we believe that through
our systems and our people that we can do that and we have a track record of doing
that. - Thomas Toomey
Services
School Industry
Touchstone Applied Science Associates, Inc.
(TASA OTC)
In the first quarter of the year, we had a big increase in revenues
. On the
proprietary side, we shipped our English proficiency assessments to the states of
Arkansas, Missouri and Rhode Island
. On the custom testing side, we had a big order
backlog from last year. Now we are getting multi-year contracts. Going into this year, we
had a backlog of business that equated to all of last years business. We anticipate
increases throughout the year
. - Andrew Simon
Services
Sports Recreation
Bentley Sports, Inc. (BESR - OTC/Pinksheets)
The major advancements in technology have helped us apply the benefits of
technology in body motion systems to a consumer based product in the sporting world. This
has never been done before. The motion analysis technology of the past has been for the
biomechanical labs, in other words, very complex and expensive equipment built
specifically for the medical field. Our company took these technologies and with our
outstanding team of specialists, programmers and designers have taken what we needed from
these technologies and made them specific to the sport of choice. We have taken a very
complex system and made it user friendly so that a PGA professional or snow sport
instructor can use it with minimal difficulty and concentrate on working with his student
using an objective learning programs. - Michael Bentley
Financial
Regional Banks
Carolina Bank Holdings, Inc. (CLBH-NASD)
We are performing at or above peer group level in earnings, growth, and the quality
of our loan portfolio is much better than our peers, both regionally and nationally, save
a few exceptions. We are clearly in the top one or two percent and as long as we are
performing at that level, we feel that we have no need to sell out because we are
achieving our goals. As I mentioned earlier, with the 91% increase in revenue last year,
up 50% in the first quarter, very few banks are going to be able to achieve those
consistent results, and that is our goal to do so. I cannot promise or give guidance that
it will increase our earnings 50% this year, but they are going to be up noticeably over
the last. That takes the pressure off in trying to sell out. We also know that our balance
sheet is very asset sensitive. By that I mean that as interest rates increase, our income
will increase relatively rapidly for about twelve to fifteen months until the pricing on
our deposits catch up. By that very function, our level of income will go up materially
faster and more than many of our peers who are not as asset sensitive as we are. That has
been our strategy that we think is in our best interest. - Robert T. Braswell
Healthcare
Biotech and Drugs
Symbollon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (SYMBA-OTC)
There are other companies that are initiating programs for compounds to treat fibrocystic
breast disease; however, Symbollon is certainly in the lead and has been out in the
forefront in developing IoGen. Fibrocystic breast disease certainly represents an
unmet market need, and I believe that when the proper pharmaceutical is delivered to the
marketplace, people will begin to realize how many women are in need of treatment. -
- Paul Desjourdy
Technology
Computer Services
SumTotal Systems Inc. (SUMT-NASD)
Weve set ourselves apart from competitors with two times the revenue of the
nearest one, three times the customer base, two or three times the R&D and support
staffs of other companies and we operate globally. We are now playing in almost, if
not all, the major projects around the globe. - R. Andrew Eckert
Technologies
Electronics Instruction & Controls
RF Monolithics, Inc. (RFMI-NASD)
There is very strong growth right now out of the communications product group,
especially the filters, which has been driven by satellite radio growth. Weve
designed in filters for both satellite service providers. The satellite radio
subscriber rate is growing very strongly. That is probably our strongest growth followed
very closely by the Virtual Wire® product family, which is driven by the automated meter
reading market. These are the strong drivers at this particular time. - David M.
Kirk
June 3, 2004
Financial, Technology, Natural
Resources & Capital Goods
Financial
Regional Banks
Community Bankshares Inc.
(SCB-AMEX)
We try to synthesize the advantage of size and keep the character of local community
banking alive and well through a multi-bank holding company business model. We have four
banks and a mortgage company, each with their own officers and their own directors. At the
corporate level, we provide general guidance but mostly we provide technical services,
such as data processing, item processing, internal auditing, compliance and shareholder
services. We take care of the banks so that the banks can take care of the local
customers. It has worked well for us and it gives us a much better marketing strategy than
our larger competitors because our customers want a direct personal connection to their
local bank and banker. Our other big advantage is that we have some tremendous talent on
our individual bank boards, which would be hard to come by if we were simply a standalone
community bank. - William Traynham
Technology
Machining
AmeriChip International Inc. (ACHI.OB)
Our market potential just in automotive, even though we affect aircraft and
heavy equipment like tractor building, is 250 million. The part of the market that we
decided to go after was automotive, and if I just laser the parts for other people and let
them make the parts our market potential would be $250 million annually. If I manufacture
the parts and deliver the parts as a low-cost producer, then my market potential is over a
billion dollars a year just in automotive and just in North America. Then there is the
European market, where we currently have consultants for a company that we can
purchase. - Marc Walther
Technology
Telematics
AirIQ Inc. (IQ-Toronto)
There are several factors that make this the right time to go after the consumer
Telematics market. First, there is a growing recognition, which I will call, security in
all forms, whether that is driven by 9/11 or otherwise, there is an increased
consciousness for security. Secondly, the underlying technology components of our systems
are now at a point where the consumer economics work. Several years ago a trucking company
might have been able to afford a device that cost twelve hundred dollars, but a consumer
wouldnt. Thirdly, I think there is a general appreciation for this type of
technology. There is a consumer awareness of the Global Positioning System (GPS), which is
our location technology, and what it can do. There is a confidence, trust and awareness
that this type of technology can now be applied to consumer vehicles. - Donald E.
Simmonds
Capital Goods
Construction
Wireless Facilities Inc. (WFII-NASD)
With our technical expertise and strong customer relationship we believe we are
uniquely positioned as the largest pure-play RF engineering company in the U.S. and maybe
in the world to take advantage of this wireless industry growth curve that we believe we
are on. - Eric M. DeMarco
Financial
Regional Banks
Interchange Financial Services Corporation
(IFCJ-NASD)
The key to conducting our business is to bring the customer the Interchange
experience, which I define as efficient, friendly, courteous service. We have practiced
those principles since day one and I have drilled it into everyone. I continually
reinforce our differentiators and that is what separates us from everybody else. -
Anthony S. Abbate
May 20, 2004
Consumer, Consumer Non-Cyclical,
Healthcare, Financial & Technology
Consumer
Personal Care Services
Medical Makeover
Corporation of America (MMAM-OTC: BB)
Our vision is to capitalize upon the industry and the demographics, to build a
comprehensive approach to helping people improve their appearance. This comprehensive
approach includes plastic surgery, cosmetic dermatology, cosmetic dentistry as well as
hair makeup and fashion advice so that you can create a new physical appearance for
yourself. Our strategy is to form comprehensive teams; we are Beta testing this in the
South Florida marketplace and as we develop our brand, we will extend this
nationally. - Walter E. Birch
Healthcare
Orthodontics
TC Orthodontic Lab (Privately
held)
The Truax Correctors are removable functional/orthopedic appliances. The TC II
appliance will correct large overjets, overbites and TMD. The TC III appliances will
correct large underbites (Class III malocclusion). Surgery is seldom necessary. -
Lloyd H. Truax, DDS, MSD
Consumer Non-Cyclical
Personal and Household Products
Imagenetix Inc. (IAGX.OB)
There are multiple reasons why we conduct first class clinical studies. One,
scientific credibility; One can always get testimonials on any type of compound or
product, particularly in the natural arena. If you subject your product to a well
designed, double blinded placebo study your product has specifically validated health
benefits. These type of studies Imagenetix conducts are the gold standard clinical and
medical type, again which are double blind, placebo controlled and conducted in a top
university setting, then published in premier medical, peer reviewed journals. Also these
studies when done right provide the consumer and our clients with justifiable confidence
in the product. For example, a leading Pharma Company in India Cipla Ltd. (NSE: CIPLA)
will be selling a topical cream and pills using our Celadrin® compound as a prescriptive
drug to medical doctors and pharmacies throughout India. Great science leads to the
generation of new clients and expanding channels of distribution. - William P.
Spencer
Financial
Insurance (Life)
Citizens, Inc. (CIA-NYSE)
We approach the sale of life insurance from a slightly different perspective than
most life insurance companies. The problem people will face during their later years
in life is the fact that we are all living longer and we will need to have an income when
we can no longer work to earn an income. Citizens designs its products to provide an
income that cannot be outlived. Our products emphasize living benefits. The
most important part of the life insurance equation is the living benefit. Living
benefits help the majority of the people who buy life insurance because eighty-five of one
hundred who reach age sixty-five will need the return of their money, not a death benefit.
By concentrating our product development energies toward the eighty-five percent of
the population who will be living beyond the traditional retirement age, Citizens
products benefit the majority. - Rick Riley
Technology
Software and Programming
Smith Micro Software, Inc. (SMSI-NASD)
In the wireless space, which is our lead focus area, we have been very fortunate to
be able to get some of the big names in that market place to be our customers. We focus
hard, we have a great product and we are recognized for that. We grow by helping our
customers grow. The wireless data market is still a very early stage young market. Verizon
Wireless, our largest customer, is the leader in this market and as they continue to grow,
we grow. We also are looking at other customers coming on board as more and more service
providers see the wisdom of offering data services. - William W. Smith, Jr.
May 6, 2004
Services, Healthcare, Financial,
Basic Materials, Technology &
Telecommunications
Services
Business Services
MTC Technologies Inc. (MTCT-NASD)
The reason that we have been successful is that we always pay very careful attention
to the needs of the customer. Our company vision and the training we provide our people
are geared toward amazing the customer with the level of service that we give them. It
starts with the selection of the people; we look hard to find the people that have the
right background and qualifications for the job, and in many cases, that means a very
particular type of expertise. - David Gutridge
Healthcare
Medical Equipment
Ingen Technologies Inc. (CRTZ.PK)
Ingen Technologies offers an investment opportunity that is unique. You have a
company that has liquidity with a medical device that is patented and in production, with
a vast market opportunity. - Scott R. Sand
Healthcare
Biotechnology
Oscient Pharmaceuticals Corporation (GENE-NASDAQ)
The vision that we had for the company was to create a pharmaceutical business. The
company built a great track-record in genomics-based target discovery during the
1990s, and parlayed that scientific capability into a number of successful alliances
with major pharmaceutical companies. During the last three years, the company has taken
the next step to focus on developing and marketing products of its own. Today, that is the
chief mission of the company. - Steven M. Rauscher
Financial
Regional Banks
WGNB Corp. (WGNB-NASD)
According to U.S Banker Magazine, we are the 16th highest performing,
publicly traded financial institution under one billion in assets in the nation. Over a
five year period, our return on assets has averaged 1.52% while our peers averaged 1.31%.
The companys five year average return on equity is 16.35% and our peers are 13.63%.
Over the last five years, dividends have increased an average of sixteen percent a year
and continue to do well. Our management of the balance sheet has enabled us to maintain an
excellent interest rate spread. - L. Leighton Alston
Basic Materials
Misc. Fabricated Products
Super Vision International Inc. (SUPVA-NASD)
I think we are looking at an exciting time in the LED and lighting industry as a whole. A
change like this doesnt take place more than once a century. Super Vision has the
key foundational position both from a patent and a product standpoint. With an investment
in Super Vision they can participate in the tremendous growth of this industry. -
Brett Kingstone
Technology
Computer Services
InstaPay Systems Inc. (IPYS-OTC: BB)
So far, we dont see competition on the horizon for what we are doing. I think
many of the larger companies in the industry have held back and thought that enabling
debit transactions for Internet merchants is thinking out of the box, and they have
decided to let someone else do it first. I am optimistic that we have a long lead on all
the potential competitors, plus we have all of our patents, so I think the potential
competitors are more likely to partner with us. I am not too worried about the
competition. - Harry Hargens
Telecommunications
Narrowband/Broadband Data
SkyLynx Communications, Inc. (SKYC-OTC)
It doesnt sound like much but our system is probably thirty percent of the
original cost for a satellite system and an equal cost for a cellular based system. The
per-minute usage is comparable to cellular; we are about 70% cheaper than a satellite
based system. - Gary Brown
April 23, 2004
Mining, Technology, Healthcare & Environmental Technologies
Mining
Diamond Exploration
Diamond Discoveries
International Corporation (DMDD-OTC)
It was because of this discovery of diamonds in the Canadian shield of Northern
Canada that there has been a great influx of diamond exploration in Canada by Canadian
companies. There has been a great exchange of technical information between companies;
Canadian junior companies are required to release all their technical information. There
has been a great influx of knowledge about how diamonds occur, what to look for, how they
are found and the technology has blossomed since 1998. Because of that, in Canada there
has been a big growth in the diamond industry. I think Diamond Discoveries is one of the
few of the North American OTC companies that are actually into the diamond exploration
field. - John Kowalchuk
Technology
Electronic Instruments & Controls
Merix Corp. (MERX-NASD)
The vision that we established for the company when I took over was to become the
premiere high technology printed circuit board supplier to leading OEMs on a global basis.
While it has been difficult the last couple of years, I think we have executed on our
strategy, continued to grow our customer base and continued to be recognized as a leading
provider of high technology printed circuit boards. - Mark Hollinger
Healthcare
Medical Equipment & Supplies
Dynatronics Corporation (DYNT NASD)
In September 2003, Dynatronics introduced its new line of Solaris Light Therapy
products. These units offer infrared light therapy that can be plugged into a
combination electrotherapy/ultrasound therapy unit and used for pain management and wound
healing. - Kelvyn H. Cullimore, Jr.
Healthcare
Services
The Quantum Group, Inc. (QTUM-OTC: BB)
Our goal is to improve the quality of care. Many consumers are confused in
thinking that expensive or unlimited care is better quality care. Most research facilities
have found that not to be true. We, as a country, spend up to 50% more on a per capita
basis than other developed countries that have by most standards, a better healthcare
system, if you consider lifespan, infant mortality, over-all wellness and lifestyle as the
qualifying factors. We spend the most money but we do not have the best system. We,
in The Quantum Group, believe that being more proactive and connected, by connecting the
managed care organization to the physician to the patient, that we will be able to provide
better healthcare for our patients or the patients of our clients at a lower cost. -
Noel J. Guillama
Environmental Technologies
Industrial Products
ENPAR Technologies Inc. (ENP Toronto
Venture)
Our systems for treating drinking water and wastewater have many advantages. Let me
start with our DesEl System for desalinating seawater and removing dissolved inorganic
contaminants from brackish water. With conventional approaches like reverse osmosis,
for every ten gallons of water processed you may be lucky to recover five gallons of clean
water while the remaining five gallons or more requires disposal. Our system consistently
recovers more than nine gallons of clean water for every ten gallons treated, so you get a
greatly improved recovery of water. The major cost is pumping that water, especially if it
is ground water, so it is critical that as much clean water is recovered by the system as
possible. - Dr. Gene Shelp
April 8, 2004
Healthcare, Mining, Technology &
Consumer Products
Healthcare
Eye care Services
Eye Care International, Inc.
(EYCI-OTC)
Through a lot of trial and error, diligence and effort, we were able to essentially
sign up roughly 50% of the most prestigious eye surgeons in the United States, to
ECIs discount model on an exclusive basis. We also have about 50% of all the
optometric facilities on a non-exclusive basis. It makes us the largest discount vision
network in the United States, and the only national discount network having
ophthalmologist discount services including the electives. That was the vision, to bring
the cost of eyecare down and service the population Clark A. Marcus
Healthcare
Medical Equipment & Supply
Trimedyne, Inc. (TMED-OTC)
We have developed superb, patented products that address extremely large,
multi-billion dollar markets in healthcare. Our products have been cleared for sale by the
FDA, and are used in minimally invasive procedures, which are rapidly replacing
conventional surgery. Most importantly, we have demonstrated that we can operate
profitably. - Marvin P. Loeb, Sc.D.
Mining
Gold Exploration
Canarc Resource Corp. (CRCUF.OB - OTC: BB) (CCM
Toronto)
I think Canarc has all it needs in its property portfolio now, for a major gain in
its share price, through our discovery and development of a gold mine in South America and
through the geological work and construction of a high grade mine at New Polaris in
northern British Columbia. These two projects alone should drive our shares significantly
going forward. - Bradford Cooke
Technology
Mobile Computing
AP Henderson Group (The Company) (APHG-OTC)
Slide View Corp. (The Subsidiary)
We are in a hundred billion dollar market; we are the only company out there with
intellectual property, securing this type of a concept of offering more panels in a view.
We feel with our intellectual property, and potential rolling out our prototype, that we
will step foot into into this segment, that we hope to capture a piece of that
marketplace. With that market segment growing rapidly, we feel that a new product,
offering a new solution to the up and coming multi-tasking, which has grown from infancy
in 1998, to a relative in a five billion dollar market segment today, that we should be
able to capture a potentially substantial piece of that market. - Daniel Duquette
Consumer Products - Wine
Knightsbridge Fine Wines, Inc. (KFWI-OTC)
Investors should realize that a company that becomes involved with Knightsbridge
could dramatically increase their distribution on a global and national basis with the
best sales team from the industry. Each member of our senior management in sales and
marketing has a long resume of success of brands that they have created from nothing or
brands that they have taken over and brought to million-case level sales volume. That is
unique within the industry. - Jake Shapiro
March 25, 2004
Financial, Technology, Energy &
Services
Financial
Regional Banks
Peoples Financial Corporation
(PFBX-NASD)
You
cant have too much capital; I guess I inherited that from my father and my
grandfather. Last year, when we did the interview, our primary capital average assets were
about 15.3%. This year at year-end, it was 15.84%. Some of that was due to the fact that
we had a good year. I think it can also be
attributable to the fact that the economy is truly getting better down here, which I think
is a good thing. - Chevis C. Swetman
Financial
Banking
Franklin American
Mortgage Company (Privately-Held)
We are here to stay. We have a strong balance sheet and we are only going to get
better. Even in the market that we are in right now, we are still nicely profitable and we
are going to continue to be. I think we are going to have a wonderful year in 2004 when
the industry is projected to be down as much as 65% over last year. I think we are still
going to have a very nice, comfortable, solid year at Franklin American Mortgage. -
Dan Crockett
Technology
Communications Equipment
ADDvantage Technologies
Group Inc. (AEY-AMEX)
Over the last two years, with the transformation of our business, TULSAT has
become a Value Added Reseller (VAR) of Scientific-Atlanta (NYSE: SFA) and
Motorola (MOT) broadband products. TULSAT is an exclusive Scientific-Atlanta Master
Distributor for certain legacy products and distributes most of their other
products. TULSAT has been designated an authorized third party Scientific-Atlanta
repair center for selected products. Another subsidiary, NCS Industries, is a leading
distributor of Motorola broadband products. Other subsidiaries distribute several
additional products along with operating repair centers for OEM equipment used in the
CATV industry. - Kenneth Chymiak
Energy
Oil and Gas Exploration
Whittier Energy Corporation
(WHIT-OTC)
I think investors should look at our recent history and our growth. When considering
making an investment, they should look carefully at the management team. In our case, we
have a close-knit management group of three people, who are highly qualified, energetic,
and have the business experience necessary to successfully execute the companys
strategy. We have demonstrated our ability to do so over the last two years, and have
every expectation of continuing down this path. We have been able to add new reserves to
the company and add value for the shareholders. The company has a unique history in terms
of its predecessors and with the Whittier family having been active in the oil industry
since the late 1800s. Whittier has a very good reputation and we expect to maintain
it and carry it forward. - Bryce W. Rhodes
Energy
Oil and Gas Operations
World Fuel Services Corporation
(INT-NYSE)
In the marine market, we are the largest buyer and seller of marine fuel in
the world. Nobody buys or sells more than we do, not even specific major oil companies. As
a group, they buy and sell more than we do, but not individually. In aviation we are among
the top ten sellers and top five buyers globally. As one of the biggest buyers and sellers
of both marine and aviation fuels; if you put the two types of fuel together we are
clearly one of the very largest buyers and sellers of such fuels in the world. -
Francis X. Shea
Services
Personal Services
Childtime Learning Centers Inc.
(CTIM-NASD)
We believe that our focus on excellence along with our proprietary curriculum gives
us a competitive advantage in the market place. We also are the only national
childcare chain with a model that includes both corporate and franchise locations.
This allows us to leverage our infrastructure to provide our franchisees more support than
in a pure franchising operation. The corporate/franchise model also gives us more growth
potential than a normal corporate operation because we have the ability to have individual
owner/operators expanding in markets. - William Davis
March 11, 2004
Technology, Energy & Financial
Technology
Marine Treasure
Ruby Mining Company (RUBM.OB)
We have spent much time and money developing this technology over a number of years
and have now developed a technology that can tell the difference between gold, silver,
copper, aluminum, etc. There are a number of technologies generally known as magnetometers
that can tell you whether or not something is a ferrous or non-ferrous metal. There is no
other technology that we know of, and we certainly have looked, that can tell you whether
something is gold or silver. - Howard Collingwood
Energy
Oil and Gas Producers
Celtic Exploration Ltd.
(CLT-Toronto Stock Exchange)
The way we choose properties is not geographically but more on how much upside we
think there is in the area and the property. If we do an acquisition, we dont do it
to just add production to become bigger, but we do the acquisition because we think we can
get the property producing two or three times as much as it is currently. Two or three
years later, instead of producing two or three hundred barrels a day from the new
property, we hope to be at five hundred or a thousand. We have been able to do that for
the most part on anything that we have purchased. - David J. Wilson
Financial
Community Banks
Oregon Pacific Bancorp (OPBP-OTC)
Firstly, our customers receive immediate attention; because every one of our
branches has a reception desk right in front of the front door and that desk is always
manned with somebody who has been with the bank for a number of years and has some
experience. That person will then direct them where they need to go with service. We
dont point them toward a telephone with an 800 number, which is what many of the
larger banks do today. If we have somebody that needs service from our trust department,
which is in the back of the Florence facility, we dont point a finger and show them
where to go, we call the trust person and they come out and greet them and take them back
to their office. - Tom Grove
February 26, 2004
Consumer Cyclical, Financial,
Computer Software & Healthcare
Consumer Cyclical
Apparel/Accessories
The Leather Factory Inc. (AMEX:
TLF)
We like revenue growth, earnings growth, and cash flow. We like to make money and put cash in the bank. Over the last several years, we have been able to
accomplish all of those things while expanding. In
addition, we have a quality management team with high ethical standards committed to
running a solid, stable company. - Shannon Greene
Financial
Community Bank
Michigan Heritage Bancorp Inc.
(MHBC.OB)
In 1997, we began as a community bank at a time when other banks were merging and
becoming larger or actually going away because the big banks were gobbling them up. We
felt there was a need for a smaller community bank to fill the void the larger banks left.
We have actually done that over the last six-and-a-half years that we have been in
business. Our IPO along with a few other local banks that went public during that time
period have created a good relationship with various customers who are not being serviced
properly by the larger out-of-state banks. At this point, I think we have done a good job
in providing that service. - Anthony S. Albanese
Computer Software
Interactive Entertainment
Games, Inc.
(GMSI - OTC: BB)
We look at the company and we see a very high visibility in its brands and a high
potential in the state lottery business and that is why we have put so much of our own
personal money into the company. - Roger Ach
Healthcare
Biotechnology
InNexus Biotechnology Inc. (IXS-Toronto:
Venture)
Over the last 30 years, it has been proven that you can make drugs from monoclonal
antibodies
and that these drugs can probably be more useful than traditional drugs in treating
different kinds of diseases. Currently, monoclonal
antibodies do about three billion dollars a year in sales. It has gone from a great
concept to a proven commercial approach in making drugs. What we do is improve the
therapeutic activity of monoclonal
antibodies.
There are two big impacts of that; obviously the first means that we can treat diseases
better with monoclonal
antibodies and probably more importantly, it means that we can get them approved as drugs
more readily. They have a much higher likelihood of being approved as a SuperAntibody
rather than a regular monoclonal
antibody.
- Dr. Charles A. Morgan
February 12, 2004
Financial, Technology & Services
Financial
Regional Banks
Analyst Interview
Covering:
First State Bancorporation (FSNM-NASD)
First State Bancorporations Colorado operation will gain some maturity over
the next two or three years. The New Mexico business is mature and they have some
refinement that they can do there but it is firing on all cylinders; it is a matter of
getting Colorado up to where New Mexico is. Both markets should provide for solid balance
sheet growth but the Colorado opportunity should be very good for a long time, considering
the companys low market share. - Peyton N. Green, Senior Analyst, Financial
Institutions Group, FTN Midwest Research Securities Corp.
Financial
Regional Banks
First State Bancorporation (FSNM-NASD)
I think for our organization, the key has been that although the majority of our
operation is still here in New Mexico, we now have opportunities in three states that give
us a much larger potential marketplace and some geographic diversity. Probably the one
thing that is hard to convey in the written word is that we have some of the best people
working for us in all of those markets. As the big banks have changed their policies and
the way they operate, they have opened up the opportunity for us to hire some of the best
banking talent in each of these markets. - H. Patrick Dee
Services
Business Services
Access
Integrated Technologies, Inc. (AIX-AMEX)
I think that because people try to categorize AccessIT, they look at where much of
our revenue and operating profits come from, they only see software and data centers and
immediately they think maybe that is what we are. When someone looks at our history,
however, they need to understand that we have used this platform that we created over the
past couple of years to move all the way up to the top of the stack in the application
layer to secure a leading position in an industry that is about to explode. In my opinion,
if an investor is interested in an emerging company, particularly one addressing digital
media, then Access IT is the primary investment and the only pure play that they can
invest in. - A. Dale Mayo
Technology
Scientific and Technical Instruments
Image Sensing Systems
Incorporated (ISNS-NASD)
We are in a growing market. Our focus
has been intersections. We have not touched the Freeway market and that is something we
will have to look into as a company. Right now, our plate is full as we are in the
development process with three products for the current year and one product for next
year. We also have a number of software upgrades and new features we are working on. There
are just so many things you can do and do right.
Going back to early 2002 we were limping; we said we may have made some
wrong turns in the road and well get it turned around. I am pleased that our
engineers, distributors and our partners, Econolite and Wireless Technology, Inc. have
done an outstanding job and it has reflected in our sales and profits. - James
Murdakes
Services
Communications Services
Millicom International Cellular SA (MICC-NASD)
The biggest challenge for us is to cope with this increased growth. We really see
great opportunities in the countries where we are now present. We want to seize those
opportunities. We are a relatively small organization, so we will have to work hard to
cope with that growth but I am very much convinced that we can do that. The growth is
there in Asia and Africa. We will be there to take advantage of that. - Marc Beuls
Services
Technology Services
Calian Technology Ltd. (CTY-TSX)
I have been with Calian for three years now, and I have seen the evolution at
Calian. We have a strong management team. We have a team that is conservative in its
approach and does not make decisions lightly. It is focused on making sure that decisions
are inline with its vision to be the most desirable service provider to work for, buy from
and invest in. We look at those three areas continually when we are making decisions. We
have built a strong, solid company with a very good reputation; and we have a solid
backlog to support it. - Jacqueline Gauthier
Financial
Banks
Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc.
(PNFP-NASD)
Banking is still a people business, so the most important ingredient of providing
distinctive service is ensuring that you have a workforce that is excited, engaged and
capable of providing excellent service. There are other components to our distinctive
service, such as a courier deposit pick-up system. We go to commercial clients
locations to pick up their deposits and bring them to the bank. That has been an
outstanding component of our service equation and it is different from what the large
regional banks do. Additionally, we are blessed by the fact that when we started the
company in the year 2000, we started with state-of-the-art systems, which are all online,
real-time, Oracle database systems. The point of that is, the information that we are able
to provide clients is real-time and so robust that the quality of information they are
able to retrieve from our company is far superior to what they can receive from a large
regional bank and most community banks. Distinctive service takes on a number of
components, the most critical of which is people, but also includes innovative approaches
to distribution such as courier deposit pick-up and state-of-the-art system support.
- M. Terry Turner
January 30, 2004
Healthcare, Financial & Financial
Insurance
Healthcare
Healthcare Management
Universal Healthcare Management
Systems, Inc. (UHMG-OTC)
Anyone who has read our business plan has fallen in love with the company. We have
been a doctor-based company and 75-95% of our investments have been from doctors, which I
think is phenomenal because it is saying that the medical community has faith in this. If
the doctors and the medical community have faith in us, I think the people at-large should
also. - Kenneth N. Hankin
Financial
Savings Banks
Franklin Bank Corp. (FBTX-NASDAQ)
We believe any of the institutions that we want to buy have done a great job in the
community and the owners and directors should stay in some capacity. We created advisory
boards, which allow us to continue to prospect for new opportunities and new employees and
customers in the community. We are going to continue the community bank philosophy and
name and just provide capital, a better technology, and more products. - Anthony
Nocella
Financial Insurance
Property and Casualty
Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc.
(MIG-NYSE)
Most companies shy away from the small/medium sized business because they cant
efficiently handle the back office. With our technology and our processing advantage, we
are able to do that. I think that is one of the major challenges that we have been able to
overcome, and it is a barrier to entry for a lot of companies trying to compete with
us. - Robert S. Cubbin
January 15, 2004
Energy & Technology
Energy
Oil/Gas Exploration
Aspen Exploration Corporation
(ASPN-OTC)
Aspen has a 24-year operating history; we are very solid, honest, and well respected
by our peers (the other oil and gas
companies) service companies and the land owners. We
pay all of our bills quickly. We are a well-run company with little debt and we have good
existing production and good prospects to drill in the future. We are a natural gas
producer and natural gas prices are extremely high now with good prices forecast for
months and hopefully years to come. - Bob Cohan
Aspen is a company with two full time employees and a market cap of about five
million dollars or so. Most companies our size might drill one or two wells a year, while
Aspen is able to drill five or six wells a year in addition to achieving some production
acquisitions. For a company our size, that is considered aggressive. We are efficient and
well-run and we are able to do quite a bit with a small staff. - Bob Cohan
Technology
Computer Peripherals
SAND Technology Inc. (SNDT-NASDAQ)
Many people think of business intelligence in terms of managers looking at
cubes of data, which are predefined data subsets they have been given to work
with. The problem with this approach is that it presupposes that the answer is in the
subset. The SAND Analytic Server allows organizations to think
"outside-the-cube" because we dont put those restrictions on them; we give
them unrestricted access to all the relevant business data. - Robert Thompson
January 2, 2004
Mining, Consumer Cyclical &
Financial
Mining
Diamond Exploration
North Star Diamonds, Inc.
(NSDM-Pink Sheets)
North Star Diamonds has a very good management team. We have a slow burn out rate;
that means that our over-head is very low. We are under valued in the market as far as I
am concerned. Plans are to become fully
reporting in early 2004 and apply for OTC:BB listing.
We have some of the best people and we have one of the worlds foremost
satellite imaging area experts, and he has pointed out where we should be going. Since the
early 1970s I have been interested in diamonds and have a vast knowledge of the type of
area where and what we should be looking for. I actually feel that we have the best
management team in the industry for a small cap company. I feel the benefits of the
approach we have taken will become apparent in the near future. - Walter Stunder
Consumer Cyclical
Apparel/Accessories
Perry Ellis International Inc. (PERY-NASD)
We have begun to have brands that appeal to women. We acquired the Jantzen®
swimwear business from VF Corp. about eighteen months ago and with that we picked up
licenses to produce Tommy Hilfiger® and NIKE® swimwear, which are primarily womens
wear. So that gives us some access to the womens market and gets us out of just
being a mens wear company. It gives us the opportunity to expand the Jantzen brand
in resort wear and womens sportswear. We just acquired a company called Redsand®,
which is a surf brand and we are hoping we can expand that to juniors and we have another
company called Original Penguin®, which is a retro young mens line and there seems
to be a good demand for a junior line there. There are opportunities to acquire brands in
juniors or missies or various areas. - Timothy Page
Financial
Banks
Taylor Capital Group, Inc. (TAYC-NASD)
I feel fortunate to be an owner of this company, and to have the opportunity each
day to influence our success by being out in the marketplace and talking about our
approach to business banking. We deliver a
depth of understanding that other banks cannot. As
I often explain to both our officers and our customers, we are more than just a loan maker
and deposit taker. Because we understand the
complexities of operating a business ourselves, we can share our experiences, our
advisors, and our resources with our business customers.
In this way, we can help these business owners deal with issues they may be
facing or opportunities they may be embarking upon. This
is the value added component Cole Taylor delivers to our customers and
you just cant get that from the larger banks. - Jeffrey W. Taylor
December 11, 2003
Basic Materials, Financial &
Healthcare
Basic Materials
Chemical Manufacturing
U.S. Microbics Inc. (BUGS.OB)
If you look at the way our technology, which is the technology of the new millennia, vs.
the 1970s or 1980s technology, which is what the competition uses, their philosophy is to
never really fix the problem but to study it and work on it as long as possible to
maximize their revenue. Our philosophy is to get in there and fix it, get paid when we fix
it and move on to the next project. We have a new paradigm shift in terms of solving the
problem and not just masking the symptoms and we do it on a pay for
performance basis rather than a pay for effort basis. Most of the states
will be changing to that philosophy, and we are in the forefront of that. The only way to
execute that philosophy is to use biotechnology. We are seeing a major change in the shift
to clean up contamination. I think we are well positioned for the next twenty years.
- Robert Brehm
Financial
Community Bank
Monarch Bank (MNRK-NASD)
Investors should know that we are well positioned for interest rates when they start
to rise. The balance sheet is very asset sensitive with almost 60% of our outstanding
loans rate-sensitive. The other thing that investors do not know about Monarch is that we
were posed for the future as far as other income. Starting our bank at a time
when rates were at historic lows has helped us because I feel that if we can make money in
this environment, then we can succeed in just about any environment. The last thing is
that we are fanatical about loan quality; we have no loans that are ninety days past due,
no-non accruals and no charge-offs. Since our inception of April of 1999, we have only had
one charge off and that was $500 dollars! - William F. Rountree, Jr.
Healthcare
Medical Equipment and Supplies
Ventana Medical Systems Inc. (VNSI-NASD)
Tissue specimens resulting from any hospital procedure are sent to a histology lab
where a hematoxylin and eosin (or primary) stain is performed. The resulting
stained tissue slide is reviewed by a pathologist who determines whether the tissue is
normal or abnormal. In 80-85% of the cases, specimens are determined to be normal and no
further testing is required. The remaining 15-20% of cases is generally put through a
series of advanced stains in which the pathologist obtains ever more detailed
information to aid in making a diagnosis. Ventanas current generation automated
instrument and reagent systems are used in this advanced staining segment
which comprises three different types of technology; special stains, Immunohistochemistry
(IHC) stains, and In situ hybridization (ISH) stains. We are expecting to launch a new
primary staining system offering entirely new levels of automation in the fourth-quarter
of 2004 - Nicholas Malden
November 20, 2003
Healthcare, Technology, Financial
& Services
Healthcare
Medical Equipment & Supplies
Possis
Medical, Inc. (NASD: POSS)
Because AngioJet® is fairly wide spread, we are the leader in mechanical
thrombectomy. I think we have established that it is an important therapy used to treat
people with blood clots and we have over 1100 drive units spread across this nation. That
means that we are in 95% of the top medical centers across the United States and that gets
attention. It means that the leading institutions across this land believe it has been
established as a very important therapy and its uses are increasing and we do everything
we can to support that. Robert G. Dutcher
The good news is that our business continues to grow and the reason is we are better
for the patient. We cause less discomfort,
are safer and we actually can help them get dialysis faster than some of the other
techniques. We have proven there is a valid therapy in removing blood clots and we have
proven that we can make money providing that therapy. Our profitable business model will
attract competition to come in and try to find a way into the business. There are a number
of smaller, and larger, companies nibbling at the edges of our business. So, our markets
are never locked up. - Eapen Chacko
Technology
Scientific and Technical Instruments
MFIC Corporation (OTC: MFIC)
We have come a long way in the pharmaceutical and biotech areas. We have been the
equipment of choice in performing cell disruption in the biotech industry and there are
few biotech companies today that do not use it for that application, as well as for
efficient formulation development. We believe that you cannot do modern day formulation
without a MicrofluidizerÒ
laboratory level processor system because of its versatility, its ease of cleaning, its
scalability and its light weight. At only forty pounds, it can be moved easily from place
to place. In other industrial settings, we also bring competitive advantages to users. The
ink-jet ink application is one of the biggest ones in which we are involved. If you use an
ink-jet printer, it is highly likely that the ink was made on a Microfluidizer Processor
System. - Irwin Gruverman
Financial
Regional Banks
West Coast Bancorp (Oregon) (WCBO-NASD)
Our strategy is oriented towards taking market share away from larger institutions.
There has been a significant amount of disruption in the marketplace through M&A
activity, and changes in operative paradigms. We have been successful in attracting,
recruiting, and keeping good people so we can grow our share. - Robert D. Sznewajs
Financial
Community Bank
New Century Bancorp (NCBN.OB)
Our vision was to provide our community with a bank that would be attuned to the
needs of the customer base in our market. That
has been so successful, that we have been able to expand into other markets. We
anticipated a fifty-million dollar community bank into the end of the third year. At the
end of the third year, we were almost a one hundred-and-fifty million dollar bank. We feel
that we have achieved our goal of being a premiere community bank in our market
area. - John Q. Shaw
Services
Visual Communication Services
Mail-Well Inc. (MWL-NYSE)
We differentiate ourselves with the depth of our services and the depth of our
product line. We have the ability to provide many products and services to many different
locations. Today most of our competitors are one-plant, one-product line operations. If
you look at Mail-Well that has over 85 manufacturing facilities across North America and
many product lines, we are different. - Paul V. Reilly
November 6, 2003
Technology & Financial
Technology
Security
Universal Detection Technology
(UDTT.OB-OTC)
It is very competitive and difficult if you want to develop fully proprietary
technology within a small company and then take it to a government sector. However, when
you are in partnership with NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as we are, and you
bring that kind of credibility and science and government backing in partnership with
yourself, that is where you all of a sudden find yourself having a lot of potential for
the future. - Jacques Tizabi
The advantage that the Universal Detection device has is basically three fold.
First, it is faster than any other device out there. It will give you positive results
within 15 minutes of exposure to the Anthrax bacteria. The second advantage that it has is
that it works on its own; you do not need an attendant or a technician to be there
constantly. If there is a positive detection result, it will give off an alarm and notify
the appropriate individual. The third major advantage is that our device never gives false
positive results, which is a serious drawback to the other technologies that are out
there. For example, the PCR DNA based technology can give a positive result from pollen or
other organic material. In contrast, our device only gives a positive result in the
presence of the Bacterial spores. - Amir Ettehadieh
Technology
Artificial Intelligence
Subjex Corporation (SBJX-OTC)
Our biggest challenge initially was to describe how the technology worked. We have
overcome that by putting our own virtual sales agent on our website that literally sells
itself. We have many people that are astounded that they are actually talking to software.
The biggest challenge now is in helping our clients train their implementation. There is a
learning curve that the AI has which lasts two weeks to two months, depending on the
amount of effort put into it. The results of our clients training their implementation are
astounding. The return on investment is one of the greatest selling factors. We have
created our technology, by design to become smarter and therefore more valuable the more
it gets used. - Andrew D. Hyder
Technology
Consumer 3D
Venga Aerospace Systems Inc. (YVY-TSX
Venture)
To a certain extent, 3D is a mature market because it has been around since the late
1900s. We are a niche market, but a large one. It is a film-based product and there are 3D
digital cameras that are coming out shortly and we want to market those also. We will
enter into development with the largest retailer in Canada to test market 3D cameras.
Typically, 3D camera users tend to be more upscale and professional. - Hirsh Kwinter
Financial
Commercial Banks
ParkeBank (PKBK-NASD)
If you service someone in the proper manner, they will tell someone else because
they are business people. They say if you are having a problem, go talk to
ParkeBank. For example, we just took on an excellent client who was having
difficulty with a large bank. They were going from this committee to that committee and
the client was getting frustrated. An accounting firm in their area knew of ParkeBank as
being familiar with the construction industry, so they called us. We met with the owner
the next day, they laid out their needs for construction equipment financing and this
Thursday we will get the loan approved and will close it in a week. If you respond
properly, your reputation gets out there and spreads. - Vito S. Pantilione
October 23, 2003
Services, Technology & Basic
Materials
Services
Security Systems and Services
AXCESS Inc. (AXSI-OTC:BB)
This is an exciting time in the security industry, with the entire industry
transitioning through an automation model. As we like to say it will only go digital
once in anyones lifetime and that time is now. That means that there are some
tremendous opportunities for investment success with companies that are positioned
properly. We believe that AXCESS is very well positioned, both in terms of the position in
the security industry as well as with the technology-based solutions we have introduced.
As exciting as anything is the way we have established the business to be very scaleable
and to be able to grow very rapidly. As investors look at AXCESS, I think that we fit the
profile for investors who are looking for those kinds of companies with exciting growth
opportunities. - Allan Griebenow
Technology
Supply Chain Management Software
TECSYS Inc. (TCS-TSX)
At this point, there are a number of players in the market, and everyone has their
unique claim to fame. However, where we believe we stand out is in the area of
integration. There is no other player out there today that has a market-leading
office-side distribution system which is fully integrated with an industrial strength
warehouse management system, coupled with a complete enterprise transportation management
system, accessible through a strategic business intelligence and executive decision making
system, and real-time communications customers and suppliers handled by a feature rich
e-commerce system. In most cases, customers
are forced to choose a group of stand-alone vendors that they hope will work together to
provide the solution and have to manage the integration themselves. Whereas in our case, we provide a single vendor
solution right out of the box fully integrated.
That is our primary claim to fame. As you drill a little deeper, we are the
company in this space that can handle extremely high volumes of transactions. We have one
account that is processing four hundred thousand order lines in a four-hour window each
day. We are also the company with the most flexible rebate tracking system. We have a very
flexible pricing system, and we provide a complete cradle to grave lot control
system, as well as DEA licensing for the pharmaceutical industry, and as a result, almost
40% of our business is in the pharmaceutical space. Our
key market segments include healthcare distribution (pharmaceutical and medical/surgical
supplies distribution), general wholesale (to retail) distribution, and 3PL (third party
logistics) providers. - Peter Brereton
Technology
Computer Services
On2 Technologies, Inc. (ONT-AMEX)
We sell software that allows people to compress video and send and receive it on
things like computers, television sets, cell phones and other devices. We take video and
film, which is really a bunch of still-shots that are put together at a rate faster than
the human eye can detect, and using algorithms break them down into electronic bits, so
that they can be sent through relatively narrow gateways on the cable modem telephone. It
is reconstructed on the other end to look the same way to the human eye as it would if it
were the original video or film. Over the last fourteen years, this company has
specialized in that process of deconstructing and reconstructing videos over great
distances and relatively small pipelines. - Douglas McIntyre
Technology
Software and Programs
MapInfo Corp. (MAPS-NASD)
We are a hundred million dollar software company, which has weathered a brutal
downturn in the telecommunications and IT spending environment. Two years later we are
profitable at the same revenue level and having to restructure our entire business. We
have a strong franchise on a global basis with hundreds of thousands of loyal global
users. We have steady growth on that core business moving forward. We also have some
significant opportunities ahead. Wi-Fi and Homeland Security could be significant for
MapInfo. However, we are not counting on explosive growth in any one area. If we see the
potential moving forward, we will invest aggressively, like we have done in the past. I
think any potential investor should know that we are a company that has weathered the
downturn and it has been very tough for software companies our size, and many of them have
really struggled as we did, but we are out of it. We are profitable with growth
opportunities ahead of us. - Mark Cattini
Basic Materials
Metal Mining
North American Palladium (TSX: PDL)
(AMEX: PAL)
We currently have a long-term contract with a major automobile manufacturer that
includes a price protection. This year our average price will be around $440.00 per ounce.
Next year it may fall off to a low of $325.00 if the spot price does not come back up. Our
long-term contract goes through the middle of 2005. Palladium and platinum belong to a
group of metals have some unique properties, such as the ability to hold hydrogen and the
ability to convert exhaust gases to a less harmful gas. I doubt use of palladium in
catalytic converters will go down because they are beginning to use those things in Asia.
As we move forward with catalytic converters in places like China, Viet Nam, Thailand and
those areas, you are going to see actual usage go up. This is long term and there are
other uses coming along such as energy storage and fuel cells. - Andre Douchane
October 9, 2003
Healthcare,
Aerospace Technology, Technology, Services & Finance
Healthcare
Biotechnology
CytoGenix, Inc. (CYGX-OTC)
People should not invest in our company unless they have the intent to put some
effort into understanding our technology, and then they should follow the way we are
developing scientifically. I think if people do that, they will recognize that we have an
enormously broad platform that is approachable. We have a business model that we think is
beginning to work. We have been in business with this technology for about four years,
which is a short time for most Biotechs. We think that in our next round of funding we
will get enough money to get a couple of our formulations into clinical trials. If we do,
we will see success in our licensing to larger corporations that will be able to take us
the rest of the way through the FDA. I advise people to look at our track-record, and look
at our future plans to see whether we keep our promises. - Dr. Malcolm Skolnick
Aerospace Technology
Aircraft Maintenance
Renegade Venture Corporation (RDVN-OTC)
If you are not high quality there are problems with the FAA. Our competitors have a
much higher overhead structure than we have. Senior management here, wear a number of
different hats and we only add overhead when we know we have the business. The other edge
is that we have recently just broken into the international aircraft trading business. One
of the things we spoke about in interviews last year is that we needed to do that in order
to capture our market. If you are able to supply the aircraft to your customers and supply
them with maintenance attached, you will ensure your future business. - Ian Herman
Technology
Computer Services
Pinnacle Data Systems, Inc. (AMEX: PNS)
We see growth across many of the markets we serve, especially where OEMs have cut
resources over the past couple of years, are maintaining an internal set of core
engineering competencies and are out-sourcing their specialty engineering needs. -
John D. Bair
Services
Business Services
DiamondCluster International (DTPI-NASD)
We are seeing a sharp pick up in demand. Most observers believe that because we are
a company that works with large companies, and we work at seniors levels and our work has
a high planning component in it, most observers would think that we are early in the
cycle. I think that as we see the sharp shift in demand, my sense is that it is good news
for the technology industry in general. It certainly is an indication that the economy is
picking up and businesses are beginning to think about spending again. Mel E.
Bergstein
Financial
Commercial Banks
Northeast Bancorp/ME (NBN-AMEX)
Our number-one strategy is to serve three main constituents. Our employees, our
customers, and our shareholders. We work for the shareholders and our strategy is always
to be mindful of their needs and to deliver superior earnings, but more importantly, to
deliver a fair and competitive dividend and at the same time leaving us sufficient capital
to grow the company and support the buy back of our shares. - James Delamater
Finance
Banks
VSB Bancorp, Inc. (VSBN-OTC)
VSB has been around for about five-and-a-half years; the Bancorp owns Victory State
Bank, which is a commercial bank headquartered with all branches on Staten Island. The
need for a small bank to serve professional and commercial customers as opposed to
consumers is based on the ability to know your customers better. This allows you to
service their needs better, and make commercial loans to brand new businesses and to
retail businesses that never show a profit but have been around for a long time and always
pay their bills, but dont demonstrate; in their financial statements the ability to
repay debt. That capacity is lost in larger banks that now do computer-based screening for
loan applications, so if you dont pass the screening, you dont get the loan.
While commercial loan officers in those banks, are entitled to override those screenings;
they do so at their own peril; if they are wrong, they have to justify the decision.
- Merton Corn
Technology
Computer Services
Verticalnet, Inc. (VERT-NASD: SC)
The Verticalnet of today is a company focused on developing leading solutions in a
high growth market. The strategic sourcing space is the next area that corporations are
looking for to drive value and enable them to become more strategic in terms of how they
manage their relationships with suppliers. This sector is predicted to be the highest
growth sector in software over the next three to four years. We are extremely well
positioned from a product and company standpoint with market-leading customers that
include IKEA, Lowes, Valvoline, and MasterBrand Cabinets. We have a management team
that has taken on the challenges that we faced financially and from a business standpoint,
and have achieved a tremendous amount in a short time. - Nathanael Lentz
Technology
Healthcare Claims Processing
ClaimsNet.com Inc. (CLAI.OB-OTC BB)
Our target customer is what is generically called the payer community of the
healthcare business, which means third-party administrators, preferred provider
organizations, HMOs and insurance carriers, as well as some self-insured large employers.
They go to their high-volume paper providers and tell them that there is a better way to
do things and that they will get paid faster, have less work and we will be much happier.
The payers sponsor us into the provider offices. - Don Crosbie
September 25, 2003
Financial,
Enterprises & Technology
Financial
Regional Banks
Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc.
(SUSQ-NASD)
We have a well-rounded management team that spans the bank side and the non-bank
side. We have a very solid history of earnings and dividend growth. We are in one of the
top market areas in the United States from a demographic and population growth standpoint.
We have developed, over a long period of time, a very strong credit culture where our net
charge-offs, in good and bad times, are better than our peers. We earn about 35 cents on a
dollar in fee income. We have developed a passion and excitement about who we are, what we
are. We have a rapidly growing sales culture. Most of all, we have a shareholder-focused
strategic plan in which all the components of what we do from a strategy standpoint
revolves around the creation of shareholder value. - William Reuter
Financial
Banks
Northern States Financial Corp.
(NSFC-NASD)
We acquired Round Lake Bankcorp, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, First State
Bank of Round Lake last Thursday, which was September 11th. It is a profitable bank that
is a mirror to our bank with two locations and a full staff. We are very pleased to have
the opportunity to purchase it. Northern States will add a hundred and ten million dollars
in assets from these two locations. - Fred Abdula
Enterprises
Service Providers
Packeteer, Inc. (PKTR - NASD)
What differentiates us is primarily in our very deep classification at Layer 7. Our
ability to literally classify an operation is somewhere in the order of 400 different
applications that give our customers great insight of what is running on their network,
and the specific technology that we use in setting policies for controlling those
applications, which is patented technology called TCP Rate Control. We do not let data
depart until we know it can land and that ability to provide granular rate control across
the network gives our customers a predictability in being able to prioritize or block or
minimize unwanted traffic, and that is different than our competition. - Dave Cote
Technology
Computer Services
Verticalnet, Inc. (VERT-NASD: SC)
The Verticalnet of today is a company focused on developing leading solutions in a
high growth market. The strategic sourcing space is the next area that corporations are
looking for to drive value and enable them to become more strategic in terms of how they
manage their relationships with suppliers. This sector is predicted to be the highest
growth sector in software over the next three to four years. We are extremely well
positioned from a product and company standpoint with market-leading customers that
include IKEA, Lowes, Valvoline, and MasterBrand Cabinets. We have a management team
that has taken on the challenges that we faced financially and from a business standpoint,
and have achieved a tremendous amount in a short time. - Nathanael Lentz
Technology
Computer Hardware
SteelCloud, Inc. (SCLD-NASD)
The network security market is one in which we have significant experience and
insight. We knew that CA (Computer Associates
International, Inc.)(NYSE: CA) had some very good software products in the security arena,
however, unlike many of their competitors, none of CAs security products were
available as ready-to-deploy appliances. As a
result, CA had lost significant market share to competitors who sell their software as
fully integrated appliances that deliver immediate ROI to the end user customer. We were
very familiar with CAs competition, and knew we could develop an appliance that was
superior to the competition. So we introduced
CA to this concept. They may very well have
been thinking internally of a plan along those lines.
Anyway, we took the initiative, formed a team (which includes Microsoft). The result was that we launched our family of
SteelCloud/CA co-branded security appliances at the CA World Convention in Las Vegas. The reception by CAs worldwide group of
channel partners was tremendous. - Thomas Dunne
Technology
Superconductors
Superconductive Components, Inc.
(SCCI-OTC)
What potential investors may not know is that the company has realigned itself
toward manufacturing. We believe that Lithium the Thin Film battery area is an area that
is going to take off rapidly in the next year to eighteen months, so applications like
active RFID tags would be in potential use because these batteries are very small and
discreet. Power supplies, battery on a chip, would be another application. With only the
required chips sets up and running, you would be able to manage your energy needs by
turning chips on and off as needed. Smart cards are another area where these batteries
have real potential. From the heels of that, we believe that superconducting materials are
finally beginning to take hold and will become a real business within the next three to
five months. - Dan Rooney
Technology
Electro-luminescence
GloTech Industries, Inc. (GTHI-OTC)
Our goal is to replace reflective materials on vests with electroluminescent lamps.
We believe this technology provides superior visibility to the product because it does not
need an outside light source and does not need to be viewed from a certain angle. We are
working actively on standards for safety vests. We
believe that the large companies that provide reflective material are our competition. On
the other hand, we like to work with manufacturers that make vests, and we do not envision
ourselves manufacturing the vests. Our strategy is to enter into license agreements with
those manufacturers to have them do what they know best, which is making vests with our
technology. - Heinz Fraunhoffer
September 11, 2003
Business Services, Services, Technology, Capital
Goods Industrial Products & Mining
Business Services
Services
Precision Auto Care (PACI
- NASD)
We have a heritage and culture of being under the hood, so we have a serious
advantage over somebody who has been focused under the car or on mufflers or brakes. It is
a lot easier to go from under the hood to under the car; under the hood is getting more
complicated. A car today is about 20% electronic, and in five years, it will be 40%
electronic. If you dont have that under-the-hood culture throughout your system, it
takes a while to change that culture. - Louis N. Brown Jr.
Services
Real Estate Operations
FirstService Corporation
(FSV - TSX) (FSRV NASDAQ)
Whether
we are looking at the Residential Property Management area, Security, Consumer Services or
our Business Services area, we have what we refer to as platform investments, which are
larger investments in these areas. Many of these are geographic specific. In virtually all
of our businesses, the senior management teams are also partners, so they retain a direct
ownership interest in those businesses; they have a direct investment in the businesses
they manage on a day-to-day basis. We are big proponents of variable, performance driven
compensation and incentives. Whether on a short-term basis, such as annual bonuses, or a
longer-term basis, through equity ownership, there is a high degree of motivation to
ensure that they are managing and providing service at an optimal level and that allows
them to continue to retain customers and grow their businesses. - John Friedrichsen
Healthcare
Spa Industries
Current Technology Corp. (CRTCF:OTC)
When my wife and I co-founded the company, we saw this technology platform as one to
be directed at males and I think that was probably a reasonable assumption on a first look
basis. However, as we have gotten further into it we feel it is going to be
significant for women and are very excited about its prospects. Definitely on the
cosmetic side, this relates to how concerned women are of any issues relating to the
appearance of their hair. - Robert Kramer
Technology
Digital Audio Recording Systems
FTR Ltd. (FTR: AX Australian Exchange)
Since
changing our focus to a simpler product in 1998, one of the things we have done very well
is convey to customers that this is a transition from cassette tape recorders to CD. That
is all this is about-- nothing fancy, not a revolution but simply an evolution, which is a
good message for the pragmatic person; and courts tend to be very traditional and very
pragmatic. FTR is the market leader. We spend an extraordinary amount of time talking to
our niche market, we are at every trade show and we have been in every publication for the
past five or six years now. Therefore, I think you would be hard pressed to find a court
system in North
America
that was not aware of us. - Steve Townsend
Capital Goods
Capital Goods-Misc.
Cycle Country Accessories Corp. (ATC - AMEX)
We are in a growing industry, and it has grown through the years when many
industries have suffered. If we look at ATV sales, our business has mirrored the number of
ATVs that are sold and those sales just keep going up every year. We have been able to
continue to develop new products for the ATV industry, and we feel as these products hit
the market, our company will benefit financially. We have been successful at developing
some strategic alliances with OEMs in the lawn and garden industry, which is going to
allow us to expand beyond our traditional ATV industry. Further, our entrance onto the
AMEX, opens our stock to many more brokers and potential investors. That is going to
be a good thing for us, for the value of our stock, and long-term investments in our
company. - Ronald Hickman
Industrial
Products
Fuel Storage Cylinders
Dynetek Industries Ltd. (DNK - TSX)
What
we build is storage systems and the storage systems begin with the tank. The tank is an
aluminum and carbon fiber light-weight cylinder that we build right here in our facility
and in Europe. It is everyday
aluminum; we buy it at Alcoa Inc. in the United States. On a global basis, this business
is very regulated and subject to certification in every country. The point to be made is
that it is not something you can build in your garage and sell it the next day. It takes
anywhere from twelve to twenty-four months to gain these certifications so you can
actually begin to sell these products in the market place. We see ourselves and our
product as a market leader for light-weight containers, which is really due to our
proprietary process to thin the wall of our liner. The lighter wall means thinner
application, so in some cases we can use three cylinders where our competitors use four or
five, which is more costly and more weight. That is the value proposition that we provide
to our customers. - Robb Thompson
Mining
Gold and Silver Exploration
Kimber Resources, Inc. (KBR-TSX Venture)
I think the key fact is that we have an emerging resource, which does not depend on
an increase in the price of gold or silver. There are risks remaining, of course, but we
have been looking for the fatal flaw in this deposit for two-and-a-half years now, and we
have not found it. - Robert Longe
Technology
Healthcare Claims Processing
ClaimsNet.com Inc. (CLAI.OB-OTC BB)
Our target customer is what is generically called the payer community of the
healthcare business, which means third-party administrators, preferred provider
organizations, HMOs and insurance carriers, as well as some self-insured large employers.
They go to their high-volume paper providers and tell them that there is a better way to
do things and that they will get paid faster, have less work and we will be much happier.
The payers sponsor us into the provider offices. - Don Crosbie
August 28, 2003
Services & Technology
Services
Business Services
Ventiv Health, Inc. (VTIV - NASD)
Ventiv has been consistently profitable for five quarters. If you look at our recent new clients wins, Ventiv
is poised to steadily strengthen its results as we move forward through the balance of
2003 and beyond. We are now a highly focused
organization, having divested some non-core and unprofitable businesses, and focused on
execution and delivering results for our clients. In
addition, our balance sheet is very strong, and from a valuation perspective, Ventiv is
particularly attractive for investors. - Eran Broshy
Technology
Communications Equipment
ViewCast.com, Inc. (VCST - OTC)
We believe video is going to be ubiquitous in a business environment, so we continue
to invest in ways to make the video user experience as easy as possible. We want the user
interfaces to be intuitive and easy to use. That is our main focus; we believe we have an
excellent hardware platform, so we are moving toward application software where we
continue to deliver value that will make the use of video compelling. - George Platt
Technology
Energy Management
Power Efficiency Corp. (PREF-OTC)
Our strategy is to identify the applications, where our technology provides the
maximum energy savings. We first measure the power used by a motor without our controller
and then run the same application with our controller installed. Customers can see the savings. Testing has shown
that escalators and elevators are a perfect application. We manufacture private label
controllers for OTIS, KONE and SCHINDLER in this sector. Successful test results on
granulators used in the plastic industry have led to the recently announced marketing
arrangement and joint venture with Rapid Granulator a leading manufacturer of granulators. Our preliminary tests on oil and gas pump jacks
have been very encouraging. We identified this application for testing because pump jacks
are fully loaded only on the up stroke. After we prove our technology in a sector we focus
are sales efforts in high energy areas maximizing our customers ROI. Many states
with high electricity costs provide incentives and rebates that help offset the cost of
our controllers further increasing customers ROI. - Richard Koch
Technology
Emerging Growth Technologies
Consortium Service Management Group,
Inc. (CTUM-OTC)
The tissue bonding technology has been referred to as the Holy Grail of the surgery
industry. We would not want to speculate on how long it will take to get it into the
mainstream marketplace of the western world but we are moving forward with plans to begin
regulatory work in the US and International markets. Today we have done over a thousand
successful human surgeries and we are currently running at the rate of 80 to 100 new
surgeries per month. We are constantly expanding into different types of procedures for
different types of organs. The procedures so far have involved the bonding and
reconnecting of incised or separated human tissues in the following body areas - nasal
septum, neurosurgery, intestine, stomach, skin, gall bladder, liver, spleen, blood
vessels, nerves, alba linea, uterus, fallopian tube, ovary and testicles - while restoring
the normal function of the body organ or tissue. Surgeons tell us that they are able to
reduce the amount of surgery time. The healing is, in their opinion, faster and there is
very little scar tissue that you can see with the naked eye. In most instances where it is
used, we get a leak-proof bond so there is no leakage. - Donald S. Robbins
Technology
Communications Equipment
Phazar Corp. (ANTP - NASD)
A few things have seriously damaged the financial performance of the company over
the last three years, but the company still has a relatively strong balance sheet and
certainly has had a record of strong historical profits in its core business, which is the
antenna products business. We are turning back to that. - Gary Havene
August 7, 2003
Healthcare,
Services, Consumer Products, Consumer Cyclical, & Technology
Healthcare
Medical Equipment & Supplies
Analyst Interview covering:
Possis Medical, Inc. (NASD:
POSS)
Mr. Chad Simmer, CFA
Miller Johnson Steichen Kinnard
In terms of the mechanical thrombectomy market place, Possis Medical is the only
company out there now that has an FDA approved device for removing thrombus from the
coronary arteries. From that standpoint, I think the company is well positioned. Clearly,
one could argue that their primary competition might be drugs rather than other devices.
There are other devices that could be used to remove thrombus, although at this point,
Possis seems to have the most effective technology. - Mr. Chad Simmer, CFA, Miller
Johnson Steichen Kinnard
Services
Communications Services
Equinix, Inc. (EQIX-NASD)
I think the thing that any investor should walk away with is that our neutral model
is proving to be the right business model for outsourced Internet infrastructure and
managed co-location services, and this is driving successful growth for our company. The
proof points are there in the numbers we have established. - Peter Van Camp
Services
Business Services
Central Parking Corporation (CPC-NYSE)
I am back, and I think I know this business better than anyone has ever known the
parking business, and certainly better than anyone does today. . . I feel very confident
that we will be able to bring this company back to the prominence that it once held and
once delivered to stock holders. - Monroe Carell, Jr.
Consumer Products
Food Processing
High Liner Foods Incorporated (HLF - Toronto)
We have a sub-category up in Canada of natural portions of products like salmon,
sole, cod and haddock, which are lightly coated and flavored. We call that the High Liner
Signature line and it has done extremely well in Canada over the last three or four years.
We took the best products from that line such as salmon in creamy dill sauce, salmon in
roasted garlic and herbs or scallops in a lime salsa marinade and introduced them to the
Club Channel. Products like that are very much restaurant quality in nature but very
simple to prepare for the consumer. We like to talk about one-step cooking where you set
your oven or microwave with a time and a temperature and when the beeper or buzzer goes
off, the products are finished. They are not only easy to cook but are very delicious. We
took those products and adopted them to the Club Channel and have been selling
aggressively to both Costco and Sams Club for the last two years. In 2002, our sales
were thirty-three million Canadian dollars. That is from a standing start two years ago,
so we have had a lot of success there and these products really respond to what consumers
are looking for today. They want to eat more seafood but they do not want to take the time
or risk involved with preparation. We give them a great tasting product without the
worries. - Henry E. Demone
Consumer Cyclical
Furniture and Fixtures
Mity Enterprises Inc. (MITY-NASD)
MITY is a small public company, but our growth has consistently outpaced the
industry throughout our history. In an industry where there are not a lot of
interesting and new things going on, we have been innovative. We introduced the plastic
table and we are getting ready to introduce a new generation of plastic tables. We have a
folding chair with six patents and we are focusing on continuing to develop new products
to challenge existing products. In an industry that traditionally has been not nearly as
growth oriented, we have a focus on that growth. Because of the market that we focus on,
we are able to command higher margins. We typically have a 15-20% operating margin, where
others in our industry typically are often in the single digits or just over 10% yielding
a real opportunity there for investors. - Paul Killpack
Technology
Software & Programming
Catalyst International, Inc. (OTC:
CLYS.OB)
There are two major areas that set us apart from the competition. One is our unique
relationship with and our understanding of ERP environments. Most of our customers today
are looking to find ways to better use the large investment they have made in IT
infrastructures over the last five years. Because we can completely integrate rather than
just simply interface our products into those environments, and because we understand
those environments better than anyone else, we can help our customers to grow into these
smaller capital investments and significantly improve the ROI (Return On Investment) of
larger investments they have made in the recent past. The second thing is we have unique
expertise and execution capabilities that cut across multiple products in heterogeneous
environments. This allows us to work with our customers to get the best possible
performance from their supply chains and thereby better serve their customers through
improved delivery, performance and accuracy. We are always out there scanning the
environment, looking for what new techniques are available. We are very focused on the
success of our customers as our primary objective. - James B. Treleaven
July 24, 2003
Technology,
Consumer Cyclical, Services, Finance, Healthcare & Mining
Technology
Ultracapacitors
Maxwell Technologies, Inc.
(MXWL-NASD)
Ultracapacitors are a novel energy storage technology. Three to five years ago, if we went to a battery
conference and wanted to talk about the value of ultracapacitors, we would have been the
lone voice. Today, ultracapacitors are becoming a standard energy storage option; in fact,
numbers of manufacturers are designing them into their applications and there are now
worldwide ultracapacitor conferences. Increasingly over the past six to twelve months,
companies are coming to us and saying, we now understand the value these devices
provide for energy storage applications, and we want to see how we can incorporate them
into our system. It has changed from an evangelistic mode of telling them what the
technology is to the beginnings of supplying a standard, proven, technology product.
- Richard D. Balanson, Ph.D.
Consumer
Cyclical
Supplemental
Educational Products
School Specialty, Inc. (SCHS - NASD)
I think investors should know that we have had a good track record in our five years
of being a public company. We have never missed our earnings numbers. We are a very
conservative and predictable company. We are in the segment of the education market that
is very reliable even when the funding environments get a little rough. We perform, and we
are consistent. We have purchased over forty-five companies in the last ten years; there
were a couple that didnt fit us as well that we sold off. We are very good at
integration, and we put the companies together and create new value that way. We are at
15% market share and we have a long way to grow; we are about seven or eight times larger
that our next competitor. We trade at a relatively low P.E. today, and I think it is a
good opportunity for investors right now. - David J. Vander Zanden
Services
Retail (Department Stores)
Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. (DLTR-NASD)
We have a concept that people like, and we have the people, infrastructure and cash
in place to continue to demonstrate consistent profitable growth. Further, there is room
to grow; we have less than 2,500 stores now, and there is room for five to seven thousand
more stores. That growth makes us attractive to investors. - Bob Sasser
Finance
Insurance
Brooke Corporation (AMEX: BXX)
Insurance agencies in general have had a difficult time accessing credit because
there is not anything tangible to grab onto and liquidate if necessary. In this type of
industry it is extremely important that there be a good business model so those revenues
keep flowing in. With the assurances of continued revenue flow, which is what a good
business model generally provides, then the lending can become more secure. I think the
banks that are traditional lenders have backed away from that kind of lending in
todays environment and the nature of the collateral is one of the reasons. -
Robert D. Orr
Healthcare
Biotechnology & Drugs
RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals (OTCBB: RGRX)
The market itself is segmented because there are many different types of chronic
wounds. It is in desperate need of a product that can help promote, repair and accelerate
the healing of these wounds, which occur for various reasons. Some become chronic, as opposed to acute or
short-term, due to factors such as aging or if patients have underlying diseases such as
diabetes. In these instances wounds do not heal very well or may not heal at all. Patients
may have a genetic or autoimmune disorder, or they may be on steroids; all these factors
can cause chronic wounds or affect their ability to heal. The market needs a product that
can help accelerate the healing of wounds. In
animal models that are designed to mimic the human condition, Tß4 has shown to be quite
effective in promoting wound healing and in accelerating the closure of dermal and ocular
wounds. - J.J. Finkelstein
Mining
Exploration and Development
Anatolia Minerals Development Ltd.
(ANOU-TSX)
Several things set us apart from other companies in this sector. We are focused
strictly on one very prolific country, Turkey, which has been largely overlooked, and we
have the dominant land position for exploration. We have an extremely highly regarded team
of exploration professionals, all of which are Turkish. Our local knowledge and expertise
allow us to execute things in the right way, and we have been very successful. Given the quality of our properties and our joint
venture with one of the worlds premiere mining companies, I see a lot of potential. We are well financed, management has significant
equity ownership, and there is a lot going for Anatolia. - Richard C. Moores
July 10, 2003
Technology,
Consumer Cyclical, Consumer Non-Cyclical, Energy, Online Travel & Services
Technology
Scientific & Technical Instruments
Input/Output, Inc. (IO - NYSE)
Potential investors looking at the company should not see it as just an equipment
supplier. They need to put it into the context of what is going on in geophysical imaging.
The oil and gas business is driven by technology. Seismic imaging is right at the heart of
finding oil and gas. Even though the seismic contracting business has hit a tough time,
the demand for oil and gas is still going to go up about 50-60% over the next 15-20 years,
even with all the alternate energy sources coming on. Seismic imaging is going to be a
critical technology going forward. People who have that technology will be well
positioned. Potential investors should put it into the context of the industry and what
technologies drive the industry, and they will see it as a real opportunity. -
Robert Peebler
Consumer Cyclical
Auto and Truck Manufacturers
Spartan Motors, Inc. (SPAR: NASD)
The first thing that people need to look at is the growth opportunity. In our two
core markets of RV and emergency rescue, we only have 5% market share and that is in the
U.S., which means we have a tremendous amount of opportunity to grow. When they look at
our financial performance over the last seventeen years, and our balance sheet and
debt-free structure, what that indicates is that as a company, we have been able to work
through some very difficult economic situations, yet grow and prosper; 2001 and 2002 are
no different. As I look at investment, I try to look at the soundness of the management
team and whether their growth is in the future or are they into a mature market. As
investors look at us, they see a tremendous amount of room for growth, and they see very
sound financial management. - John Sztykiel
Consumer Cyclical
Recreational Products
Russ Berrie and Company, Inc. (RUS-NYSE)
RUSS isnt just selling products. We are selling love, affection and
friendship. I recently emailed our employees and sent a picture of soldiers in the gulf
war clutching teddy bears. In this changing world, one constant will always be love and
affection and wherever there is love and affection, there is a place for RUSS
products. - Angelica Berrie
Consumer Non-Cyclical
Food Processing
Horizon Organic Holding Corp. (HCOW - NASD)
We think the most compelling reason to be interested in Horizon Organic, is that the
brand is in-trend and extendable. The organic food industry has been growing over 20%
annually for the last five years and this growth is projected to continue. Our brand is
benefiting from that consumer momentum at least as much as the market and will probably
benefit more because of the strength of the brand. Consumers have told us that we can take
the brand anywhere in the grocery, which means this business can be substantially larger. In addition, throughout our recent growth, Horizon
Organic has demonstrated the ability to perform on a consistent basis in terms of
delivering meaningful earnings growth. - Chuck Marcy
Energy
Oil & Gas Operations
St. Mary Land & Exploration
Company (SM - NYSE)
It is very difficult to predict exactly where that next success is going to come
from. However, having very talented people in the field, with decentralized decision
making, permitting them to look for opportunities backed by a strong balance sheet, plus a
disciplined approach to economics, allows each region to hold its own year-after-year and
periodically to achieve a major success. - Mark A. Hellerstein
Online Travel
Travel & Hospitality
VRX Worldwide Inc. (VRW TSX Venture)
As in all industries there are technology providers and service providers,
were a little bit of both. We customize third-party software to enable us to deliver
the highest quality and best performing content technically possible. This is our
competitive advantage and allows us leapfrog ahead of the market by focusing on the end
product. In order to provide the best quality and best performing content, our efforts go
well beyond the technology and the photography behind our products; it is everything that
we do from shooting, to stitching, to editing, to delivery that gives us our full
competitive advantage. We have spent the past three years perfecting our processes and the
technology. We feel confident that these efforts have created significant barriers to
entry for any future competitors. - David S. MacLaren
Services
Retail/Internet
Stamps.com, Inc. (STMP - NASD)
We offer a complete service to our customer base. Within the area of printing
postage from a home printer, we offer several variations of that. For small businesses
that do mass mailings, they have the ability to print directly on envelopes. With a
product by the name of NetStamps, you can have the
ability to print stamps on a sheet of labels. We have a shipping focused solution that
allows you to print 4x6 shipping labels on a plain piece of paper for a package, and
simply tape it to the package and hand it to the mail carrier. We also offer an array of
office products that compliment the service that we offer, such as scales and
envelopes. - Ken McBride
Technology
Interactive Networks
Axia Net Media Corporation (AXX - TSX)
Smaller markets have not had any access to anything that looks remotely like
broadband or high-performing IP networks. Around the modern world, that has become a
social challenge, because if you want to participate in a job or a business that depends
on having access to broadband, you have to move to the metropolitan spaces, and even
there, the broadband performance leaves something to be desired. The Alberta government
concluded that this new next-generation format would allow it to provide a two-pronged
solution. One prong would make broadband available in the smaller markets in Alberta and
the second prong is that the government itself could get a province-wide network to the
critical social services. We came up with a concept that creates a government enterprise
wide network, so it is ubiquitously connected. - Arthur R. Price
June 26, 2003
Technology,
Healthcare, Business Services, Capital Goods & Energy
Technology
Communications & Equipment
Brooktrout, Inc. (BRKT
NASD)
The uncertain business environment, the weak economy, and general risk avoidance
corporations are driving companies to come to Brooktrout. Many of these corporations
are outsourcing technology development to Brooktrout that they have previously developed
internally, not just for our technology, but because of the current business
environment. - Eric R. Giler
Technology
Software & Programming
TenFold Corporation (TENF OTC: BB)
Ours is the fastest and most cost effective technology for building or replacing
very large scale, data base- and transaction-intensive applications. The alternatives,
using traditional methodologies, would take hundreds and possibly thousands of man years
and would be fraught with failure. There is no other solution that is proven and robust,
which provides the speed of development, the quality of application, and the powerful
functionality that a buyer really needs. Our technology empowers a brand new kind of
business and IT collaboration that entirely changes the way businesses conceive, build,
and use applications. The result is applications of higher quality and greater power,
built in a tenth the time and a fraction the cost. - Dr. Nancy M. Harvey
Healthcare
Medical Equipment & Supplies
dj Orthopedics, Inc. (DJO - NYSE)
A significant number of orthopedic companies are public and the investors that are
with those companies have done very well and so I think that makes our space intriguing.
Our valuation compared to other companies is substantially lower because of the
performance improvement plan we entered into last year. I think that people, who
understand that there is an aging and active population out there, can see the future need
for our products and a future need for our company. - Mr. Leslie H. Cross
Business Services
Consulting
Netgraphe, Inc. (WWW - TSX)
What potential investors should know about Netgraphe is that we keep developing new
types of revenues. I think we can replicate the Star Academy model for our other sites.
This will increase our profitability significantly. We are dominant in Quebec in the
employment, dating service, automotive services. We are looking at real estate as well and
there are several other opportunities for expansion. Our main business sectors are very
profitable and with the coming on-stream of new revenue sources, we should soon be
profitable in the area of content as well. - Bruno Leclaire
Capital Goods
Aircraft Recovery
Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc.
(BRSI.OB OTC: BB)
We are very pleased with how strongly we have been able to build the company. We
have a strong balance sheet and great current ratios. We have been able to have nine years
of profitability after a bad streak in the early days. We put together nine years in a
row, on a pre-tax, pre-bonus basis, where we were pushing a million dollars and after
taxes we were still within about $600,000.00 and for a small company like ours that is
about ten cents a share. The P&L is strong, sales are strong, and we have had
great revenue growth here over the last several year. A few years ago we had a 60%
increase and last year we still had an increase in revenues of about 35%. Even with our
most recent quarter, we had an increase of 56% in our revenues. We have just continued to
string together stronger and stronger financial performance here for the last several
years. - Mark Thomas
Energy
Coal
Headwaters Incorporated (HDWR - NASD)
In the ISG business, we have three competitive advantages one is that we have
long-term exclusive contracts for the supply of the coal combustion products. We have
contracts that are 20-25 years in length and they are exclusive, which gives us access to
the supply of these materials that other companies do not have. Secondly, we are the only
company with a national distribution system for these coal combustion products. We have
over thirty terminals that are strategically located throughout the United States that
allows us to distribute the materials directly to our customers. Thirdly, we have a
proprietary chemical reagent that improves the quality of the fly ash that we distribute.
In our other business, we have intellectual property that covers a unique chemical reagent
that is used to treat coal before it is burned and over 50% of the people in this
business, use our chemical reagent, and it provides us with a unique and exclusive
technology that we apply to coal before it is consumed at the electric utilities. -
Kirk A. Benson
Technology
Digital Media Distribution System
Musicrypt Inc. (MCT TSX Venture)
For potential investors our unique value offering is that we have an unrivaled
approach for dealing with the problem of physical distribution of new releases to radio.
We do it faster, more efficiently and more securely than traditional methods. It is a
win-win situation for record companies as well as radio. It makes their work much easier
and less problem prone. As soon as the record labels and radio start using our system,
they save time and money. - John Heaven
June 12, 2003
Technology,
Financial, Basic Materials, Consumer Products, & Healthcare
Technology
Software & Programming
Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc.
(MDRX - NASD)
I think that from an investment standpoint, that the stock has not been recognized
in terms of the potential upside. Healthcare is at an inflection point; it has to get
automated and become more electronic than it is today. The way to do that is to
empower physicians with real-time information delivered at the point of care. That is what
our business is all about. We addresses not only the quality issue, but also the cost
issue, with applications and technology that works. Thats key to the future of
healthcare. - Glen E. Tullman
Financial
Regional Banks
PremierWest Bancorp (OTC: BB-PRWT)
The strongest area for our bank is our business lending function. We still do it the
old fashioned way of people doing business with people. We have lending limits for each of
our lending officers in the branch system. We can give very quick answers to credit
requests. We are in an economy in southern Oregon and northern California that is growing
contrary to the national market. There are a lot of people moving into this area because
of the safety and soundness of the communities north of Sacramento California to south of
Eugene, Oregon. - John Anhorn
One of the keys is hiring the right managers for the markets that we are in. We have
to have managers that can function in the community bank environment and give the
customers what they want. The hiring of managers with a good attitude is a key portion of
the community bank image. - Richard Hieb
Basic Materials
Forestry & Wood Products
Pope Resources L.P. (POPEZ - NASD)
You can be the best timberland manager in the world, but if you paid too much for
the property, your investment is going to suffer. We have a seasoned management team and
have developed a disciplined acquisition approach, both of which will be critical for our
new $50 million timber fund. We will also be investing side by side with these third party
investors, to both further leverage our own growth capital and to provide superior
alignment of interest with our clients. The fact that we have 112,000 acres of our
own timberland also makes us far less dependent on the fee income associated with this
timber fund than a company that is purely focused on this business. If they do not
consummate transactions, they do not get fees and they cannot pay themselves. We have
something unique to offer by combining our extensive timberland management experience with
third-party investors looking to participate in this asset class. It is just going to be a
function of finding investors out there that match up with our investment
philosophy. - David L. Nunes
Technology
Semiconductors
Brooks Automation, Inc. (BRKS - NASDAQ)
In terms of excellence, Brooks is in some ways running a different race than our
competitors. We do not outsource manufacturing and to us that is one of our core
competencies. The ability to transition products from engineering to manufacturing to
market readiness, whether it is our design or the customers design, requires a
commitment to excellence. You need to adhere to a standard of excellence so that you can
deliver a high quality product on time, every time at a very competitive price. This
industry is technology driven but it is also a very price based industry. That is
where size really matters; as a large company, Brooks can manufacture more cost
efficiently while maintaining its standard of manufacturing excellence. - - Robert
J. Therrien
Consumer Products
Motorcycles/Trikes
Lehman Trikes, Inc. (LHT TSX Venture)
We are growing as fast as we can but like most companies, growth is expensive and
our growth is limited by the financing available to us. We know that growing too fast will
kill us, so we have to avoid that. Harley Davidson did some great things and one of the
things they proved is that being behind on sales is not necessarily a bad thing. It is a
strong marketing tool, which almost feeds on itself. We are just starting to feel that.
Harley went through it in 1985 and they are getting to the point where they are getting
close to meeting demand. We are at the other end of the spectrum and just starting to have
that problem. It has always been a six to twelve week waiting period. This year, in an
effort to reduce the time-lines, we asked the dealers to pre-book orders and inventory so
we could produce in the off-season and avoid the line-up in the spring. It worked too
well. They did pre-book to help us out and what they found was that by having these things
on the floor, they moved out even faster. We did this at our dealer meeting in December,
and by January, we were sold out until the end of March and by February we were booking
August. It was a great idea that worked but it did not solve the problem we initially
sought to solve. It increased our sales substantially and made our dealers much more
comfortable making orders ahead of time, which I am sure will be a benefit to us in the
following year. But it has made the lines and waiting period even longer, which may be an
advantage or a disadvantage depending upon how you look at it. - Larry Strilchuk
Healthcare
Biotechnology & Drugs
Cypress Bioscience, Inc. (CYPB - NASD)
The message that we always hope investors will take away is that fibromyalgia is a
real medical condition and that there are criteria for its diagnosis. It is a condition
that is treatable and the compound that we have selected has a pharmacological profile
that is very similar to some of the drugs that are currently being used. These very old
drugs are called tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) that have the same sort of preference
for Norepinephrine with some Serotonin activity as milnacipran. But these TCA drugs are
riddled with side-effect problems because of all the other activity that they have. We
selected a compound that is similar pharmacologically to the positive aspects of these
drugs that have been already demonstrated to work in fibromyalgia and in some of the other
functional somatic syndromes, but lacks the side-effect profile. The promise of the
compound goes beyond fibromyalgia. I think sometimes people looking at the company and the
compound do not quite realize the full potential and opportunity that the compound
holds. - Sabrina Martucci Johnson
Technology
Broadband
Andersen Group, Inc. (ANDR - NASD)
As we go forward in Russia, we are looking for a prosperous country, which is
developing a thirsty middle class; one that constantly wants more equipment. The Russian
opportunity is great and the issues dealing with Russia are also very complex. At this
point, with the present stable government, many companies are feeling confident about
investing in Russia. Broadband has been a huge success as far as it being an effective
delivery system for Internet and multiple television services and for telephony; and we
are able to deliver last mile connections and pass a home for about fifty-five dollars.
Support band is a very well known way of distributing media and has been very successful
throughout the world and should be very successful in Moscow. - Francis E. Baker
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