MissionIR Small-Cap Investor Blog: August 2016

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

How Monaker Group, Inc. (MKGI) is Helping Define the Future of Creative Trave

The travel and tourist industry is one of the largest industries in the world, with a global annual contribution in the trillions of dollars according to Statista (http://nnw.fm/xQ1DT). Solely considering international travel, there are over a billion international tourist arrivals worldwide each year. People book their accommodation according to price, ratings, previous experiences, and other parameters, and the type of travel varies widely, from high-end to low.

This leads us to the topic of backpacking. Backpacking was often considered a form of hiking or camping holiday. Today, it is one of the trendiest ways to travel among people of all ages. With this rising trend comes the advent of new forms of backpacking such as “flashpacking” and “poshpacking.” These terms are used for the more affluent backpackers who do not necessarily need to travel on a small budget but still choose the freedom attached to this form of travel.

Thanks to the evolution of technology, more and more people are traveling light without having to give up comfort. The world of the digital nomad is here and the travel industry is gearing up to capitalize on these emerging trends. In recent years, companies have increased the technological interaction with their consumers making everything more accessible online.

Aside from the rise of technology, different levels of backpacking have become more accessible thanks to the introduction of cheaper flights, trains, buses, hotels, hostels and dining opportunities. These are marketed online to budget travelers and often include the option to make all-inclusive bookings through one platform. To the new-age flashpacker, it’s becoming a way of life. Travelers today are not isolated. They are followed by a digital world full of tools.

According to The Future of Backpacking by Ferda Van Vaals (http://nnw.fm/zkmS4), some of the new characteristics expected by 2030 include infrastructure expansion, greater tourist mobility, and growing global tourism and destinations. In other words, the world will continue to become more accessible, and more people will value experience rather than just material possessions.

Who makes such expanding ease of travel possible? Today there are thousands of travel agencies, both online and in-shop, in millions of locations. Online travel agencies are making travel more accessible thanks to the options to book flights, accommodation, and other factors through the Internet. However, backpackers today want more. Travel agencies are reigning in and offering all-inclusive booking facilities online, making the booking process, easier, quicker and often cheaper.

Monaker Group, Inc. (OTCQB: MKGI) is a technology travel company on the leading edge of these ever-changing holiday booking trends. The company is made up of multiple divisions and brands offering a real-time booking engine featuring a wider and creative range of lodgings for a variety of backpackers, flashpackers, and holiday makers. In addition to this, the company allows consumers to book from an array of airlines, hotels, cruises, rental cars, tours, and much more.

The company’s flagship brand, NextTrip.com, is the industry’s first and only real-time booking engine that features alternative lodging (vacation home rentals, resort residences and unused timeshare inventory), as well as a full selection of airlines, hotels, cruises, rental cars, tours and concierge services. These features are combined into a single, easy-to-use platform that gives travelers complete real-time control when planning and booking their vacations.

Most NextTrip listings are in desirable locations in the U.S., the EU and the Caribbean with about 20% exclusive listings, and the company anticipates rapid exclusive listing growth because of its competitive edge, proprietary solutions, and interest in strategic partnerships and acquisitions, in addition to new travel trends.

The company recently launched its own Monaker Booking Engine and Premium Service for property owners, opening its offerings up to an even broader variety of consumers.

For more information, visit www.MonakerGroup.com.

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Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Moxian, Inc. (MOXC) Moxian+ Platform Stands Toe-to-Toe with Sector Majors in Burgeoning Chinese O2O Market

China’s burgeoning O2O (online-to-offline) market has shown us quantifiably robust growth vectors, undergirded by the most attractive baseline metrics of any such market on the planet. Chinese vice minister of Industry and IT, Chen Zhaoxiong, told crowds at the Internet Society of China’s 2016 China Internet Conference in June that the number of 4G users in China is more than 530 million as of Q1, more than the U.S. and Europe put together. China’s Internet economy was valued at roughly $171 billion last year, while the O2O services segment was estimated by iResearch Consulting Group at approximately $68.71 billion, up 27.7 percent compared to 2015 (http://nnw.fm/95lTR).

While there are some big players currently dominating the market, there is plenty of room left at the margins for thriving localized networks, a phenomena which echoes the internal dynamics of the O2O space itself. Before taking a look at some of the major players, it is worth noting an up and comer like Shenzhen-based Moxian, Inc. (OTCQB: MOXC), which has a market cap under $400 million and yet has put together an extremely compelling, integrated O2O platform known as Moxian+.

Half of the company’s 170 or so employees are R&D people and its CTO is the same Dr. Ng Kek Wee whose Oracle and IBM award-winning consulting startup was acquired by Pactera (formerly NASDAQ: PACT), which was itself taken private after acquisition by Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX).

Needless to say, the Moxian+ User and Moxian+ Business architectures/apps are brilliantly designed given their origins in a tech hotbed like Moxian. The architectures come complete with big data-driven social CRM (customer relationship management), engagement gamification/actual games, and even a proprietary/platform-specific digital currency (MO-Points and MO-Coins) for merchant driven reward redemptions. Moxian+ Business is where the real meat is though, offering comprehensive business intelligence analytics, demographic profiling insights, easy to setup customer engagement/loyalty programs, and ubiquitous advertising capabilities.

A projected 20 percent CAGR is easily understandable for the O2O space in China, with restaurants and food delivery being the narrow end of the transformational wedge. And with online retail currently around 13 percent of the overall retail space as of early this year, in what is the world’s largest ecommerce market ($589 billion), it is little wonder that one of the biggest internet companies on earth, Chinese operator Tencent (OTC: TCEHY; TCTZF), continues to hammer out its own O2O footprint with gusto.

A strategic investment in indoor mapping company Sensewhere, to license its indoor positioning software for Tencent Maps, was a clear move by Tencent to jockey for position with Baidu’s (NASDAQ: BIDU) Baidu Maps (shows group-buying deals from its Nuomi platform), and taxi/restaurant finding marvel AutoNavi, which is majority-owned by the Chinese version of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Alibaba (NYSE: BABA).

Alibaba’s $483 million investment last year in its Koubei JV, aimed at unifying its footprint in fast local delivery with its growing O2O presence, is a very clear signal to investors from China’s ecommerce king about the future of the country’s O2O market. There is a big opportunity here for investors to lay down some territory of their own, especially when you consider events like the $18 billion Meituan-Dianping valuation in January for China’s biggest group deals site, which laid claim to the title of the largest ever single funding round ($3.3 billion) for any VC internet startup in the country’s history.

Tying together the increasingly dominant mobile user with local brick and mortar businesses is a recipe for success in China for a savvy developer like Moxian, whose Moxian+ platform not only allows merchants to more easily/readily engage potential/returning customers, but which was born of the same robust cloud service technology that proved good enough for financial institutions and major corporations.

Delivering enterprise-class capabilities to the broadest possible merchant market should keep MOXC well in the running, even as sector majors gobble up the largest pieces of the pie. It is worth noting that this level of capability made it easy for MOXC to recently secure an exclusive reseller agreement with Xinhua New Media for gaming industry ad space, a deal that puts Moxian’s platform and digital currency front and center, before a growing Xinhua New Media App user base of over 110 million users (over 10 million active per day).

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Moxian.com

Monday, August 29, 2016

Wild Cat OurPet’s Company (OPCO) is No Dog

OurPet’s Company (OTCQX: OPCO) may serve both cats and dogs with its innovative range of pet care solutions. However, the company itself is most definitely not a dog, as defined in the Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) Growth Share Matrix. Rather, it’s a wild cat that has been churning out a string of ingenious pet care products. If OurPet’s Company keeps up its wild ways, there is the distinct possibility it may morph into a star.

Back in the early 1970s, BCG developed the Growth-Share Matrix as a portfolio-planning tool. BCG assessed each business unit within a company’s portfolio, taking into account two determinants of profitability: market growth and market share relative to the largest competitor. Market growth gives some indication of the unit’s future prospects while relative market share is a sign of competitive advantage. Mapping a business unit to a cell in the matrix thus helps determine whether the unit would be a net user or contributor of cash and whether the portfolio decision should be develop, maintain or dispose.

The Growth-Share Matrix classified business units into four types: dogs, cash cows, stars, and question marks or wild cats. Dogs neither generate nor consume a large amount of cash since they have low market share and a low growth rate. Cash cows are net contributors of cash. They are typically leaders in a mature market, providing a return on assets that is greater than the market growth rate. Stars generate a lot of cash but tend to use it all up because of their high growth rate. Wild cats are businesses that are growing rapidly and so require large cash infusions.

There is every indication that OurPet’s Company is a wild cat on its way to become a star. The company has been growing at an annually compounded rate of over 6% – twice the industry rate. Focusing on high-growth categories in the pet care industry, OurPet’s Company’s very first product was the Big Dog Feeder® in the $100 million per annum healthy feeding and storage systems segment. This product line now extends over 81 SKUs that include the Store-N-Feed® Single Adjustable Feeder, the SmartLinkTM Feeder – Intelligent Pet Bowl and the SmartLinkTM Waterer – Intelligent Water Fountain.

OurPet’s Company is also in the $250 million a year feline waste and odor control market with its OurPets® Skoop-N-Pak, OurPets® Pick-Up Bags and its ground-breaking OurPets® Switchgrass Natural Cat Litter with Biochar. And the company is tackling the $1 billion a year segment of interactive cat and dog toys and accessories with a host of clever products. This product line uses Blue Tooth and Wi-Fi communication technologies so our beloved pets can “talk” to us; the line includes the amazing OurPets® Catty Whack® and the Intelligent Pet Care® line of products.

OurPet’s Company has a robust pipeline of some 160 patents issued and or pending. It also has a strong diversified product portfolio of about 1,000 SKUs. The company is particularly focused on finding solutions to the pathologies that accompany aging in pets. It deserves a star for that.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ourpets.com.

Moxian, Inc. (MOXC) Targets Merchant-Customer Interaction with Proprietary Social CRM

Whether we like it or not, social media has had a major impact on how businesses interact with their customers online. It is a great avenue for businesses to get their messages out and enhance awareness of their brands. It also has a huge potential of backfiring if any possible customer complaints voiced via social platforms are not handled properly. In addition, a lot of companies are still not responsive enough on social media and rarely reply to potential customer inquiries through the channel. As a result, many businesses fail to tap the full potential of social media when it comes to understanding and consolidating their client base. That’s where social customer relationship management (CRM) programs such as the one developed for the Chinese market by Moxian, Inc. (OTCQB: MOXC) come in.

The traditional customer relationship management platform typically focuses on managing and collecting static data about customers based on phone or email interactions between company and customers. The collected information often includes contact history, past purchase data and customer demographics. With Social CRM systems, an additional layer of information is added, extracted from the social networks where a customer shares information. A Social CRM allows companies to develop a more complete profile of their customers by tracking info such as revenue and social influence. By monitoring information that the consumer shares publicly outside of the direct communication with the company, any business will be able to combine the data it already has about current or prospective customers with new info around their intentions and sentiments. This will allow companies to take action faster, project customer needs in advance and develop a customized response to each consumer group.

It was with this personalized approach in mind that Moxian set off in 2010 to create a new way of combining social media with business intelligence and entertainment. The Chinese company’s proprietary Social CRM system is at the foundation of its multi-channel social commerce platform, and was developed in such a way to help consumers and merchants interact, further allowing merchants to run targeted advertising and promotions that can then generate personalized reports.

Targeting the giant Chinese online-to-offline market, Moxian’s platform for small and medium-sized enterprises consists of two primary mobile apps: Moxian+ Business App for merchants and Moxian+ User App for shoppers, both of which are available for free download for both iOS and Android users.

The company’s business app has built in Social CRM and offers merchants a wide range of options, from setting up a store on the Moxian platform to pushing promotions through the platform and obtaining customized reports for their stores. The user app serves to introduce consumers to the platform and includes social networking capabilities, a game center and a redemption center. The app comprises Moxian’s proprietary virtual currency, MO-Points and MO-Coin, which can be earned by playing games and then used to redeem prizes from merchants or Moxian. This mechanic ultimately helps to drive registered consumers to the merchants and allows companies to advertise their services, run marketing campaigns and learn about their customers and their habits through the Moxian platform.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Moxian.com

Thursday, August 25, 2016

eXp World Holdings’ (EXPI) Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage Offers a New Deal as New Home Sales Keep Rising

eXp World Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: EXPI) is offering Americans a 21st century new deal with its Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage™. Back in the 1930s, Americans were, as they have been in recent times, picking up the pieces after a series of devastating economic events, but if we thought the Great Recession was bad, it’s because most of us haven’t been around long enough to remember the Great Depression. Writing in the Wall Street Journal (http://nnw.fm/Diys5), well-known financial commentator and hedge fund director Roger Lowenstein opined that ‘the world didn’t experience anything close to a global depression during the recent crisis. Peak to trough, global GDP fell 15%, world-wide, from 1929 to 1932; it fell less than 1% from 2008 to 2009.’

As part of recovery efforts back then, President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched his New Deal, under which the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was created. The FHA was a big deal for housing since it gave rise to the vibrant housing market now estimated by the National Association of Home Builders to contribute about 15 percent of GDP (http://nnw.fm/8GTa4). The FHA set standards for construction and underwriting of mortgage loans. Its most important contribution, however, was its provision of insurance for loans for home building made by banks and other private lenders.

The FHA has become the largest insurer of mortgage loans in the world, insuring over 34 million properties since its inception in 1934. It now falls under the aegis of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. After its creation, home ownership increased. It was 44 percent in post-Depression 1940, but is now 62.9 percent, according to a July 2016 press release from the Census Bureau (http://nnw.fm/0vHQq)… and it keeps rising.

Last week, housing data for July 2016 (http://nnw.fm/oX6sp) released by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) showed that ‘private-owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,211,000… (which) is 5.6 percent above the July 2015 rate of 1,147,000.’ Private-owned houses completed ‘were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,026,000… 3.2 percent above the July 2015 rate of 994,000.’

eXp World Holdings is offering brokers, agents and prospective home owners a new deal in these still uncertain times. Its Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage, operated by wholly-owned subsidiary eXp Realty, offers brokers and agents a full service national real estate brokerage platform with all the services offered by a traditional brick-and-mortar brokerage… but without the associated costs. It provides a novel 3-D environment in which agents and brokers can source training, educational, coaching and mentoring resources, as well as transaction and technical support.

An updated research report from Fundamental Research (http://nnw.fm/Nmzm0) issued last week details that ‘Since our previous report in May 2016, the company has expanded its membership count by 31%, from 1,204 to 1,580. The platform only had 665 real estate brokers and agents as members as of June 30, 2015.’

For buyers, things have never been easier. From the comfort of their armchairs, they can find the right agent and, through him or her, the right house. eXp Realty is currently operating in 41 states across the U.S., as well as the District of Columbia and Alberta, Canada. This new deal from eXp World Holdings looks like the real deal.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.eXpWorldHoldings.com

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Wednesday, August 24, 2016

eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Subject of Updated Research Report by Fundamental Research Corp.

Yesterday, Fundamental Research Corp., an independent research firm specializing in the small-cap and microcap sectors, announced the release of an updated analysis on eXp World Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: EXPI). The new analysis, which includes upward revisions from Fundamental Research Corp.’s original report released in April of this year, highlights EXPI’s strong fiscal performance in the second quarter of 2016, healthy balance sheet and recent independent additions to its board of directors as reasons prospective investors may want to take a second look at the company.

“We are raising our revenue forecast for 2016 from $40.50 million to $48.94 million, and for 2017 from $72.00 million to $82.50 million,” reads the Fundamental Research Corp. report. “We are also raising our long-term forecasts. In our previous models, we had assumed growth to 10,000 members by 2020. We are now extending our models based on the assumption that membership will increase to 15,000 by 2022.”

To view the full report, visit http://nnw.fm/QC5eP

Taking a quick look at EXPI’s progress toward expanding its presence in the North American real estate market in recent months, Fundamental Research Corp.’s decision to revise its previous growth forecasts comes as no surprise. Since the original report in April, EXPI has successfully commenced real estate brokerage operations in seven new states and the District of Columbia. In total, the company’s Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage® is currently operational in 41 states; Alberta, Canada; and Washington, D.C. Alongside its entry into new jurisdictions, eXp Realty, the real estate brokerage division of EXPI, has had tremendous success in recruiting real estate professionals to its growing family of agents and brokers. In a news release from earlier this month, the company reported more than 1,580 agents across all of its markets, up from just 864 at the beginning of 2016.

The rapid growth of its real estate brokerage division has also spurred strong fiscal results for EXPI in recent months. On August 15, the company released its second quarter results, which included revenues of more than $13.2 million, a year-over-year increase of 137 percent. This coincided with a 111 percent year-over-year increase to eXp Realty’s agent count. EXPI’s cash position was also strengthened during the second quarter, with cash and cash equivalents up 207 percent from June 2015. Glenn Sanford, chairman and chief executive officer of EXPI, summed up these results in a recent news release.

“eXp Realty continues to experience accelerated growth in agent count and in revenues as a result of our commitment to agent ownership, agent support, and agent engagement,” he stated.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.eXpWorldHoldings.com

Monaker Group, Inc. (MKGI) Set to Expand Industry Partnerships with Launch of Monaker Booking Engine

Before the opening bell, Monaker Group, Inc. (OTCQB: MKGI) announced completion of the design, architecture and buildout of its Application Program Interface (“API”) and the corresponding launch of its Monaker Booking Engine (“MBE”). This announcement marks a key milestone in the company’s efforts to develop a sustainable foothold in the rapidly growing alternative lodging space, as the completed API and MBE will allow Monaker to work toward partnering with large, established online travel agencies, tour operators, airlines and cruise originators to offer its sizable inventory in a real-time booking format. This real-time booking format is key to the company’s future growth, as the vast majority of alternative lodging firms still rely on the less convenient request/response approach to booking, which slows down the rental process.

“The completion of the MBE and API is an important milestone for the Company and our large inventory can now be distributed to our interested partners in the Alternative Lodging industry,” Bill Kerby, chairman and chief executive officer of Monaker, stated in this morning’s news release. “I’m very pleased with the functionality of the MBE and initial discussions with potential partners has suggested their desire to find a true ‘Plug and Play’ solution. We believe we can now uniquely provide this for the growing travel space.”

With the launch of the MBE, Monaker will look to add several large travel industry partners in the coming months. These partnerships will play a key role in the company’s efforts to expand distribution for its growing inventory of alternative lodging rental units. In a shareholder update issued in early June, Monaker reported an impressive 1.1 million alternative lodging rental units under contract and outlined plans to add more than 200,000 additional timeshare or resort units to its NextTrip Resorts platform by the end of this year.

Monaker has remained committed to developing a better approach to the alternative lodging space. Just last week, the company announced the launch of a premium service for its property owners. Leaning on its deep expertise in inventory acquisition, reservations services, technology and distribution, Monaker suggests that property owners who take advantage of its premium service could see an increase of nearly 50 percent in booking revenues while reducing the time required to manage their properties by 10 hours per week. Additionally, leveraging the company’s proprietary platform architecture and partnerships, premium service listings are positioned on up to 50 major global booking platforms in multiple languages worldwide.

With the completion of its API and MBE and the recent launch of its premium service for property owners, Monaker is differentiating itself in the global vacation rental market, which is expected to reach $169.7 billion by 2019, according to Research and Markets. Kerby reiterated management’s optimism regarding the company’s short-term growth prospects to close out this morning’s news release.

“Our goal of becoming one of the larger players in the Alternative Lodging Rental industry can now occur rapidly and we should be adding several large travel industry partners in the near future,” he concluded.

For more information, visit www.MonakerGroup.com

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

IEG Holdings Corp. (IEGH) Achieving Record Loan Volume through ‘Mr. Amazing Loans’ Brand

IEG Holdings Corp. (OTCQX: IEGH) is a provider of unsecured consumer loans in 17 U.S. states through its state licensed operating subsidiary, Investment Evolution Corporation, under the consumer brand ‘Mr. Amazing Loans’. In recent months, IEGH has successfully leveraged the increasing marketability of its consumer brand to promote tremendous growth, achieving a record high in monthly loan volume of $1.13 million in May before announcing a record high in daily loan volume of $150,000 in early June. In July, the company built on this progress, surpassing $13 million in cumulative loan volume. This milestone marked an increase of 140 percent from January 2015, which IEGH’s management attributed to growing recognition of the ‘Mr. Amazing Loans’ brand, low cost lead sources and continued state license expansion.

After announcing second quarter fiscal results that included a 19 percent year-over-year increase in revenue to a record high of $535,356, IEGH gave prospective shareholders some additional insight into the company’s growth strategy for the coming months. IEGH’s management team aims to expand the ‘Mr. Amazing Loans’ brand into 25 U.S. states during 2016, bringing total nationwide coverage to approximately 240 million people, or about 75 percent of the population. To strengthen its cash position ahead of this growth initiative, the company is currently in the midst of a $95.32 million rights offering to its shareholders of record, with plans to use the proceeds stemming from the offering to fund new loan originations and general corporate expenditures. The subscription period related to this offering is underway and set to end on August 29.

Looking ahead, IEGH’s management team expects loan volumes to continue to rise as a result of tightening regulations on the P2P lending sector. Paul Mathieson, chief executive officer of IEGH, reaffirmed this outlook in a recent news release.

“Management believes the substantially increased regulatory and financing scrutiny on the P2P lending sector is a significant positive going forward for the Mr. Amazing Loans business,” he stated. “IEGH is not a P2P lender, however, we expect some of the P2P players will implode, leading to less overall consumer loan provider competition. We anticipate that this will result in cheaper customer acquisition costs for online, state regulated, balance sheet lenders with strong underwriting standards such as IEGH.”

In June 2016, the New York Department of Financial Services issued warning letters to 28 P2P lending agencies as part of an ongoing investigation into the potential adoption of additional regulation measures. The correspondence demanded ‘immediate compliance’ with the state’s licensing requirements for debt collection, transmitting money and mortgage lending activity. This investigation follows a 2008 decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission that required P2P lenders to register their offerings as securities, pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933. The result was the introduction of an arduous registration process to the P2P sector that led a number of lenders to exit the U.S. market. Notably, New York is one of the eight states being targeted by IEGH for expansion in 2016.

For more information, visit www.InvestmentEvolution.com

Explore Exotic Escapes with Monaker Group’s (MKGI) NextTrip Platform

Thanks to Business Insider (http://nnw.fm/HHE8i), we now know where U.S. travelers went for holidays this summer. It may have been the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which ended on August 21. Although a scoop in USA Today (http://nnw.fm/sRW9w) claims that just 100,000 Americans attended the Games, down from the anticipated 200,000, stemming from fears of contracting the Zika virus. Well aware of these concerns, Brazil scrapped visa requirements for those holding American passports. From June 1 to September 18, Americans are able to save the hassle and the $160 fee to enjoy a samba summer. The Games may be over, but for a post-Olympic trip to Brazil or some other exotic destination, the adventurer can visit NextTrip, the online alternative lodging and travel platform from Monaker Group, Inc. (OTCQB: MKGI).

The Business Insider feature identifies the usual suspects. At number 10 is Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Mexico, which holds two places on the list, has been a perennial favorite for many years. A Pew Research survey in 2007 discovered that Mexico was the most popular vacation getaway for Americans, with an estimated 5.8 million holidaymakers traveling there each year. The city of love, Paris, is number nine, followed by Destin, Florida, at number eight. Located on Florida’s Emerald Coast on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, Destin has developed from a fishing village into a popular tourist destination because of its many beautiful beaches.

At number seven on Business Insider’s list is the city whose streets, Dick Whittington thought, were paved with gold. Whittington journeyed to London with his cat and later became Lord Mayor of the city. There are no extant records of how his cat fared.

The Big Apple (New York City) comes in at number six, while Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is at number five. Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic takes fourth place. Punta Cana is at the easternmost tip of Hispaniola, the island that the Dominican Republic shares with Haiti. Its 20 miles of beaches with clear water form the Dominican Republic’s La Costa del Coco (Coconut Coast).

Orlando, Florida, is third. Cancun, Mexico, is at number two. Finally, first place goes to Las Vegas, Nevada, known to be the city where ‘What Happens Here Stays Here’.

Now, through Monaker’s comprehensive booking platform, NextTrip, the traveler looking for that extraordinary experience can visit any or all of these colorful locales. However, NextTrip won’t just get him or her there. Through it, travelers can book a hotel room or inhabit what CEO Bill Kerby has described as ‘the hottest space in travel… alternative lodging’. Alternative lodging rentals (ALRs) are whole unit vacation homes or timeshare resort units that are fully furnished, privately owned residential properties, including houses, condominiums, villas and cabins, that property owners and managers rent to the public on a nightly, weekly or monthly basis. ALR listings have multiplied in recent times, with an astonishing diversity that illustrates the economic potential of the space.

A feature in USA Today (http://nnw.fm/AZm9a) tells the story of the most popular alternative lodgings based on images that users of Pinterest have uploaded. The top five list includes a two-bedroom loft in Rome, Italy. There is, also, a one-bedroom house in Beach Lake, Pennsylvania, and a two-bedroom rental in Tokyo. Then, there is a two-bedroom house in Tepoztlán, Mexico, and a charming one-bedroom Airstream trailer in Wimberley, Texas, all of which promise to be more singular than staying in a characterless hotel room.

For more information, visit www.MonakerGroup.com

Monday, August 22, 2016

Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (MTBC) (MTBCP) Full-Spectrum Web EHR & Services Platform Poised to Pop as Healthcare IT Market Booms

A recent report (http://nnw.fm/K8iRV) on the global Healthcare IT (HIT) market from Technavio projects an attractive seven percent CAGR for the space over the next four years, when the U.S. sector alone will generate upwards of $75 billion annually. The analysts at MarketsandMarkets affirmed this outlook in their report on the sector late last year (http://nnw.fm/UO9j8), projecting that the global healthcare IT market will see a CAGR nearly twice the Technavio figure when all sources are accounted for, coming to represent a total market valued at somewhere in the neighborhood of $228 billion by 2020.

The biggest names in the industry today are looking to capitalize on this growth, with players such as Athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN), Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX), GE Healthcare (NYSE: GE), Mckesson (NYSE: MCK), Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), Philips Healthcare (NYSE: PHG), and Siemens Healthcare (OTC: SIEGY) all making sizable bets on the future of the space. Another important aspect of this growth story is the proliferation of mobile devices, as the EHR (electronic health records) landscape becomes increasingly saturated with mHealth features like mobile apps and digital personal health records. Consider the installed base of some 2.6 billion smartphone users worldwide (http://nnw.fm/xtM0G), a figure set to grow 134 percent by 2020, and you can start to understand why the mobile medical workplace is perhaps a foregone conclusion. North America, as the currently (and for the foreseeable future) largest regional segment of the HIT space, is no doubt where the majority of the global market’s action will be. So it makes sense to start looking at competent, multiple-threat operators in the healthcare IT market that are accessible to the average retail investor, and which have an established footprint in the states.

Trading under a dollar, with a rapidly growing portfolio of products and service offerings, Medical Transcription Billing (NASDAQ: MTBC) (NASDAQ: MTBCP) for instance has made some impressive headway in this sector since its IPO in 2014. The company has rapidly blossomed into one of the most compelling full-spectrum, cloud-based EHR (ChartsPro™), practice management (PracticePro™) and mHealth solutions providers around. MTBC packs a powerful one-two punch of products and services that collectively constitute a unified, database-driven and fully integrated WebEHR platform, spanning everything from billing, data management, transcription, chat scribing, and business intelligence, to value-added and consultancy services. This is exactly the kind of one-stop-shop healthcare customers in this market are looking for.

Founder, chairman and CEO Mahmud Haq, as well as president and Director Stephen Snyder and CFO Bill Korn, made quite a showing at the 2016 Marcum MicroCap Conference (http://nnw.fm/Tu5j4) back in June, just before the launch of the company’s hospital receivables management service via acquisition of New Jersey healthcare financial specialists WFS Services. The WFS Services acquisition superbly augmented the company’s already strong position in ambulatory (outpatient) services and enables MTBC to aggress the huge opportunity of underserved demand in patient balance collection and aged insurance accounts receivable. By exploiting its unique technological advantages and vast sums of expertise in order to serve the ominously compounding need for solutions to the nuanced and often arduously difficult challenges of collection and aged insurance accounts receivable, MTBC is setting itself up for long-term growth.

The company has had a laser-focus on strategic growth toward its 2016 objectives, scoring a spate of notably appropriate recent acquisitions, including Renaissance Physician Services (Tennessee), Gulf Coast Billing (Texas), and the WFS Services deal. And yet MTBC managed to wrap up Q2 with $6.6 million in cash on the balance sheet. This an extraordinarily visionary approach to this space for a relatively young company like Medical Transcription Billing, but management can read the handwriting on the wall: the healthcare IT market is only going to get hotter. Strengthening its already enviable position in the sector through shrewd acquisition is how the company set a new milestone for revenue growth from Q1 to Q2 this year, and the company hopes to continue this trajectory on the strength of things such as having already developed a comprehensive ICD-9 to ICD-10 mapping and transitioning solution.

And it is not just the increasing complexity of the space that will allow full-spectrum operators like MTBC to prosper amid all this demand growth. As new systems must be rapidly defined and rolled out to handle an ever more stringent regulatory environment, mounting demand for knowledgeable consultancy and expert services will likely continue to increase at a geometric rate. Medical Transcription Billing will prosper because its suite of offerings is able to deliver considerably enhanced efficiency and profitability metrics, something which is of paramount concern to everyone in the industry, as there exists a pressing requirement to bring down overall healthcare costs.

A set of common drivers behind all this demand growth are made strikingly clear in both of the aforementioned reports. Chief among these drivers is the rise-and-rise of EHR (electronic health records) solutions in general, spurred on by a concomitance of actors, such as the prevailing lack of in-house IT capabilities among most sector operators, the ease/robustness of cloud services, and the inherently complex regulatory environment that just gets more nebulous with each passing year. The MarketsandMarkets and Technavio reports mentioned earlier were both keen to acknowledge how everything in the industry is shifting toward external cloud and SaaS (software as a service) solutions. One of the fastest growing segments of the HIT market is healthcare provider solutions, where a projected 16.4 percent CAGR (MarketsandMarkets) shows just how hot the game truly is when it comes to solving the regulatory compliance/assurance woes that face today’s healthcare providers.

This is an area where something like MTBC’s fully integrated Meaningful Use Stage 2-certified and web-based EHR platform ChartsPro really shines. ChartsPro gives a practice everything required to easily execute a Meaningful Use Stage 2 implementation, including the necessary training, and the company even provides an MU expert to each of its clients as part of its regulatory compliance services package. Ranked among the best of the best by Utah-based health informatics research outfit and industry benchmark KLAS, and certified by the ONC (Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology), ChartsPro can handle all the critical functions of a medical practice and is just the kind of highly intuitive, yet powerful framework that the clinical solutions segment of the healthcare IT market now demands. Notably, this segment has a projected 19.8 percent CAGR through 2020.

Whether it’s chart creation backed up by the company’s digital transcription technology, ChartScribe (a digital audio dictation to complete charts solution which is fully integrated into the ChartsPro architecture), or a host of other mission critical tasks, the web native ChartsPro platform is ideal for an increasingly work-anywhere digital environment full of tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices. Correct and timely patient charts are essential at every practice and ChartsPro handles this key task beautifully, while delivering similarly excellent results when it comes to things like document management, claim creation, e-prescription, lab test ordering, PHR handling and scheduling.

The consistently emerging PM (precision medicine) model of healthcare, which is reinforced by a similarly emergent technical foundation and the need for tailored medicine in areas like cancer, will continue to be a substantial driver both for the HIT space, and for MTBC itself. This single market alone will likely grow to nearly $88 billion by 2023 according to a report by Global Market Insights (http://nnw.fm/Rb3vb), with factors such as genome sequencing ($8 billion last year), and new drug discovery playing major roles. The White House has dedicated $55 million toward a new PM initiative, the industry has responded, and now it will be up to operators in the healthcare IT sector to pick up the ball and run with it. The explosion of diagnostics alone could send a multiple-threat WebEHR outfit like MTBC into the stratosphere. It should be interesting to see how things shake out for this aggressive young cloud-savvy player.

For more information, visit www.MTBC.com

Lucas Energy, Inc. (LEI) is Positioning Itself to Capitalize on Current Market Environment

In recent months, the economy has seen a downturn in energy prices. With some energy companies filing bankruptcy, Lucas Energy, Inc. (NYSE MKT: LEI) has not only survived the recent downturn but positioned itself perfectly to benefit from the current market environment. Furthermore, the company plans to expand on its current national footprint.

Lucas Energy, Inc. is a growth-oriented, independent oil and gas company based in Houston. LEI has working interests in over 10,000 net acres in South Texas with reserves valued at approximately $112 million, as well as other reserves estimated to be worth $60 million. All of the company’s acreage is located in the Eagle Ford shale and the Austin Chalk producing formations.

In 2012, LEI appointed a new management team with a vast amount of experience that positioned the company for growth and opportunity. Since the appointment of this new expert team, the company has reduced overhead, improved balance sheets, made field operations more efficient, and resolved legacy legal issues.

Today, the company’s main goal is to develop its most valuable asset in the Eagle Ford shale. The aim is to increase production and generate positive cash flow. As part of these efforts, the company made public a purchase agreement to acquire a working interest in producing properties in the Mid-Continent region. This acquisition will play a key role in the growth strategy of the company.

With this transaction, the company aims to produce more energy on a daily basis. These changes have led Lucas Energy, Inc. to plan a name change to Camber Energy in the near future, a name that LEI believes is better suited to the vision of the company. Although the oil and gas industry has not been as strong in recent times, LEI has put together a three pronged strategy. This includes developing its current assets, capitalizing on the down cycle, and pursuing further material acquisitions.

For more information, visit www.LucasEnergy.com

Friday, August 19, 2016

eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Launches Real Estate Operations in Alaska

Earlier today, eXp World Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: EXPI) announced the commencement of real estate brokerage operations in Alaska. Following this announcement, the company’s real estate brokerage division, eXp Realty, is now operational in 41 states across the country, as well as Alberta, Canada, and the District of Columbia. To date, the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage™ has attracted more than 1,500 of North America’s leading agents and brokers by leveraging an aggressive revenue sharing program and a host of collaborative tools made available through a unique, fully-immersive cloud training environment. The company’s brokerage operations in Alaska will be overseen by Brandon Tatum and Frank Zellers.

“Frank and I are excited to have the opportunity to bring eXp Realty to Alaska,” Tatum stated in this morning’s news release. “We’re looking forward to introducing the concept of agent-ownership and the idea that you can work alongside with and build relationships with some of the best agents in the business on a daily basis without having to go to a physical office or travel by plane or boat.”

News of the Alaska launch builds on what has already been an incredibly eventful week for EXPI. On Monday, the company released its second quarter financial results, reporting a 137 percent year-over-year increase in revenues to more than $13.2 million for the three-month period. This financial growth coincided with a 111 percent year-over-year increase in agent count for the company’s real estate division. Likewise, EXPI’s cash and cash equivalents at June 30, 2016, were up 207 percent from the second quarter of 2015. With a continued commitment to agent ownership, support and engagement, the company is strategically positioned to build on this impressive growth in the months to come.

The foundation for this growth has already been set through eXp Realty’s entry into new markets. Since the end of Q2, the company has already launched operations in both Utah and New Jersey, as well as Alaska. EXPI has also made moves to bolster its leadership team, adding industry veterans Rick Miller and Randall Miles to its board of directors on July 20. In the news release announcing these additions, Glenn Sanford, CEO of EXPI, referred to the move as “tremendous,” adding that the new board members “bring deep and diverse expertise” to EXPI and “give greater independence to its composition as the Company progresses.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.eXpWorldHoldings.com

MannKind Corp. (MNKD) Relaunches Groundbreaking Inhalable Insulin Afrezza®, Promotes New Copay System

With over 29 million Americans living with diabetes, and more than 86 million with prediabetes, this disease is the seventh leading cause of death and swallows approximately 20% of nationwide healthcare spending, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics (http://nnw.fm/uUEx3). Healthcare officials, patients and doctors alike are always actively searching for new therapies or innovative yet affordable treatments to combat this disease.

This is where leading biopharmaceutical company MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) and its groundbreaking inhalable insulin product Afrezza® come in. Touted as the first successful insulin inhaler on the U.S. market, Afrezza is a fast-acting inhalable insulin powder designed to be used in conjunction with regular type 1 and 2 diabetes treatments to help lower post-meal blood sugar spikes.

Beginning in July, MannKind relaunched Afrezza Inhalation Powder on the domestic market under its own branding, and the treatment is now available with major wholesalers, as well as by prescription in any retail pharmacy.

Leveraging its two-year experience in patient selection and copayment, the company has also announced several programs to promote patients’ access to Afrezza therapy. These include:

Enhanced copay assistance designed to lower insured patients’ out-of-pocket cost to $15 per month

Patient reimbursement support program, MannKind Cares

Bureau to educate and inform healthcare providers about the benefits of Afrezza

New titration pack that allows patients new to Afrezza more flexibility in adjusting their daily dosage

The new programs will join MannKind’s national salesforce, all of whom have extensive experience with diabetes and Afrezza, in its efforts to help enhance and streamline patients’ and providers’ experience with this key therapy. The company is committed to ensuring the treatment remains available to all diabetes patients in the U.S., without any disruption in supply.

The July relaunch came after the company released six more analyses of the pre-meal treatment, demonstrating a faster onset and shorter duration of action than with mealtime fast-acting insulin treatments. The findings, presented at the 76th scientific session of the American Diabetes Association, show that, compared to Eli Lilly and Company’s (NYSE: LLY) insulin lispro injection, Afrezza has a 50% faster onset and a 2-3-hour shorter duration of action.

The data supports the use of this therapy for rapidly controlling high glucose levels, according to the chief medical officer of MannKind, Raymond W. Urbanski, MD, PhD. Unlike injectable insulin, which risks causing hypoglycemia after a meal if dosed incorrectly, Afrezza works in the body more rapidly and leaves the bloodstream faster, offering an ideal balance between glucose control and a lower risk of hypoglycemia.

To find out more about MannKind Corp. and its innovative Afrezza Inhalation Powder insulin, visit www.MannkindCorp.com

eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Reports Record Revenues in Q2 2016 Driven by Game-Changing Brokerage Division

The real estate industry is changing fast, with technology and enhanced interconnectivity set to mark a significant shift in the sector and alter realty professions significantly. Several industry-related jobs, most notably real estate brokers and sales agents, are actually likely to disappear and be replaced with artificial intelligence computer algorithms in the near future, according to Oxford University research (http://nnw.fm/k8ZZZ).

The question that naturally arises is how these jobs will transform if they are to remain relevant and still present on a fast-changing, dynamic market such as the real estate industry. How will the real estate broker’s role change to meet the demands of an industry governed by technological advances, where virtual communication or virtual modelling are changing the rules of the game and challenging the traditional way of doing business?

eXp World Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: EXPI) and its rather unique real estate brokerage division, eXp Realty LLC, might hold the answer to that question. With eXp Realty, The Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage™, eXp World Holdings has tried and succeeded to stay ahead of the curve and create an innovative model of real estate brokerage that relies heavily on Internet and cloud technologies to build a strong online community of professionals and provide efficient services to consumers.

The concept at the base of eXp Realty is a cloud office environment, which offers its members, brokers and agents nonstop access to collaborative tools and systems, training features and socialization avenues so as to build a tight-knit community of real estate professionals that can share their experiences, strategize and innovate together.

This business model eliminates the traditional brick and mortar office, allowing brokers and agents to increase their profits, lower overhead and risk and provide a more effective service to consumers. In addition, eXp Realty’s platform offers members the opportunity to earn equity in exchange for their contribution to company growth. Brokers and agents also benefit from an innovative revenue sharing program that allows them to win a percentage of the commissions earned by other brokers they recruit into the company.

So far, it looks like this model is definitely paying off, as eXp World Holdings reported record revenue for the second quarter of 2016. The company reported revenues of $13,282,028 for Q2 2016, which is up a whopping 137% from $5,584,963 in Q2 2015. On June 30, 2016, eXp World Holdings had 207% more cash and cash equivalents than the same time last year, while its real estate division’s agent count was up 111% year-over-year to more than 1,400 agents.

These remarkable financial results were driven by EXPI’s realty division, particularly by its increased sales volume and growing agent base, according to the company’s CEO Glenn Sanford.

The realty division was also the driving force behind the company’s record figures last year, and the trend is likely to endure as eXp Realty continues to expand in terms of both sales agent base and coverage. It should be noted that since the end of the reporting period on June 30, eXp Realty has grown to more than 1,500 real estate professionals across 41 states, the District of Columbia and Alberta, Canada.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.eXpWorldHoldings.com

OurPet’s Company’s (OPCO) Successful Approach to Design, Branding Explained By Audiences’ Reception of ‘The Secret Life of Pets’

The blockbuster success of Comcast’s (NASDAQ: CMCSA) Universal Studios production, ‘The Secret Life of Pets’, which did a whopping $104 million plus in its first weekend at the box office and raked in over $254 million worldwide in just 11 days following its debut – is no surprise to the folks at OurPet’s Company (OTCQX: OPCO). The company’s OurPets® brand, in particular, which consists of high-end designs crafted to suit the ergonomics as well as psychology of our beloved animal friends, has become synonymous amongst “pet parent” consumers with the very best that they can give to their animals – animals who are increasingly treated as bonafide members of the family, complete with all the associated spending horizons.

This growing tendency among pet owners to treat animals as fully-fledged members of the family has several obvious market dynamic impacts, with consumers across all segments (but particularly the high-end consumers) spending markedly more on their beloved animals. Central Garden & Pet Company (NASDAQ: CENT) certainly has been feeling the juice, with long-term EPS growth projected around 10 percent.

Retailers are actively cashing in on the success of ‘The Secret Life of Pets’, and the collaboration with PetSmart to do a special collection of pet accoutrements branded to the film (which have been selling like hotcakes) speaks volumes about sector potential and marketing, especially for an ingenious design shop like OurPets, where the recent roll out of the company’s Intelligent Pet Care™ line of Bluetooth/Wi-Fi connected feeders, water fountains, waste systems, and usability devices, such as the SmartLink™ Tag for a pet’s collar, has been received by consumers and industry players alike with great enthusiasm.

A rock-solid IP war chest of over 170 issued and pending patents, which accounts for roughly 75 percent of the company’s revenues, was recently augmented by a shining example of why consumers have come to love OurPets as much as they love these animated films – as OPCO announced general licensing in early June of its bonded polymer material technology for pet bowl bottoms. The company has a variety of high quality polymer bonded stainless steel bowl designs available through its Durapet® brand (as well as via private label) and its fierce/successful defense of its proprietary polymer bonding on stainless steel technologies is a clear shot across the bow that investors would be wise to take note of.

This is a visionary company with elegant designs that speak directly to the most lucrative segment of the pet supply consumer space, and it is as militant about defending its IP portfolio, as it is shrewd about knowing when and how to do so.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ourpets.com

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Moxian, Inc.’s (MOXC) Artful Approach to the Trillion-Dollar O2O Market

In his immortal treatise on the conduct of warfare, The Art of War, Sun Tzu Wu, commander of the Ch’i armies, stressed the importance of indirect tactics or doing things differently. The English military historian, B.H. Liddell Hart, in his The Strategy of Indirect Approach, published in 1941, later examined this point. Captain Liddell Hart analyzed important historic battles and came to a conclusion that validated Sun Tzu’s 2,500-year-old maxim that battles are won by those who attack their opponent’s weaknesses. This is a principle that the captains of Moxian, Inc. (OTCQB: MOXC) know all too well. In the company’s latest 10-Q, filed just a few days ago, this credo appears:

“Where we believe we are different from other companies is that our plan is to sign up merchants first and build our user base utilizing their customers. Many companies utilize a different strategy of building up a user base first and then signing up paying merchants and other clients to access that user base.”

That Moxian strategy is aimed at China’s mammoth Online-to-Offline (O2O) market. The company has built an online platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that already operate brick-and-mortar establishments, which will enable them to extend their marketing reach. The platform, named Moxian+, is one that will not only give SMEs an online presence but also create an ecosystem of merchant clients and shoppers through its social media features. Moxian+ consists of a User App for shoppers and a separate app, called the Moxian+ Business App, for merchant clients. Both versions of the App are currently available in the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, where they can be downloaded free of charge.

The Moxian+ platform has five main components. The first is its ecommerce capability. Merchant clients can advertise and promote their products, on the one hand, while shoppers or users, as they are referred to in the Moxian universe, can order products for later delivery. The second component consists of MO-Points Rewards and the MO-Coins Virtual Currency. Users can obtain MO-Points when they shop online, which allow them to participate in activities sponsored by merchant clients. MO-Points can be redeemed at merchant clients’ online shops or can be redeemed for MO-Coins, which can be used at any merchant client’s physical store location.

Users can also play games on Moxian+. This third useful component is linked to the fourth, which is Moxian+ as a social media engine that allows users to connect with each other and with merchant clients. Users can also, naturally, make new friends, discuss interests with old ones, and share pictures and videos. The fifth component of the innovative Moxian+ platform is its data analytics capability. Merchant clients are able to receive regular reports on a variety of demographic and purchasing data generated by users, giving them insightful intelligence to construct effective marketing campaigns.

As its 10-Q states, Moxian’s strategy is to quickly add merchant clients with subscription accounts. Users will follow naturally, building on the base of existing customers that the online locations already have. The company has already signed up over 30,000 merchant clients in Shenzhen, China, for test versions of the platform. These provide a fertile base to be targeted for upgrade to subscription accounts on Moxian+.

The O2O industry has emerged rapidly as one of tremendous potential. An article in Inc. magazine explains ‘Why O2O Commerce Is a Trillion-Dollar Opportunity’ (http://nnw.fm/U1cPb). The most attractive features of such platforms appear to be their data analytics faculties. The Inc. piece enthuses that:

“Equipped with O2O tools and services, business owners would have an unprecedented level of accuracy in their online marketing and, for the first time ever, would be able to reliably determine ROI from online advertising. Until recently, that technological ability simply did not exist.”

The report went on to point out that Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) had invested about $3 billion in O2O technology and that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce shows that ‘over 93 percent of purchases still take place offline, which accounts for over $4 trillion each year’. In China, where Moxian is operating, the numbers are even larger.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Moxian.com

Smith-Midland Corp. (SMID) Primed to Build on Position at Forefront of the Domestic Precast Concrete Market

Despite its more than five and a half decades at the forefront of the domestic precast concrete market, Smith-Midland’s (OTCQX: SMID) recent coverage gives the impression that the company has only recently sprung into existence, fully armored, like Athena being born from the forehead of Zeus. Currently enjoying a nice pop following the release of its Q2 financials on August 11, shares of this ceaselessly innovative precast concrete manufacturer are now trading around pre-2008 highs, with considerable tailwind in the form of numerous recent project successes.

Globally speaking, the precast concrete industry itself is seeing something of a rebound, after a tough recession period and ongoing adjustment to China’s growth slowing down. A recent study by DecisionDatabases (http://nnw.fm/0Uqia) even projects a CAGR of 3.2 percent moving forward through 2022, when the global precast concrete market is expected to reach upwards of $58.7 billion.

Subsequent to the post-2008 dip (http://nnw.fm/nKW0s) that was experienced by just about everyone, SMID has been a portrait of the old adage that, “slow and steady wins the race.” The company has quietly been advancing the state-of-the-art in precast concrete design, manufacturing, and delivery systems, while landing contract after contract. This constant innovation is readily exemplified by the company’s high-performance SlenderWall™ system, a lightweight (66 percent lighter than traditional precast) architectural cladding system, which is as robust as it is easy to install. Recently described by Rodney Smith, chairman and CEO of Smith-Midland, as the company’s most profitable product, the SlenderWall is a feature-rich and proven system that not only addresses the typical cost and logistical metrics of competing solutions beautifully, it actually offers superior structural advantages as well. This exterior cladding system is effectively isolated from wind loading, seismic shock, expansion/contraction, movement of the underlying steel frame, and other structural forces experienced by the primary structure.

Fully code compliant and available with a proprietary (optional) Lift-and-Release™ panel-landing system, which allows an already simplified installation to be done even faster, SlenderWall is also the only wall system in the industry today to fuse together the four key technologies required for an efficient solution that can easily be applied to either new construction, or renovations. By skillfully leveraging its architectural precast concrete manufacturing expertise, Smith-Midland has found a way to embed high-tech PVA fibers into its products, making the SlenderWall cheap to install, yet able to provide a long lifespan of maintenance-free use. And these beauties are secured with a combination of thermal coated anchors and heavy gauge galvanized steel (or stainless steel studs), making this lightweight solution far more sturdy and long-lasting than one might ever expect.

SlenderWall is the perfect economical and efficient choice for a variety of 20,000 square foot plus jobs, whether it is a renovation like the 2013 Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore Campus nine-story Nelson Harvey inpatient facility) job (http://nnw.fm/7NmdW), or a massive new undertaking like the recently announced 2-mile-long Port Imperial redevelopment project in West New York, New Jersey. This sizable (42,000 square feet of SlenderWall) undertaking with New Jersey’s largest homebuilder, K. Hovnanian (NASDAQ: HOVNP), is a striking example of how prominent SMID has become as an east coast precast concrete manufacturer.

Smith-Midland primarily serves the construction, transportation and utilities markets, as well as the agricultural, beach restoration (via Beach Prisms, a shoreline erosion control barrier system) and small precast building markets (via wholly-owned subsidiary Easi-Set Industries), with a wide variety of brilliantly designed solutions that it sells, licenses, and/or rents to various customers. The company actually cut its teeth back in the 1960s as Smith-Cattleguard Company, which was founded by Rodney Smith and his father when the business was just about precast concrete farm products. This rich tradition is still carried on today in the form of an array of highly durable cattle guards and feed bunks, as well as waste storage and watering systems.

The market’s warm reception to SMID’s Q2 financials is not surprising given that the company’s long-term growth story (slightly hampered by an admittedly sluggish Q1) has been supercharged of late by increased opportunities in several of its primary end markets, due in large part to generally improving underlying economic conditions as well as the company’s own continually growing brand presence. Perhaps the most notable market here for the company is transportation, where SMID operates via its Concrete Safety Systems (CSS) subsidiary. CSS was founded in 1977 as the then nascent industry’s first and only entity focused specifically on leasing highway safety barriers to contractors and state highway departments. CSS is a full-service barrier rental company that delivers, installs and then carts away the company’s J-J Hooks positive connection barrier system, which is ideal for roadwork (freestanding, bolted or pinned), and also security functions (especially when configured with an optional fence top).

CSS is housed at the company’s primary 44,000 square foot facility in Virginia. Between this primary facility, the company’s Smith-Carolina 8,000 square foot facility and the soon to be 40,000 square foot Smith-Columbia facility, SMID will have an enviable 300 mile-wide striking distance up and down 800 miles of the East Coast. This is a considerable territory, stretching all the way from New York City, to the southern Georgia border. The new Columbia location shores up coverage of the Atlanta metropolitan area nicely for SMID, as well as nearly a dozen military bases throughout South Carolina and Georgia, putting Smith-Midland’s legendary ability to innovate front and center when it comes to aggressing a whole host of projects in the region.

In many ways, the precast industry is overshadowed by the looming predominance of government initiated infrastructure projects, but SMID has done a marvelous job diversifying into the rapidly growing residential and commercial construction arenas. At the same time, SMID has positioned itself perfectly to benefit from the $305 billion, five-year highway infrastructure bill passed late last year in December (http://nnw.fm/T70sk), and the company is likely already experiencing a boost because of the bill’s passing. With presidential candidate Trump talking about building a wall on the border between the U.S. and Mexico (a project that would require setting up localized construction facilities for regional manufacturing the way SMID has done for the East Coast), it is not unthinkable that a company such as Smith-Midland could experience considerable upside on sector momentum alone, even without landing any contracts.

But it’s not like the company even needs such a huge project, as even a cursory glance at this year’s news reveals a spate of sizable contracts. Contracts range from an Easi-Span Building used in Illinois as a township’s water supply aerator, to a set of two massive Virginia DOT road projects, which will utilize a whopping 300,000 square feet of the company’s proprietary SoftSound™ sound absorptive composite panels. In the last decade of official data alone, we have added some 6.5 percent more paved roadway to the U.S. nationwide, bringing the total number of miles of paved roads up to well over 2.744 million. Demand for outdoor noise barriers, primarily associated with stopping traffic noise from reaching residential communities, is slated to rise 3.7 percent per year through 2019 in the U.S. alone, according to a recent study by Freedonia (http://nnw.fm/N9mfF). That same study sees the overall U.S. market as growing to $191 million over the same interval, as a good chunk of that $305 billion highway infrastructure package looks like it could go directly toward state DOTs putting up more noise barriers alongside highways.

Smith-Midland is the portrait of an under bought niche leader and remains quite accessible to the average retail investor at around three bucks a share, especially when compared to other sector players such as CRH plc (NYSE: CRH), and that is despite SMID trading very near to its 52-week high. With many, many takers for its cutting-edge precast solutions, a perfect storm of potentials exists for the company. Smith-Midland also just so happens to have the unquestionable experience and leadership needed to truly capitalize on this storm of potentials for its shareholders.

For more information, visit www.SmithMidland.com