Coming
off of another quarter of record-breaking financials, with Q1 FY16 net revenues
and net income up 10.3 and 24.7 percent respectively YOY, OurPet’s Company
(OTCQX: OPCO) chairman and CEO Dr. Steven Tsengas recently told Austin,
Texas-based IR/PR/SMR firm DreamTeamNetwork in an audio interview
(http://dtn.fm/5z69S), that he thinks 2016 international sales could be one the
biggest positive surprises from the company moving forward. This just after an
extremely strong showing of the company’s new OurPets® Intelligent Pet Care™
line of smart products at the industry’s premier event, the Global Pet Expo,
which is presented every year by the American Pet Products Association (APPA)
and Pet Industry Distributors Association (PIDA).
Tsengas
tipped his hand about international market traction horizons to
DreamTeamNetwork in the aforementioned interview, explaining that the company’s
OurPets and the PetZone brands were already seeing very strong floor play in
China, Japan and South Korea, where the company has localized its initial
efforts, and built up a tight rapport with consumers. With around 11 million
dogs and 10 million cats (Japan Pet Food Association), Japan is a market that
is noted for appreciating good design and should be prime development territory
for OPCO, which should have no trouble adding to its position here. The same is
true over in South Korea, where a similar cultural taste for ingenious design
predominates, and where the pet population is on track to hit one million for
the first time this year (http://dtn.fm/v0Vew).
The
global pet market is a nice, stable growth environment for an innovator like
OPCO, which is growing its retail footprint/consumer exposure via both its pet
parent/prosumer OurPets brand and its mass market brand, PetZone. The latest
Packaged Facts report that looks closely at the bullish scenario developing in
the sector, with increasing interest by private equity and other M&A
activity on the rise, lays out the case pretty well as to how there is plenty
of room for growth. The continued strength of operators such as the country’s
biggest rural lifestyle retailer, Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ: TSCO), with
its 1,500-plus stores and third consecutive year hosting Nestle’s (OTC: NSRGY)
Purina Days last month, offers clear indication to the investment community
about the true bedrock potential, and upper-limit scope of this market.
Underlying
market dynamics like those driving the rise of TSCO have made other retailers
and sector majors, such as Petco and PetSmart, hot properties for investors who
are looking to cash in on people’s growing obsession with their pets. These
same dynamics should also help propel lower-hanging investment fruit in the
midcap range on down to new-found securities stardom. The market for pet
products and services is currently on track to hit upwards of $91 billion in
annual sales by 2019 (http://dtn.fm/vJ2I5), and you can bet your bottom dollar
that the smart money out there is hard at work injecting further consolidative
forces into this seemingly recession-proof consumer market.
OurPet’s
Company is a great hidden gem type valuation story amid all this, and the
company also has the IP/visionary design capability to surf the momentum with
style, capitalizing on sector buzz in order to bring its exceptional product
designs to light before the eyes of eager, pet-loving consumers. In the U.S.
alone we have around 163 million or more cats and dogs, and the tendency to
treat these pets like fully-fledged members of the family is steadily on the
rise. This is a trend that OPCO is poised perfectly to benefit from with their
OurPets brand of premium offerings like gorgeous, heavy-duty stainless steel
feeding bowls that have a proprietary, patented, permanently-molded rubber ring
on the bottom that prevents sliding and noise when the animal eats. Similarly
elegant looking, yet robust and functional designs, each of them engineered
with careful consideration of the animal’s needs, as well as the owner’s décor,
have come to typify the OurPets brand in the minds of high-end and
not-so-high-end consumers alike.
This
dual brand approach by OPCO is ideal for courting the more lucrative high-end
pet parent prosumer, and, as more people gravitate into this fold, OPCO will
continue to shine more and more brightly as a design shop through the OurPets
brand. The tendency for people to treat their pets like bonafide family members
is on the rise globally as per capita incomes rise, and, in part, this may be
due to the phenomenon of people who (as a country becomes more affluent)
typically wait longer to have their first child, in which case the pet fills an
emotional void.
For
more information, visit the company’s website at www.ourpets.com
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MissionIR is committed to connecting the investment community with companies that have great potential and a strong dedication to building shareholder value. We know our reputation is based on the integrity of our clients and go to great lengths to ensure the companies represented adhere to sound business practices.
Sign up for “The Mission Report” at www.MissionIR.com
Please see disclaimer on the MissionIR website http://www.missionir.com/disclaimer.html
