ESPR Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. Consolidation (NASDAQ:ESPR)
(NASDAQ:ESPR) Esperion Therapeutics Inc
(NASDAQ:ESPR) Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. peaked out and closed at $48.90, way up from about $10 where it sat last August, but way below its all-time high of $107.51 in spring 2015. Still, ESPR has been on a good run since about January, but especially since June, probably based on positive news coming out on various stages of ongoing clinical trials. ESPR is a pharmaceutical company based in Ann Arbor, MI and dedicated pretty much exclusively to developing non-statin LDL cholesterol drugs with safer profiles and fewer side effects than the statins currently on the market.
THE COMPANY
ESPR Esperion Therapeutics Inc. has an interesting history, having been acquired by Phizer in 2004 for $1.3Bn in order to get sole possession of an experimental statin called ETC-216 and prevent their competitors from obtaining it. Esperion was founded by Dr. Roger Newton, the man responsible for co-discovering the Lipitor molecule, a statin drug and the most prescribed medication in the history of pharmaceuticals. Phizer eventually killed off the research and ESPR was re-acquired by Dr. Newton after he raised the capital to buy the rights to the name and to their other experimental compound, ETC-1002, which is also a novel cholesterol treatment based on the biological properties of bempedoic acid, which is converted to ETC-1002-CoA in the human liver and, through a sequence of reactions, results in the liver’s removal of LDL-C from the blood.
ESPR has pushed bempedoic acid in 18 completed Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical studies and it is currently being evaluated in four other Phase 3 LDL efficacy and safety studies, along with one cardiovascular outcomes trial. Their pipeline consists solely of Bempedoic Acid (once daily pill) and a combination of Bempedoic Acid and Ezetimibe (once daily pill) which itself just began Phase 3 trials.
ESPR stock price has fluctuated greatly in the past 52-week period with a range of $9.40 to $57.38 and earlier in August they announced an underwritten offering of 3,100,000 shares to the public at $49.00 per with the goal of continuing to finance the previously mentioned clinical trials for the two drugs in their pipeline. There’s lots of detailed technical information out there on these trials, but suffice it to say that if any one or a combination of them are unqualified successes, they could be looking at blockbuster status on par with or even bigger than Lipitor and of course a huge uptick in value. Results are somewhat far off, however, with expected announcements after the completion of the studies in Q2 and Q3 2018 and various bridging studies yet to begin. Of note, ESPR’s R&D budget for the first six months of 2017 was $74.1M compared to $19.5M for the same period in 2016.
We think this makes ESPR an intriguing investment. With the FDA having approved an abbreviated regulatory pathway to the bempedoic acid/ezetimibe combination, and a looming New Drug Application anticipated after the studies are concluded in 2018, this stock may take a slight dive in the next few weeks, but rally significantly toward its $107.51 all-time high by the end of 2018.
Whats Next For LBUY (OTC:LBUY) Leafbuyer Technologies Inc. Looking Forward
(OTC:LBUY) Leafbuyer Technologies, Inc. has seen a recent spike in volume which is currently at 363,464 and nearing 3x its previous average. LBUY is a Colorado firm that provides an online database for the U.S. legal and medical cannabis markets. Founded in 2012, their users are able to locate dispensaries by state/city, read reviews of dispensaries, and in some cases find coupons to save money on cannabis purchases.
In addition to their longer upward trend over the past 52 week period, there have been several recent developments that likely contributed to this spike in trading over the past week. In May their stock was granted DTC eligibility, which is a must for any stock’s future growth potential. Most large U.S. broker-dealers and banks are DTC participants – they hold and deposit securities at DTC. Additionally LBUY has made several announcements in the past few months that have garnered them positive publicity. These include the development and launch of a mobile app that mostly mirrors the functionality of the LBUY website, and which is available in the Apple Store and Google Play Store.
In June they added a career-finder portal to their suite of services which makes use of their existing database search tools and reportedly lists hundreds of careers and jobs in the cannabis industry. In May LBUY announced a forward split of 9.25 to 1 which itself led to a momentary spike, but nothing near the current value of $2.94, which even though it’s down from a 1-yr high of $3.61 is nearly 4x the $1 level where it sat for most of 2016 and 2017. This came just before a big announcement that they will be expanding their regional footprint to markets in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan. Most recently on August 22, LBUY issued a press release touting a renewed partnership with the Cannabist, a mainstream and highly regarded (pun intended) marijuana news website subsidiary of The Denver Post. This is meaningful because of the reach of and respect for the Cannabist and especially because there is now a LBUY “Deals Widget” on every page of the Cannabist’s website.
So what does all this mean? We think that the current price may represent a good value and that recent trading levels could indicate a sharp spike in price; but if not the combination of factors discussed before will at least ensure a steady rise toward the $5 range. Whether you’re basing your investment decision on the larger trend toward decriminalization/legalization or on LBUY’s ability to reach its intended market or the strength of its brand and relative lack of competition – or all three – LBUY hasn’t looked more promising than it does now in quite some time.
These Analysts Insist Wirecard AG (FRA:WDI) Remains Considerably Undervalued
Wirecard AG (FRA:WDI) (OTCMKTS:WRCDF) (OTCMKTS:WCAGY) took a real hit last year when the company found itself on the wrong end of an unwarranted short attack. Despite being one of the biggest payments processors in the world, large portions of the market chose to take the word of an unknown research organization as more reliable than that of the analysts following the stock and wiped off more than 30% of Wirecard’s market capitalization between January 2016 and March the same year.
As is to be expected, with the accusations proving baseless, Wirecard has appreciated considerably across the 12 months subsequent to its March 2016 lows. Despite this appreciation, however, analysts still expect Wirecard’s share price to rise throughout the second quarter of 2017 and beyond.
Here is a look at where these analysts think this growth is coming from and what price target each has on the company right now.
Before we get started on the price targets, and for those not yet familiar with Wirecard, we’ll kick things off with a quick introduction to the company.
It is a German-based entity that – at last count – served more than 170,000 clients across the globe. These range from small individual retailers doing business online to large multinational corporations using Wirecard’s services as a full suite payment processing framework for their various operational activities. Outside of its technology offerings, Wirecard Provides consultation type services, with things like relationship management, risk control and expansion strategy guidance all underlying the existing relationships it shares with the clients on its books.
Just recently, and on the back of the company’s acquisition of the prepayment card operations of US banking giant Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), Wirecard expanded into the US. In doing so, the company has taken a considerable step towards overtaking its primary competitor, and the leader in the space from a client count perspective, Worldpay Group PLC (LON:WPG). The move marks the company’s first foray into the North American market and sets the stage for industry leadership in the fast-growing payments processing sector.
Now let’s look at the expectations of various analysts.
For the purposes of this discussion, we’re going to focus on five institutional analyses. These are those of Hauck & Aufhäuser, Baader, Commerzbank, Berenberg and Godman Sachs.
First then, Hauck & Aufhäuser.
This firm put out its latest Wirecard report on April 10, 2017, subsequent to the company’s conference call. Based on the call in question, H&A kicked off the report with a reaffirmation of its opinion that Wirecard holds a leading market position for payment service and risk management solutions for merchants globally and followed up with the opinion that the growth potential for the company is not fully reflected in the then-current share price of €53.
The growth potential, according to H&A, is rooted primarily in the global shift towards more efficient payments processing. The firm highlighted the fact that currently only 6-7% of transactions are processed efficiently. Accordingly, Wirecard is positioned to take advantage of the inevitable push to increase this percentage figure. Wirecard put out guidance last month for 2017 revenues of between €382-400 million and H&A, in its report, reinforced the company’s ability to meet the high end of this guidance, if not outpace it altogether.
The price target the firm placed on Wirecard at the time of its report was €65. At the time of writing (this report) the company trades for €58, suggesting a 12% premium.
Next, Baader.
Baader’s latest report came on April 18, 2017. Most notably, as part of this report, Baader suggested that the company’s guidance for 2017 understated the company’s potential. A number of inputs fed into this suggestion, primarily that Wirecard’s 2016 financials showed no signs that organic EBITDA growth should slow in 2017 (organic EBITDA growth was 26% in 2015 and 27% in 2016; guidance for 2017 at mid-point: +24%) and that M&A costs should decrease during 2017, as compared to 2016.
Baader made a point of noting that the above-mentioned acquisition of the Citi operations was included in these estimates. Based on these assumptions, Baader estimates an outperformance on Wirecard’s 2017 guidance, suggesting EBITDA could reach €408 million (€8 million above the higher threshold of the €400 million guidance given by the company last month).
Based on its analysis, Baader has a €70 price target on Wirecard – a 20% gain on the company’s current price.
Moving on, Commerzbank.
The Commerzbank report highlights the fact that Wirecard remains one of its top secular growth plays. The research report pointed to a slight acceleration of organic revenue growth during the first quarter of the year contributing to as underpinning revenue of €276m. The company’s preliminary estimates for this number actually came out as €274 million, representing a circa 31% increase on the €210 million reported during the same period in 2016.
Just as with the other analysts covering this stock, Commerzbank pointed to industry expansion in the payments processing space (and the drive for efficiency therein) as fundamental to Wirecard’s growth potential going forward. This was a common thread throughout the majority of the company’s analyst coverage.
Looking at a price target, Commerzbank has Wirebank at €65. The company was trading for €53 at the time of the target’s placement, implying a 22% performance to its then-price and a 12% premium to current pricing.
Next, Berenberg.
This is one of the more conservative reports on our list, yet it still presents a significant upside potential to the company’s current share price. Berenberg highlights the Citi acquisition as being key to Wirecard’s growth potential, with this suggestion primarily rooted in its impact on shareholder opinion. Specifically, Berenberg notes that the acquisition has proven to investors that Wirecard’s relationship with the US authorities is not as poor as some believed and that this paves the way for further expansion in North America going forward. It goes without saying that North America is a key market in the electronic payments space and, as such, any indication that Wirecard is overcoming hurdles to expansion within this market is almost certain to support and strengthen bullish sentiment.
We noted that Berenberg has a conservative opinion when compared to some of the above reports, but this conservatism refers to its price target only. Berenberg believes that Wirecard can outperform on its guidance of €400 million for 2017, with €404 million listed as a most likely scenario and €421 million as blue-sky.
Finally, Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs is one of the only reports on this list to highlight the potential for growth in Asia (on the back of a spate of recent acquisitions in the region) as fundamental to its forward thesis on the stock.
Further, Goldman notes that Wirecard should benefit from an increase in the scale of its operations over time, stating that this will lead to a proportional increase in the company’s transaction volume per merchant.
Looking at the firm’s price target, Goldman falls in line with both Commerzbank and H&A in its placing of a twelve-month target of €65 on Wirecard. That’s a 23% premium to Wirecard’s price at the time of Goldman’s report publication, and as noted above, represents a 12% premium to the company’s current price.
WSTRF Shareholder Update News
TORONTO and NUCLA, Colo., Aug. 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Western Uranium Corporation (CSE:WUC) (OTCQX:WSTRF) (“Western” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide an update to shareholders and the market.
WSTRF Western is investigating re-starting its vanadium-rich mines as the result of the higher vanadium price, currently $9.50 per pound. The 2017 forecast global production of vanadium is about 80,000 tonnes compared to the forecast consumption of 88,000 tonnes, implying a supply deficit of approximately 8,000 tonnes in the global vanadium market. As vanadium inventories have been depleted, global steel mills are competing against the growing vanadium redox battery (VRB) industry for consistent vanadium supplies. The VRB market could represent another 7,000 to 30,000 tonnes of vanadium demand per annum over the next ten years.
The reason for the decrease in supply and increase in price of vanadium is the Chinese government forcing some factories and iron ore mines to curtail operations to reduce air pollution. Vanadium is a unique commodity market, as China is both the largest producer and consumer of vanadium. China accounts for about 45% of the world’s vanadium production while Russia and South Africa account for approximately another 30% of global vanadium production.
WSTRF has begun discussions on the economics of building a vanadium and ferro-vanadium processing plant. Ferro-vanadium is a higher value product than vanadium pentoxide, enhancing margins for the Company and shareholders.
Finally, discussions have begun with potential vanadium offtake partners both domestically and internationally.
The aforementioned discussions are early stage and the Company will update the market when further news can be released.
Further, WSTRF Western also announces it has received a bonus payment of $120,000 from signing an oil and gas lease on one of its properties in a hydrocarbon rich region. If oil and/or gas is found, the Company will receive a significant royalty percentage which will be reinvested in the Company’s core vanadium and uranium mining operations. The oil and gas leasing agreement allows the Company to retain full property rights to vanadium, uranium, and other mineral resources.
These strategic positioning decisions are being evaluated relative to cash flow generation potential. Western is seeking to capitalize on the vanadium and royalty opportunities to generate meaningful cash flow by optimizing and advancing the asset package, in spite of the current low uranium price environment. These actions would have the added benefit of advancing uranium operations in preparation for when the cycle turns and the market recognizes the imminent global uranium supply deficit.
About Western Uranium Corporation
Western Uranium Corporation is a Colorado based uranium and vanadium conventional mining company focused on low cost near-term production of uranium and vanadium in the western United States and development and application of ablation mining technology.
KAYS Marijuana Company Kaya Holdings (OTCMKTS:KAYS) Announces Property Purchase Agreement
(OTCMKTS:KAYS) Marijuana Company Kaya Holdings 10-Q Details Increase in Institutional Financing Agreement to $6.3M, Targets Property Purchase for Cannabis Production Facility
Aug 22, 2017
OTC Disclosure & News Service
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Aug. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Kaya Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB:KAYS), filed its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2017 yesterday afternoon. This confirmed KAYS’ continued growth and detailed an agreement for an increase in funding with the Cayman Venture Capital Fund. This will be used for KAY’s purchase of property to build a Cannabis Production Facility in central Oregon.
“KAYS is pleased to confirm the filing of our 10Q for the period ending June 30, 2017. We are very excited by the growth components that we have developed over the quarter. As we look forward to completing a targeted property purchase, on which we plan to relocate our grow and establish a state-of-the-art medical and recreational cannabis manufacturing facility,” stated Kaya Holdings CEO Craig Frank. “Additionally, we secured additional financing to support the launch of Kaya Shack™ delivery services.”
“Difficulty in transitioning our Portland store from an OHA to an OLCC license resulted in a decline in sales for Q2, year over year, of approximately $50,000. However our cash and other assets have increased by nearly $1mm for the same period. As of June our monthly numbers are on pace to exceed last year’s average monthly revenues by 20%, on an annualized basis. We now have 3 OLCC Licensed Kaya Shack™ marijuana retail outlets, with the 4th location expected to open in Q-3”, continued Frank. “With our growth plan in place, including introducing home delivery service and relocating and expanding our grow and production facility, the Company is taking steps to broaden its market and increase revenues, while lowering costs through more in-house production.”
The Company expects to release full details of the property purchase within the next 2 weeks.
About Kaya Holdings, Inc. (OTCMKTS:KAYS)
Kaya Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB:KAYS) owns and operates Kaya Shack™ legal marijuana dispensaries in Oregon as well as grow and manufacturing operations, which produce, distribute and/or sell premium legal cannabis products under the Company’s own brands, including flower, concentrates, and cannabis-infused baked goods and candies. KAYS is the first publicly-traded U.S. company to own and operate legal marijuana dispensaries and a vertically integrated legal cannabis grow and manufacturing operation.
Important Disclosure
KAYS is planning execution of its stated business objectives in accordance with current understanding of State and Local Laws and Federal Enforcement Policies and Priorities as it relates to Marijuana (as outlined in the Justice Department’s Cole Memo dated August 29, 2013). Also a plan to proceed cautiously with respect to legal and compliance issues. Potential investors and shareholders are cautioned that the Company will obtain advice of counsel prior to actualizing any portion of its business plan. This (including but not limited to license applications for the cultivation, distribution or sale of marijuana products, engaging in said activities or acquiring existing cannabis production/sales operations). Advice of counsel with regard to specific activities of KAYS, Federal, State or Local legal action or changes in Federal Government Policy and/or State and Local Laws may adversely affect business operations and shareholder value.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes statements that may constitute “forward-looking” statements, usually containing the words “believe,” “estimate,” “project,” “expect” or similar expressions. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that would cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, acceptance of KAYS’ current and future products and services in the marketplace.
For more information please review our periodic and current filings available at www.sec.gov, call 561-210-5784 or visit www.kayaholdings.com or sign up to receive updates.
FCBK Receives Business Enterprise Award
CERRITOS, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–First Choice Bank (OTCQX: FCBK) (the “Bank”) is honored to be recognized once again for the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund’s Business Enterprise Award. The Bank has been a recipient every year since 2011.
Editors Comment : FCBK current ppc is $23.50, with very low daily volume. Don’t expect to see much change over the near future.
The Bank is pleased that its commitment and dedication to financing and supporting community activities, especially for low and moderate income communities, is recognized by the US Treasury Department’s CDFI. The CDFI’s 2016 grant award recognizes and rewards the Bank’s continuing efforts to increase its lending and service activities within the economically distressed communities that the Bank serves.
First Choice Bank is a community focused financial institution serving diverse consumers and commercial clients, as a CDFI bank. Peter Hui, the Bank’s Chairman, said, “We are very proud of all of our efforts to make our community prosper. It is gratifying to receive this award as recognition of that commitment.”
ABOUT FIRST CHOICE BANK
First Choice Bank, headquartered in Cerritos, California, is a community focused financial institution, serving diverse consumers and commercial clients and specializing in loans to small businesses, Private Banking clients, Commercial and Industrial (C&I) loans, and commercial real estate loans with a niche in providing finance for the hospitality industry. The Bank is a Preferred Small Business Administration (SBA) Lender. Founded in 2005, First Choice Bank has quickly become a leading provider of financial services that enable our customers to grow, maintain strength, and reach unprecedented levels of success. We strive to surpass our clients’ expectations through our efficiency and professionalism and are committed to being “First in Speed, Service, and Solutions.” First Choice Bank stock is traded on the Over the Counter (OTCQX); our Ticker Symbol is FCBK.
The Bank’s web site is www.FirstChoiceBankCA.com.
WSTRF Shareholder Update News
TORONTO and NUCLA, Colo., Aug. 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Western Uranium Corporation (CSE:WUC) (OTCQX:WSTRF) (“Western” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide an update to shareholders and the market.
WSTRF Western is investigating re-starting its vanadium-rich mines as the result of the higher vanadium price, currently $9.50 per pound. The 2017 forecast global production of vanadium is about 80,000 tonnes compared to the forecast consumption of 88,000 tonnes, implying a supply deficit of approximately 8,000 tonnes in the global vanadium market. As vanadium inventories have been depleted, global steel mills are competing against the growing vanadium redox battery (VRB) industry for consistent vanadium supplies. The VRB market could represent another 7,000 to 30,000 tonnes of vanadium demand per annum over the next ten years.
The reason for the decrease in supply and increase in price of vanadium is the Chinese government forcing some factories and iron ore mines to curtail operations to reduce air pollution. Vanadium is a unique commodity market, as China is both the largest producer and consumer of vanadium. China accounts for about 45% of the world’s vanadium production while Russia and South Africa account for approximately another 30% of global vanadium production.
WSTRF has begun discussions on the economics of building a vanadium and ferro-vanadium processing plant. Ferro-vanadium is a higher value product than vanadium pentoxide, enhancing margins for the Company and shareholders.
Finally, discussions have begun with potential vanadium offtake partners both domestically and internationally.
The aforementioned discussions are early stage and the Company will update the market when further news can be released.
Further, WSTRF Western also announces it has received a bonus payment of $120,000 from signing an oil and gas lease on one of its properties in a hydrocarbon rich region. If oil and/or gas is found, the Company will receive a significant royalty percentage which will be reinvested in the Company’s core vanadium and uranium mining operations. The oil and gas leasing agreement allows the Company to retain full property rights to vanadium, uranium, and other mineral resources.
These strategic positioning decisions are being evaluated relative to cash flow generation potential. Western is seeking to capitalize on the vanadium and royalty opportunities to generate meaningful cash flow by optimizing and advancing the asset package, in spite of the current low uranium price environment. These actions would have the added benefit of advancing uranium operations in preparation for when the cycle turns and the market recognizes the imminent global uranium supply deficit.
About Western Uranium Corporation
Western Uranium Corporation is a Colorado based uranium and vanadium conventional mining company focused on low cost near-term production of uranium and vanadium in the western United States and development and application of ablation mining technology.
Why is MGTI Continuing to Climb (OTCMKTS:MGTI)
There’s been a lot of news and almost as much movement with MGT Capital Investments, Inc. (OTCMKTS:MGTI) over the past month. First off, the price has almost tripled from where it sat in May ($0.62 on May 15) to $2.35 where it closed on August 18th. The other news is that MGTI just announced yesterday (August 17) that they have obtained and are in the process of deploying 650 state of the art Bitcoin mining rigs which will be located at a new multi-Megawatt facility in the state of Washington. They have said that the new miners will be fully operational within the next two-weeks.
Some background:
Bitcoin’s value rested at about $580 at this time last year (August 2016) just a few months after the latest Mt. Gox issues had hit the market. Anyone who follows Bitcoin knows that the cryptocurrency market is really hot and that Bitcoin currently is in the midst of a steady, high-delta year-long growth spurt which has its value near an all-time high of $4510 on Thursday, August 17 2017.
As of Friday, August 18 Bitcoin is still hovering around $4170. This is important for a few reasons: 1) Bitcoin has experienced a strong valuation increase in the past one-month period, which equals its greatest increase since its spike earlier this year between March and June. In July it dived to $1938. 2) The recent split with Bitcoin Cash (called “BCash to avoid confusion) has indirectly caused Bitcoin, with its more established trading infrastructure and global exchange network, to experience increased blockchain activity, trading and value. See, there have been several clonecoins in the past, but BCash also copied the blockchain, meaning that at the time of the fork, every person who owned a Bitcoin also owned a unit of BCash. But there are issues with BCash, not the least of which is its inherent instability and slow blockchain transaction speeds. In addition, 76% of all bitcoin cash that may ever possibly exist, is already in the hands of miners and waiting to be sold. Any time an alternative currency is released, it bolster’s Bitcoin as the de-facto standard crypto, pushing up its price accordingly.
Back to MGTI – Before even announcing their new mining rigs, they surpassed the 1,000 Bitcoins mined milestone – which they have accomplished in less than one year. So we know they’re capable players in this market.
They are also reportedly working on a new suite of cyber security technologies in collaboration with industry visionary John McAfee. They aim to develop and launch a series of protection tools for individuals (mobile) and corporations (WANs). MGTI has one such product undergoing beta testing – Sentinel, an enterprise class network intrusion detector – which they will likely release prior to the end of Q3, 2017.
Also, they have formed a JV with Nordic IT with the goal of bringing to market a new mobile phone platform with strong inherent protections for privacy and hacker-thwarting features. Various statements indicate that they intend for development and marketing for this platform to be complete by February of 2018.
The numbers: MGTI is sitting at a humble $2.35 as of close on August 18. This is down from a high of about $3.40 a year ago, but up from a long-term trough which had them languishing as low as $0.68 and volumes hovering in the low 1M range. Average volume is significantly lower at 728,062 which makes current volume of 1,831,411 all the more impressive. Market cap sits at 91.753M and both PE and EPS are negative at -2.07 and -1.14 respectively.
What does this mean? We’re not sure, but we don’t see another dropoff like last year’s. In fact it would be within reason to think that MGTI can ride the Bitcoin wave long enough to bring their other revenue generating strategies online and surpass their all-time high of $3.19 from August of last year. Definitely keep an eye on these guys – and on the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency news.