At the risk of gloating, we just want to take a couple of seconds and highlight the awesome action on Stockgroup Information Systems (OTCBB: SWEB). Currently at $1.10 and rising, these shares are up by more than 60% since the end of February…..a breakout we warned you of on March 9th, and again on March 15th. Hope you were listening, but if not, we think the story is far from over.

With the move above the $1.00 hurdle, Stockgroup is now able to be traded by a few more institutions who have strict rules about owning a stock priced under a buck. A few more doors could be opened at $2.00, and then again at $3.00, but even $1.00 is a big step. And, with the kind of results we feel Stockgroup will be achieving in 2007, we certainly think the funds, pensions, and institutions are going to start getting real curious.

Don’t forget, our suggested target on SWEB is $1.51. More importantly, that target was based on a real, fundamental valuation….not just some unfounded, chart-based projection. Between then and now, Stockgroup has given us every reason to think they will indeed fulfill their end of the bargain, If anything, our target may be too low (so don’t be surprised if we raise it soon).

Notice how the volume/accumulation has been steadily increasing along the way.

Sometimes we don’t see the forest for the trees. We got this question from a reader earlier today, verifying the notion.

Dear Ed, Can you put into English what Titan sells? What is the product? Who are Titan’s competitors?

The question highlighted the fact that a lot of you may not know exactly how Titan actually makes money, aside from being in the ‘telecom business’. After all, we spend most of our focus talking about how much money they’re going to be making. Here’s the deal…

Titan makes money in two ways.

1. They sell pre-paid phone cards in the niche United States-to-Latin-America market. In other words, they’re focused on servicing the people who want to make phone calls from the U.S. to anywhere south of the U.S. border down to the northern part of South America. The thing is, considering the number of people living in the States that have a need for this kind of service, it’s hardly a ‘niche’. This is the bulk of their telecom business.
2. They sell pre-paid phones, to the same consumers. Ideally, they’d like to convert all of these limited-minute phone customers to monthly subscribers, as that business is more lucrative. But, even just selling the ‘one shot’ phones is a pretty good gig.

As far as competition, that’s the sweet spot….there’s really none. OK, there’s some, but not much.

OK, we had to make it ourselves, but still……..

A few weeks ago - as I was writing the Heating Up column titled ‘Large Caps to Lead in 2007?‘ - I became disgusted at the lack of a true bulletin board stock index. While the data I used to create a ’small and micro cap’ index was adequate, all of those companies were still listed on an exchange…..though barely. Considering we mostly deal with bulletin board stocks on this site, I pined for a true bulletin board benchmark.

So, here we go. After some serious data mining, and getting neck-deep in one of my charting software packages, I managed to create an Over-The-Counter (bulletin board) stock index. I was excited - though not surprised - to see how it behaved out of sync with the large cap market.

It’s not perfect, so Ill keep tweaking it. But, I think this may make for some interesting comparisons going forward. We’ll see.

By the way, to qualify to be in the index, a company had to have a bulletin board trading history of two years. Otherwise, the chart woudl be skewed (and even more erratic).

You might recall a few weeks ago we opened our doors to reader-submitted trading ideas - ideally small cap ideas. One of the better one we’ve been following since then is N-Viro International Corp. (OTCBB: NVIC). It got some serious traction a couple of days ago, and may well be a rising star.

Long story made short, the news has been good lately…very validating good news, to be specific. Michigan State University ran an independent test of the N-Viro fuel in their own coal-burning electricity plant, and found that the NVIC blends work comparably to pure coal. In other words, it works.

The ‘big deal’ is the environmental benefit of the N-Viro blend. Coal is messy to work with, and a pollutant when it burns. The N-Viro mix not only burns well, but also burns cleaner….in addition to easing the burden of dealing with sewage waste and sludge.

The upside to the idea is practically infinite, yet amazingly, it’s not a well-known clean-power process…..at least not yet. We still sense an outstanding speculative opportunity.

Check out the details for yourself and see what you think - just click here.

If you have other undiscovered small cap trading ideas, feel free to let us know. Just include a brief pitch as well.

Maybe you’ve already heard, but if not, Siena Technologies (OTCBB: SIEN) plans on restating its financial statements for the first three quarters of last year. Before you go jump to any conclusions usually associated with the ‘R’ word……

We don’t really think this is a big deal. And, it doesn’t look like the rest of the market does either - SIEN is flat for the day so far. It’s not a big deal because revenues and gross margins won’t be changing. The only thing that’s different will be the addition of a non-cash option expense.

It’s primarily one of those things where an issue didn’t become clear until after the fact. The company proactively addressed the issue, and wants to make sure they’re being fair by staying transparent.

For more details - and to get the specific dollar adjustments - click here.

If you were wondering when Clearly Canadian’s (OTCBB: CCBEF) newest water products - Natural Enhanced Waters - were going to be stocked on your grocer’s aisles, the wait may be over. We were just notified by the company that this new line will be landing on store shelves this week (if they haven’t been placed there already).

This is where the rubber hits the road, in a sense. The early word is these newest bottled waters are creating a splash….no pun intended. And remember, the attractive part about the enhanced waters as far as investors are concerned is the marketing strategy as much as it is the product. Clearly’s bottled water will now be heavily marketed by the chain stores, who can sell this stuff en masse. We can’t wait to see the effect on the top and bottom lines.

In the meantime, the stock has turned as healthy as the company’s products are. We saw a nice recovery move after a sharp dip in mid-March. You gotta’ love those stocks that consistently land on their feet.

For more on the ‘big-box’ store news, click here. 

We know it’s been pretty quiet for a while on our end. Titan Global (OTCBB: TTGL) and Stockgroup (OTCBB: SWEB) have been stirring the pot recently, but the slow period of the year seems to have already started.

I attribute much of that to a general market doldrum. After we were all reminded a few weeks ago that stocks are not infallible, it seems like news and company announcements have been put partially on hold. It’s not an atypical response.

However, there are two related ideas I think we all need to absorb now, in this lull…..(1) market interest tends to run very hot and very cold, and (2) that interest can turn on a dime. In other words, I tend to think this quiet period may be the calm before the storm - though I’m still not sure if it’s going to be a bullish or bearish storm. Most companies still appear to be on pins and needles as well.

Here’s my advice - while there may not be an exceptional amount of trading activity to do, there’s still some work to be done…some prep work for when the storm finally gets here. I suggest studying up on the companies you own, or the companies you’d like to own. Specifically, it may be wise to decide NOW what you’re going to do ‘when and if’ something happens in the future, while you have the time.

And just so you know, it’s not like there’s been nothing worth a closer look recently. Just take a glance at Clearly Canadian’s (OTCBB: CCBEF) chart. It closed at $2.40 a week ago, and is now at $2.97…up 23.7% on no news. Titan and Stockgroup shares are also on the rise, mostly based on the news we mentioned above. Point being, not all stocks move with the herd.

With the exception of the folks at the helm of Challenger Powerboats (OTCBB: CPWB), there’s probably nobody more enthused about today’s news than us. The company has hired an investor relations firm. Not that they weren’t serious about keeping their stock’s valuation intact, but this is a very progressive step in getting the story told more thoroughly, as well as more frequently.

No, you won’t find this news on the front page of any newspaper, or on a magazine cover. You probably won’t even find it wedged between two tiny box ads on the back page of the ‘Local News’ section. By most measures, this announcement is likely to be ’skipped’ by most of the investment community, but trust us - this is a big deal. (Sometimes we find the most important stuff in what seems trivial at the time.)

Why? Obviously the nature of our role puts us in contact with a fair amount of investor relations outfits. Though not true in all cases, more often than not, a stock with an IR team supporting it is more likely to perform.

In other words, we see this as very good news for current and future shareholders.

We doubt the news will incite an immediate rally - though it could. We do expect good things to come of it sooner or later…..and probably closer to sooner.

For more details on the news, and a brief background on the IR firm they hired, be sure to click here for the full press release.

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”

–Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), The Godfather III, 1990

Seems like On The Go Technologies (OTCBB: ONGO) just won’t fade away. We stopped covering the company months ago, and haven’t proactively talked much about them since then. However, there’s been quite the buzz in the blog ‘Comments’ and e-mail feedback about ONGO, so we’re more than happy to stir the pot once again. (Hey, if it’s important to you, it’s important to us.)

So, here’s your renewed forum….feel free to leave comments and thoughts below, as usual. There’s just one ground rule - any messages have to be constructive, helpful, insightful, or educational. Any questions have to be legitimate. On the other hand, the truth is the truth, and we all know it may not always be pretty. So, don’t hold back. Other than that, let’s all share what we’ve got to share. 

We’ll get the ball rolling with this question e-mailed earlier today….

Hi,
I own some shares of ON The Go Health Care (hasn’t been a big winner for me) and with current price wanted your thoughts on purchasing some more to kinda hedge my lose. There was some good news today but wanted your thoughts.
Thanks as usual 

Thanks for asking. You know eventually, things really are going to get to the point when they can’t get any worse. While we’ve been unimpressed by the market’s response to ONGO for a while, we have to admit….we may actually be at the absolute bottom. On the flipside, we think the biggest worry is that ONGO could stay here at the bottom indefinitely.

So yes, it’s still on our radar (as it is for many of you), and may be worth keeping on the radar. However, I rarely board a sinking ship…let’s see if this one floats first.

To answer your question though, do you feel like gambling? We’re not saying it’s wrong to speculate - we do it plenty. We’re just saying that’s the current status we see for ONGO….though it could be a fun bet.

Other thoughts?

(By the way, you might want to review all the comments from our other recent ONGO blog entry….just click on the ‘Comments’ link on this page if they don’t pop up automatically.)

Literally just days after reaching new highs, Titan Global (OTCBB: TTGL) is now basically back to square one. Shares peaked at $1.49 a couple of weeks ago, yet are now back to the $1.20 area….right where they were when we first suggested the trading idea.

Are we frustrated? Sure, a little. Are we surprised? No, not really. Are we concerned? Again, not really.

Our take - and we say this with sincerity - is, it happens.

One of the biggest challenges any investor faces is deciding whether or not a blip is nothing more than that, or if it’s an omen of worse things to come. In Titan’s case, we suspect the former applies….we’d say it’s just a blip. The underlying story here is still just too good, and there’s just too much top-line and bottom-line growth for us to think the market is going to let these shares stay at these undervalued levels for very long. Besides, it looks like there’s a support line around $1.12.

If anything, we’d view this as a chance to jump into what we see as a great longer-term (and even shorter-term) play. A lot of people were lamenting missing the window a couple of months ago, so here’s a second chance.

Close followers of the Small Cap Network Newsletter may have already realized Siena Technologies (OTCBB: SIEN) traded under our suggested stop level of 21 cents last week. It hit 20 cents on Friday, March 16th.

So, do we give up on SIEN then? NO! Like we said in our most recent Market Wise column, never confuse a company with a stock. We still believe in the company’s potential, and we still think - eventually - the stock will reflect that potential. However, the chart simply said now is not the right time. We plan on keeping a very close eye on Siena’s shares, scouring for the point in time when the rest of the market sees what we see. Maybe it will be tomorrow, or maybe next month. Who knows? Either way, we still feel the idea deserves to stay on your radar.

And for the die-hard believers, this deep low may be the ideal time to scoop up some shares - when nobody else seems interested at all. Talk about a bargain! Interestingly, though we just hit 20 cents last wee, we also seem to be finding support AGAIN around 22 cents. Could that be a floor?

If you took our advice this weekend and watched the CEL-SCI (AMEX: CVM) webcast, then you may already know what we’re going to say. If you didn’t get a chance to watch the webcast, then we’ll again suggest you do…..very impressive stuff.

In any case, just a quick announcement - one of CEL-SCI’s key people is going to be speaking to the participants at a conference for the International Academy of Oral Oncology. He’ll be going over the effectiveness of Multikine in treating head and neck cancer. 

Though CEL-SCI has become a semi-regular at such conferences, it’s still an important audience to keep reaching for. Every physician that knows and understands how well Multikine works is one more potential advocate later.

And, this kind of awareness is the kind Geert Kersten CEL-SCI was looking to create, as discussed in the webcast….though he really emphasized appealing to the institutional investor crowd as well.

Again, if you didn’t catch the new presentation, be sure to click here and see it.

In the meantime, here’s more on the Oral Oncology presentation. 

It’s something I’ve been grumbling about off and on for years to myself, and occasionally to all of you….

And, I’m not picking on Yahoo here, as I’m sure at the time the headline was written stocks were indeed ‘up’. My beef stems from fodder-based journalism. Clearly the cause-effect used as the rationale in the story is either (1) incomplete, or (2) errant. Surely the inflation reading didn’t change in 20 minutes!

The point of my rant? Just this….there’s ALWAYS more to the story. My other point…..just because something is in print (web or otherwise) doesn’t necessarily make it true, or useful.

You can learn more about this very issue in our recent ‘Market Wise’ column, titled (fittingly) “Be careful What You Believe“.

In the meantime, you can file this one away in the ‘Say what?’ folder.

You guys know we like small cap companies, and we love the opportunity for shareholders in turn-around situations. So, when we see a stock like Clearly Canadian’s (OTCBB: CCBEF) dip back to a key support line, you know we gotta’ point it out for anybody who wanted to jump in.

In CCBEF’s case though, we actually see two potential floors in play. The first one is a 61.8% retracement from November’s low of $2.00 and February’s peak at $3.23. Shares traded under there for a few moments on Wednesday, but we saw a pretty nice bounce on Thursday. The stock seems to be taking Friday off, which is fine….it’s still holding its ground. Overall though, we’d say the Fib line is acting like a reversal point so far.

The other support level is just the straight-forward support line (orange) that’s now been tested and verified twice since its first node was made back in November (a node is just a point where two items meet….lika a daily bar chart and a support line).

Given what we know about where the company is going in the long-term, and also knowing how the short-term market weakness may be a factor in the current pricing, we’d suggest this dip is a tasty opportunity to put some CCBEF on your plate.

Interesting idea here…Web2 Corporation (OTCBB: WBTO), who will be launching ‘YouGetIt.com’ in thirty days, plans to promote the new site concept between now and then by capturing the whole process on video. Each day before YouGetIt.com is up and running, the latest headaches, milestones, and final touches will be video-blogged for anybody who wants to see all the behind-the-scenes stuff we normally wouldn’t see.

Could be worth a look-see. For more information about the launch-countdown video blog, click here.

By the way (and we hope you were wondering), YouGetIt.com has been described by the company as “a hyper-local, local, and national media like no one’s ever seen it before, allowing a user to take command of online news, broadcast, and content media with one revolutionary new internet application. You want it. YouGetIt!”

In English, it’s a site designed to focus in on a geographical market of Internet users rather than virtual market. There are two dimensions to the site…local browsers, and local advertisers. The browsers should get tailor-made surfing relevancy, while the advertisers can pinpoint ads to a specific locale. For more details, check out this page on the company’s site…there’s a full description there.

Hype aside, it’s actually a pretty novel idea, and a good example of the Web 2.0 philosophy. Better still, it’s got some serious revenue potential if the thing gets traction….seems to be much more effecient at connecting buyers and sellers than most search engines do.

I’ve been wrestling a little with what to make of the market the last few days. I don’t feel the worst is over, but on the other hand, I’ve seen the bulls keep plugging away. So for the time being, things may be somewhat up in the air. The good news is, I think I can offer at least one of the reasons stocks have held up over the last few days. More importantly, I feel that particular reason may be the make-or-break point for any future drops.

After peaking at 2531 more than a couple of weeks ago, the NASDAQ Composite made more than a full 38.2% Fibonacci retracement. It’s at 2333 right now, and seems to be acting as a floor. Might this be the foundation being built for a rebound? It’s still a little soon to say, but so far so good. A close (maybe two) under 2333 might be what it takes to send the composite to the next key retracement level at 2213. We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it though. 

The S&P 500 has essentially matched the feat, thanks to yesterday’s low of 1385…the 38.2% retracement level was (and still is) at 1370. Any leg lower will begin with a failure of that line to hold up as support. But as with the NASDAQ’s chart though, it ain’t happened yet. Then again, it’s not like the SPX has been on fire in a bullish way either. At least we have framework now.

On Tuesday, February 27th, the U.S. market indices all got hammered, which was attributed mostly to the demise of overseas markets - the Pacific Rim’s markets in particular - a few hours before the United States started its session. In fact, most of the headlines read something along the lines of “Market Follows Foreign Stocks Lower“.

On Tuesday, March 14th, foreign stocks got pounded again. American stocks closed much higher. I didn’t see as many headlines explaining why U.S. stocks rebounded….and none (obviously) telling me the plunge overseas caused domestic stocks to bounce.

Ironically, today’s headlines said yesterday’s U.S. losses were the cause for the dip in foreign stocks last night. So……who leads the dance anyway?

The point? Just one - just because the media says there’s a cause/effect relationship doesn’t mean it’s true. It sure seems logical at the time, but a closer look will reveal a consistent disconnect between many of the things the media says are related or linked. That was obvious today. Just add it to the list of things to ignore.

OK, Ill get off the soapbox now…..

Speaking of international trading though, be sure to check out our newest ‘Heating Up’ column on the home page. Just click here.

Any thoughts or experiences on a misdirected media? Feel free to post ‘em here.

We hadn’t heard a lot from them lately, after they announced in mid-January that Multikine would be entering phase III trials now (for any newbies, Multikine is a very promising head and neck cancer treatment). But, now we may know what they’ve been working on…

CEL-SCI Corporation (AMEX: CVM) will be hosting an investor webcast on Thursday (March 15th) at 10:30 a.m. EST. Though no details were included with the notice, I’m certain it will be a thorough review of where they’ve been, and more importantly, where Multikine may be going next. There are also slides on the menu, so look for a full-blown AV experience.

Everyone is encouraged to participate, but if you’re not familiar with the company or its drug, then I definitely think it would be a good idea to pop in.

Go to this page shortly before the meeting starts….it’s a pretty easy process to get into the webcast. 

If you can’t make the live version of the webcast on Thursday, there will be a replay available later. Just click here to do that.

Don’t forget - Stockgroup Information Systems (OTCBB: SWEB) will be releasing their Q4 and year-end numbers on March 15th (Thursday), at 3:00 PM EST. A conference call and webcast will begin at 4:05 PM EST. To participate in the call, you can register for the call by clicking here.

As a reminder, we were ballparking about $8 million in sales for the year. We’re not necessarily looking for earnings in 2006, but we know exactly why - some major expansion expenses (that are likely to mean so much more down the road) were incurred. Also keep in mind these Q4 numbers won’t reflect the recent wireless media acquisition, as that actually happened in fiscal 2007.

However, you don’t have to guess if you’re on the call. We recommend you listen in to get the whole story. I’m sure 2007’s plans and expectations will be discussed, which is the part of the story we’re most excited about.

We’re going to try and squeeze in a newsletter edition that day…after earnings, but before the conference call.

The march continues. This morning, Challenger Powerboats (OTCBB: CPWB) announced they’ve added six more dealers to their Sugar Sands and Gekko distribution network. Already 100+ strong, this latest batch of additions will put the two boat lines in front of new customers from coast to coast.

As a quick reminder, the Sugar Sands and Gekko franchise was good for about $12 million in sales last year with roughly 100 dealers. Having added six new ones in just the first couple of months after Challenger acquired the company, we have to think this is the shape of things to come. If they can add six new dealers every two months, that’s 36 new dealers per year…..about a 30% increase. Maybe that’s low, or maybe that’s high. But, we don’t think it’s unrealistic.

And let’s not forget that Challenger - as it stands right now - only has two dealers (though more are in the works). Previously, the company sold boats directly to consumers….a tough way to go. So, for these higher-end Challenger boats, the sky really is the limit in terms of getting more people to push them.

The company (Challenger) did about $1.7 million in sales in 2005, and we’re guessing about $1.0 million in 2006…..with no dealers. With a built-in 100+ dealer pool to market themselves to, we feel the Challenger footprint could grow at an even stronger pace than the Sugar Sands/Gekko network could.

For more on the additional dealers, click here for the press release.