Despite the fact that their financials continue to improve, management is buying back shares, while the company transforms itself into a geographically diversified, full service labor union dental provider it's shares continue to trade in the sub-penny range.

And . . . here we go again.

Union Dental Holdings Inc. (OTCBB: UDHI) announced today that 2007 revenues ($2.2M) increased 18% over 2006 while the company's net loss ($884,249) decreased by 56%.

So what gives? When is this stock price going to pop?

Favorable Trends Impacting Business

The Labor Department recently reported that union memberships increased for the first time in 25 yrs in '07 for the largest rise since 1979. Also, I believe that about 8 out of 10 Americans are now without dental coverage.

These two trends combine to faciliate a very favorable business environment for UDHI going forward. Very positive for the company as they continue to grow their network, as well as revenues, with bigger and better things on the horizon.

Big Plans For 2008

UDHI's labor union clientele is highlighted by such sizable organizations as:
- Communications Workers of America (CWA) - (700,000 members); - International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - (IBEW) - (750,000 members); - United Association of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA) - (300,000 members); and - Association of Flight Attendants - Communications Workers of America (AFA-CWA) - (55,000 members).

UDHI has stated recently that they have retained a local finance firm to assist them in securing financing necessary to both expand their Coral Springs, FL facility to become a full service provider and also acquire and establish similiar facilities in other attractive locations. Since the company has noted having some pretty nice competitive advantages in regards to the their ability to manufacture dental prosthetics at a significant discount to typcial normal prices, I love the full service idea.

Ownership and Profitability

By owning and operating dental practices, UDHI is able to cash in on its proven ability to produce dental prosthetics 20%-30% cheaper than the competitors. Ownership also provides access to a wider pool of sales opportunities than what was previously available when the company functioned simply as a middleman between practices and labor unions. In addition to prosthetic sales, UDHI can now generate revenues from actual dental procedures which we all know can cost a pretty penny.

A bit of digging uncovers that the typical Porcelain-fused-to-metal dental crowns range in price from roughly $600 to $900. With the proven ability to manufacture crowns and bridges about 20% - 30% cheaper than anybody out there, I'd say UDHI may have the market cornered here. If they can produce at increasingly high volume and provide relatively the same level of discount, this one operational segment alone could be enough to break the bank in the not so distant future.

CWA Represents a Major Opportunity

Through a multi-faceted approach to becoming the biggest provider of dental coverage to Union workers worldwide, UDHI continues to capitalize on a huge opportunity. Assuming Union Dental achieved 25% adoption among CWA members alone and that each union worker has three additional covered family members, UDHI would coordinate more than $1.1 billion in dental services each year.

As I've stated numerous times before, we all love penny stocks because of their potential range of movement. The chance of your $100 stock doubling in one week isn't so hot, But a penny stock like UDHI doubling in a week is exponentially possible. With shares trading at a price of around $.0065, today's news could be just what it takes to incite that type of a run.

Labels: OTCBB: UDHI, Union Dental Holdings Inc.

Did you know that up to 40 percent of the energy produced by an outdated HVAC system can be lost through the sides of the equipment or leaking ducts?

As consumers, schools, and business organizations alike feel the increasing pinch on their budgets brought on by skyrocketing energy prices, many are choosing to optimize their HVAC infrastructure.

Demand Rising With Energy Prices

With the average residential heating oil price paid by Americans up nearly 50% from last year and supplies in key regions including the Northeast dwindling by nearly 25% since last March, the need for products made by companies like Marmion Industries Corp. (OTCBB: MMIO) has never been quite so pronounced.

Add into the mix the fact that electricity prices across the State of Texas (MMIO's home state) are up nearly 20% over the past six weeks, and we have a company poised for growth on our hands.

MMIO: Kicking Off March Madness With a Bang

MMIO is back in the spotlight today with the announcement of more than $116,000 in new purchase orders for the first week of March. This brings the year-to-date purchase order total to about $800,000.

This company appears to be holding its own in trying economic times. Let's not forget that MMIO announced a number of developments during 2007 that should have a very positive effect on sales going forward. Some of these developments include a 2-year, $2 Million, ongoing purchasing agreement with Powell Industries and a budding relationship with ConocoPhillips, a top-three leading U.S. integrated oil and gas company.

In addition, as I've mentioned previously, the company's position as just one of two local mechanical contractors chosen for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design 'LEED' Certification of Quality Program, has facilitated its ability to secure approximately $3 Million worth of commercial contracts within a relatively short time frame. All very positive for future growth.

LEED and The ACC

With March Madness and the the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament about to commence, I found it timely to note that the LEED movement is making its way into major U.S. Universities as well as the primary and secondary schools that MMIO has been servicing as of late.

According to an article published today by the associated press, the Atlantic Coast Conference - or the ACC - is "LEEDing" the way, in regards to both placing its teams in the tournament and becoming more environmentally efficient. The top seed in the East bracket, UNC, has committed to making its new campus, Carolina North, carbon neutral through the use of alternative energy and LEED building guidelines.

The fifth seed in the Midwest region, Clemson (24-9) will meet Villanova (20-12) in the first round. Clemson received high marks in the Sustainable Endowments Institute's 2008 Sustainability Report Card for its green building policy that requires all new facilities over 5,000 square feet to achieve LEED Silver certification.

Is Now the Time to Invest in Oil Futures?

With the federal funds rate now at 2.25 percent - the lowest point in just about 3 years - interest in oil futures continues to grow. According to the Department of Energy, futures contracts for oil grew nearly 42% between 2006 and 2007 while daily average trading has more than doubled over the last 5 years.

Commenting on the trend Eric Wittenauer, an analyst at AG Edwards stated "Previous rate cuts have fueled inflation concerns, and investors have moved money into the commodity complex in record fashion," in an AFP London article today.

With interest rates decreasing another three quarters of a point today, crude futures represent a valuable potential hedge against a devalued US Dollar. After a huge dip of $4.53 a barrel on Monday - the biggest daily loss in nearly 20 years - Crude oil for April delivery closed up $3.74, or 3.5%, to $109.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange today. The way that I see it, if you are confident that the Fed will institute further rate cuts over the near-term, oil futures could be viewed as very interesting hedge.

The stock closed up nearly 17% on Monday at $.07 on fairly light volume. Given the timeliness of the company's product offering in a world striving to conserve energy, we feel quite strongly that Marmion Industries Corp. deserves a spot on your watch list. Check back soon for more updates on MMIO's quest for HVAC greatness.

Labels: Marmion Industries Corp., MMIO, MMIO and HVAC, OTCBB:MMIO

More record numbers and more profits for up and coming VoIP company ATSI Communications, Inc. (OTCBB: ATSX).

Now that we have that out of the way, here is a little company that can help us make money with VoIP. ASTX announced financial results for their Q2 FY08 last week and the numbers continue to climb. Actually, it was a record quarter for ATSX by just about every conceivable metric.

The Numbers Speak for Themselves

Without further adieu, the highlights:

1. Record quarterly revenue of $10.3M
2. 46% year-over-year revenue growth
3. 17% increase in VoIP carrier services traffic
4. Record gross profit of $765,000
5. 7th consecutive quarter of positive cash flow from operations
6. 5th consecutive quarter of net positive earnings per share on total net income to common stockholders of $79,000
7. Record Non- GAAP net income of $242,000

International Flair Fosters Growth for ATSI

ATSX's string of successes come as a direct result of management's ability to maintain extremely favorable business relationships in key emerging regions (namely Latin America) where many prospective telecommunications carriers lack the proper regulatory licensing and optimal transmission capabilities necessary to operate.

An entrenched position in Mexico, the world's number one user of voice traffic along with the US - and a $2 billion plus market - is surely helping the cause. This has been achieved through a unique 30-year, long distance concession license with the local government.

The agreement has facilitated transformational financial improvements for the company and also provides a high level of opportunity going forward as VoIP and Internet adoption surge in the region. Remember, ATSX logged only $1.3M in revenues for all of 2004.

Expanded Mgt. = Expanded Sales

In order to improve on recent levels of global growth, ATSX hired a global sales manager with more than 20 years of communications industry experience. Joseph M. Troche has a resume that includes building a global sales program that delivered revenues at an annualized rate exceeding $350 million in less than two years.

He was also involved in some of the most highly touted merger and acquisition activity in communications industry history, including: ATC and Microtel, Resurgens Communications Group and Metromedia, and the World Access acquisition of Facilicom.

Judging from last week's release, it looks like the personnel move was a home run. Arthur L. Smith, CEO of ATSX stated, "Our second fiscal quarter was a record quarter for ATSI in almost every metric we utilize to measure the performance of our business. We continued enhancing our sales team during the 2nd quarter to fuel future growth while developing a proprietary billing and operational support system to further facilitate a scalable business model."

Taking into consideration ATSX's stellar historical financial performance, its aggressive growth strategy and a number of extremely positive environmental factors currently driving record-demand for IP-based communications services such as those offered by the company; we believe that ATSI Communications is well-positioned for growth, both financially and in regards to share price.

Labels: ATSI, ATSI Communications Inc., ATSX, OTCBB: ATSX

After months of questionable interest rate cuts, the Federal Reserve made a move today that could set the U.S. economy straight and help take its equity market off of life support. And that it - did just by its very announcement - as the Dow experienced its highest daily point gain since July 29, 2002.

The aforementioned “move” is a $200 billion relief program that will inject extremely safe Treasury securities into U.S. banks for a number of collateral options. For the record, some of these options include the very mortgage-backed securities that sent our economy into its recent down spin.

What a way to quell investor worries of a "slow as cold molasses" credit market born from billions of dollars worth of write-offs by banks trying to free themselves of bad mortgage-based securities?

Investment strategist David Kovacs from Turner Investment partners couldn't have put it better in a New York Times quote today when he stated “For the first time, the Fed now is doing the relevant work. This is a move by the Fed that has teeth to it.”

I’ve been a firm believer that although the US consumer needs to get a better grip on their finances, retarded lending policies, particularly in the mortgage arena, have largely caused the recent economic downturn. With the Fed set to amend the problem, we could be shaping up for a market upturn over the next few months, especially if today’s activity is any indicator.

The dollar also made gains on every major international currency today in what I take as a massive vote of confidence in the new plan. Very good to see after the past few weeks or “touch and go” trading.

Labels: $200 billion Fed Plan, $200 billion relief plan, Fed Plan, Federal Reserve

Superclick, Inc. (OTCBB: SPCK) is out with stellar financial results for Q1 FY2008 today that simply can not be overlooked by the small cap investment community. In addition to a 90.1% year- over-year revenue increase for the quarter, highlights of SPCK's solid Q1 include:

Net income of $178,348 vs. a loss of ($61,471) during Q1 '07;
A 74.3% increase in gross profit (from $370,992 in Q1 '07 to $646,734 in Q1 '08);
SG&A represented 26% of net revs in Q1 '08 vs. 40% in Q1 '07;
Net income per share for Q1 '08 was $0.002 on a fully diluted basis;
Increase in rooms under customer support of approximately 14,700;
Continued expansion in the market with leading brands both in the U.S. and Asia;
Expansion of help desk support offering to deliver world-class VOD support; and
Increase of sales force.

This is a superb follow-up to Superclick's record net revenues of nearly $5M for FY 2007 and puts the company on pace to surpass that record in '08 with zero growth over the next 3 quarters. Even in a rough and tumble economic environment.

With lucrative relationships now in place with leading hospitality organizations including Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts in addition to technology solution providers like Swisscom International, SPCK is now pursuing opportunities on 3 continents (North America, Europe and Asia) with notable success.

Labels: SuperClick Inc., SuperClick Inc. (OTCBB:SPCK)

With oil flirting with all-time highs and inflation fears dragging the US Dollar to unprecedented lows while cost of living surges, technological solutions that help conserve both energy and money have never been more so timely.

The EIA projects that world energy consumption will rise nearly 60% from 2004 to 2030. During this time, the organization expects global use of petroleum and other liquid to grow from 83 million barrels oil equivalent per day to 118 million.

Demand Grows As Energy Prices Soar

So, clearly the need for solutions such as those offered by company's like Nighthawk Systems (OTCBB: NIHK), that are capable of turning virtually any electronic device off and on, is growing, seemingly by the day.

If the broader trends are not enough to convince you, the company's recent string of contracts should.

Another Record Order

NIHK announced a 485 unit CEO700 order today from the Public Works Commission ("PWC") of Fayetteville, NC. According the release, the order - which is expected to ship in 30 days - represents the largest initial order of CEO700's to date from a new customer

NIHK's 'bread and butter' remote control control business boasts a growing list of 50+ utility customers. After announcing the largest ever CEO700 order just a few months ago, it is very promising to see a record new customer order following along so quickly.

If you already know, the CEO700 gives electric utilities the ability to wirelessly disconnect and reconnect power to residential electric meters from a centralized location, improving customer service response times and saving the utility significant time and money over the traditional manual disconnect method that requires multiple truck rolls and field personnel (run-down courtesy of NIHK). Not a bad value-proposition in today's world. Eh?

2 Thriving Business Segments In 2 Thriving Markets

As I've mentioned in previous editions, NIHK's recently acquired set-top box business is expected to register $8M in 2008 revenues. It appears that NIHK more or less inherited a very positive relationship with a leading hospitality technology solutions provider with its purchase of the business.

Within the next few months, NIHK plans to have shipped about 4,700 set-top box units for the customer and seems optimistic that the orders will keep flowing for the foreseeable future.

All very promising given the fact that the aforementioned contracts alone hitting the books would equate to massive incremental revenue growth for the company. On an annualized basis nonetheless. Moreover, these are revenues from one single customer. The implications here are quite interesting if/when potential set-top box customer #1, #2, etc. emerge.

NIHK is showing more promise today than ever before in the more than two years that MSP has been covering the company. With two thriving business segments making documented success in two thriving markets (IPTV & M2M), we think that Nighthawk Systems Inc. is extremely well- positioned for growth in 2008 and beyond.

Labels: AMR, IPTV, Nighthawk Systems, Nighthawk Systems Inc., NIHK, OTCBB: NIHK

Applied Materials Inc. (NasdaqGS: AMAT), one of the largest chip equipment makers in the world, is one of the lone bright spots in the financial news today. The company recently signed a $1.9B deal with a unnamed international private entity to supply equipment, installation and warranty services for a number of factories that will produce solar, electricity generating modules.

Intel announced today that they have lowered their gross margin gross-margin forecast for the quarter to roughly 54% from 56%.

From what I've read, excess memory chip inventories led to price declines for some companies in '07. A trend that is continuing in '08 and punishing margins along the way.

Could this actually be a proverbial foot in the door for players such as Legacy Holdings Inc. (OTCPK: LGYH) that actually come to market with solutions that are proven to help reduce operating costs for semiconductor-related manufacturers?

I've beat you over the head time and time again with Legacy's value-proposition to their target markets. With players like Tyco and Micrel already adopting products and/or technologies from LGYH, others should be at least intriuged to take a look, particuarly those that could benefit considerably from improving margins a few points.

This is pretty darn interesting, in my own humble opinion. According to an AP article that I came across today on Yahoo:

"As more retailers file for bankruptcy or go out of business, more than $75 million in gift cards are at risk of becoming worthless pieces of plastic this year"

I was recently quite fascinated by reading that US consumers shelled out more than $26.3 BILLION on gift cards during this past holiday season (NRF). We are not talking annual here, just the holiday's

With consumers about as far down on the pecking order to be compensated for what is owed to them as the guy that cleans the toilets if a retailer does in fact go bankrupt and ceases to operate entirely, the press has begun noting an increase in people making trips to the mall in order to cash in gift cards "just in case".

I'll be watching very closely here over the coming months to see if scared selling on behalf of gift card holders has an impact on final retail sales figures. Although a few million bucks is surely a drop in the bucket here, if this gives birth to a wider negative stigma surround gifts cards and they begin to lose popularity even half as fast as the handy little cards gained it, things could get interesting.

With The Commerce Department stating that retail sales rose by 0.3 per cent in January - which shocked analysts from LA to Tokyo - if this starts a chain reaction and gets consumers ditching the gift card idea by the droves, this could actually have a short-term positive effect going forward, but not so great long-term.

Labels: Gift Card Worthless, Retailer Bankruptcy