Carfinco - Stonecap's Top & Only Small Cap Pick For 2012

Carfinco Income Fund
TSX: CFN.UN
Units outstanding: 24.61 million
Units fully diluted: 24.65 million
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Jonathan Ratner published a piece today in the Trading Desk section of the Financial Post discussing 6 top picks from Stonecap Securities.

Something Carfinco and its unitholders can be proud of is that Stonecap believes outside of commodities, larger cap companies are more likely to perform than small cap companies with one exception...Carfinco.

“On the commodity front, we remain bullish on all things precious, both silver and gold, while believing that sustained food price inflationary pressure will lift agricultural company share prices as the year progresses,” the firm said. “Beyond commodities we believe larger rather than smaller capitalization stocks will outperform.”

Nonetheless, it included one small-cap non-bank financial that offers “a defendable and highly profitable niche.” That name is Carfinco Income Fund, which buys non-prime consumer loans secured by used automobiles.

Trading at 8.6x Stonecap’s 2012 earnings per unit forecast, the firm believes Carfinco remains an underappreciated story.

“The impressive yield, growth opportunities in future markets, and management’s ability to execute coming out of the credit crisis gives us great confidence about the fund’s prospects for the upcoming year,” analyst Dylan Steuart said in a report. He has a $10 price target on the stock.

Today's full article can be read by clicking here...

Neptune Fires Back On Competitor Over Patent Statements

Neptune Technologies & Bioressources

TSX: NTB - NASDAQ: NEPT
Basic Shares: 48.2 million
Fully diluted: 53.9 million

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Neptune was quick off the mark today with a response to a release issued by its main competitor that the U.S. Patent Office has agreed to a request to re-exam a patent granted to NTB this past October.

Norwegian based, Aker Biomarine & Neptune have been locked in litigation for several years and a sometimes blunt exchange of words.

The patent NTB was granted protects the Omega-3 composition of Neptune Krill Oil(TM) (NKO(R). The patent also “covers amongst others, oils and powders extracted from krill, containing marine phospholipids bonded to EPA and/or DHA, distributed and/or sold in the U.S. market.”

It's not suprising Aker requested the re-examination as should the patent stand, it could impact U.S. sales as well as existing litigation.

Neptune set the tone of its response with the comment that, "Aker has again made statements that are designed to mislead the public about the reexamination process and about the original patent office examination".

To read Neptune's news release, click here.

Pure Nickel - MAN Results 2011

Pure Nickel

(TSX: NIC)(OTCBB: PNCKF)
Basic Shares: 67.8 million
Fully Diluted: 75.5

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Pure Nickel released results today from its extensive summer drilling program that took place on its massive “blue sky” property called MAN in Alaska.

The company and its joint venture partner ITOCHU completed 11 drill holes totalling 2580 metres, 151 line kilometres of ground magnetometer surveys and 6.9 line kilometres of electromagnetic surveys.

Although the various disciplines of exploration did not land the company and its partner a home run this season, there are several key targets now identified for a follow up year of drilling, potentially next summer.

ITOCHU Corporation of Japan has the ability to earn in up to 75% interest in MAN by incurring $40 million of exploration costs by the end of next year. In total today, it has spent $17 million and earned 30% interest.

There are four distinct areas within MAN which is over 70,000 hectares in total (see attached map) and the company has been aggressively exploring it since 2005. Each short season of exploration has left Pure Nickel and now its partner ITOCHU since 2008, something exciting to go back to. This year, mapping and a portion of the drilling took place on an area that had never been drilled called the Rainy complex. Both grab samples and drill assays at Rainy had showings of platinum group elements or PGE’s including one grab sample with 7.9 grams per tonne PGE and 2% nickel.

A full list of assay results can be viewed on Pure Nickel's web site by clicking here...

In 2010, NIC and ITOCHU discovered what looked to be a reef style PGE mineralization on the Alpha complex which was targeted again this year with three drill holes but assays showed it wasn’t what the partners were looking for.

ITOCHU will have a few months to review the extensive amount of data collected this year at MAN and shareholders will have to keep their fingers crossed that there was enough promising data to warrant further investment at MAN by ITOCHU in 2012.

At time of this posting NIC traded 105,000 shares and is holding its stock price around $0.08. The market is valuing the company roughly at only the cash value it currently has in the bank.

Today's full news release can be viewed by clicking here...

VentriPoint Shareholders Take Note - Seattle Ultrasound Company Bought For $1B

VentriPoint Diagnostics Ltd
VPT - TSX Venture
Shares issued: - 102.6 million
Fully diluted: - 134.0 million

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So why should VentriPoint shareholders care about today’s news that SonoSite Inc. is being purchased by Fujifilm’s for $995 million? In short, it sets some valuation parameters in the world in which VentriPoint lives.

SonoSite Inc. is a specialty Ultrasound company based in Seattle.

Two things are very clear in this announcement:

• That the future of soft tissue diagnostics via the use of Ultrasound appears to be strong and growing. SonoSite has been building a reputation in the hand-held Ultrasound market especially in on-the-spot sports performance diagnostics. It is part of the trend expanding and transforming the worldwide diagnostics market for Ultrasound.

And

• New entrants in this space are willing to pay a premium to get into the business.
  Fujifilm’s paid about a 50% premium to its trading price, which is approximately 42 times the trailing EBITDA (9 months gross revenue was $219 Million).

We at The Howard Group think that VentriPoint shareholders will be interested in this because of the fact that CEO, Dr. Adams, has stated from the beginning of his tenure, “we are building a company which will prove a market for a takeover.”

This was clearly defined in The Howard Group’s November 2010 Introduction to the company, click here to view, once VPT demonstrates demand, there is an expectation that it will become attractive to a large commercial entity (E.g. GE, Siemens, Philips, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, etc.).

This was again reiterated by Dr. Adams this past October at The Howard Group's third annual Opportunity Knocks Investor Conference, click here to view, where he stated that they ($VPT) are talking with a major and "we are working on a partnership to put our software on their machine” and “being a small company, we are never going to get there; we will be taken out by a major."

Here is the link to the news release.

Solid Resources Posts NI 43-101 Reserve Report – Tantalum, Tin, Lithium & Niobium

Solid Resources

TSXV - SRW

OTCQX - SLDRF

Shares Outstanding - 93.9 million

Fully Diluted - 129.7 million

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Today Solid Resources announced that it has posted its full NI 43-101 reserve report on Sedar – http://www.sedar.com/. The report has been compiled from information accumulated from its 2003, 2005 and 2011 drill programs.

Of interest, the results are only from drilling on the northernmost and southernmost sections of its 100% owned Doade Presqueiras rare metals property in Spain. These areas represent under 10% of the concession. The two sections are approximately 11km apart and the geological team firmly believes (based on scout drilling) that the pegmatite dykes (type of rock that hosts rare metals) run continuously between the two areas.

Below is a table with the tonnage and average grades of Tantalum, Tin, Lithium and Niobium from the southernmost area of the property.

Below is a table with results from the northernmost section of the property.

Management can’t formally assign values to the rock, until the metallurgical study is completed and a Preliminary Economic Assessment is conducted. However, if you would like to do a quick back of the envelope calculation, consider the following:

A) 1 ppm = 1 g/t or 1% = 22.04 lbs.
B) Multiply the weight by the relevant metal price: Tin - $10/lb; Tantalum (Ta2O5) - $150/lb (concentrate); Lithium (Li2O)- $2-3/lb; Niobium (Nb2O5) - $24/lb
C) Multiply that number by the number of tonnes.

We stress this is a simplification as purity and recovery rates as well as what additional tonnage will be discovered are key components that will speak to the potential future economic value of the property.

Management is expecting the metallurgical study to be completed in the coming weeks. Stay tuned…

To view the full news release, please click here

Neptune to Increase Krill Production Capacity - 500,000kg/yr

Neptune Technologies & Bioressources

TSX: NTB - NASDAQ: NEPT
Basic Shares: 48.2 million
Fully diluted: 53.9 million

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Today, Neptune announced that it is initiating Phase I of its planned plant expansion. This first of two steps will increase production of krill by 150,000kg/yr by fall of 2012.

The image has been taken from Neptune's most recent Investor Presentation. It indicates current production is at 150,000 kg/year and will increase up to 300,000 kg/yr by Fiscal Year End (FYE) 2013. Neptune's FYE is February 28.

In total, an additional 40,000 square feet will be added to its existing Sherbrooke, Quebec facility. “The project is expected to employ approximately 40 new workers directly and will result in the hiring of approximately 90 to 100 persons during the construction period.”

According to Frederic Harland, Director of Finance for Neptune, “The expansion project will be financed through a mix of standard loans, interest-free loans subsidies and by a cash contribution of Neptune for approximately 20% of the total cost by using part of the proceeds of its May 2011 financing. More details will be provided at a press conference to be held in Sherbrooke during the first quarter of 2012," he added.

To view the full news release, please click here

IWG Technologies Reports A Profit of $270 Thousand For 2011

IWG Technologies (TSX-V: IWG)
Basic Shares: 37.6 million
Fully Diluted: 39.7 million
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Today, IWG Technologies announced its year end results for fiscal 2011. The company recorded revenue of just over $4.4 million up 1% from last year. However, the net earnings doubled year over year to $270 thousand. This represents net earnings of 7 tenths of a cent per share.

The news release summarizes 2011 acquisition of the complimentary on-demand aircraft water heater business of Keltech Inc. In regards to IWG’s sector and 2012 David Fox, president & CEO said, “The large corporate jet sector that forms the core of our business was quite stable over the recessionary period and is now showing growth. To this we can add the new water heater business, so in general the next year should be a good one."

Shares in IWG are currently sitting at 5.5 cents.

To view the full news release, please click here

Christmas Starts Early for VentriPoint

VentriPoint Diagnostics Ltd.
VPT - TSX Venture
Shares issued: - 102.6 million
Fully diluted: - 134.0 million

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Today, the company and the holders of a debenture that was due for repayment in early 2012 decided to make an exchange. The debenture holders have agreed to convert their notes into more stock in the company. In earlier days when capital was very difficult to source, these supporters provided the company with much needed capital. The debenture holders are converting $594,637 into 3,648,078 shares at an average price of $0.163/share. This is a discount to the market, however this is done without fees or legal cost, and by doing this it says to the market that they clearly see the potential of the company.

Dr. Adams, VentriPoint President and CEO commented on today’s announcement and the cleaning up of the balance sheet, “we are thankful that long term stakeholders provide continued support.”

As of the writing of this commentary, Dr George Adams is in Budapest, Hungary at EUROECHO, the annual meeting of the European Association of Echocardiography. He says that Dr. Luc Mertens, Echocardiography Cardiology Section Head at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, gave a talk at the conference about VMS™ to a pulmonary hypertension audience and the result has been overwhelming at the VentriPoint booth. Of interest Dr. Mertens is also a Board Member of the European Association of Echocardiography.

Today is a good day for VentriPoint and its shareholders.

Click here to view the full press release

Merry Christmas From Carfinco

Carfinco Income Fund

TSX: CFN.UN

Units outstanding: 24.61 million
Units fully diluted: 24.65 million

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Some ho, ho, ho, sprinkled with dough, dough, dough is a special holiday treat for the smart girls and boys who invested in Carfinco.

The soon to be corporation upon its conversion from a Trust, opened Santa's gift bag today.

Carfinco announced that in addition to the monthly per unit $0.03 cash distribution, a special cash distribution of $0.05 per unit will be payable on December 30th, just in time for New Year's. This is for shareholders of record as of December 16th.

Distributions, which grew to $0.03 per month in combination with the special distribution will bring total cash paid out during 2011 to $0.36 per unit.

Santa, otherwise known as CEO, Tracy Graf, noted that, "this will equate to a payout of approximately half of the Fund’s net earnings for the year. The financial performance of the Fund continues to meet our expectations and we are pleased to pass this success on to our Unitholders in the form of cash distributions.”

MicroPlanet’s Technology Addresses Power Quality Issues for Ontario Renewable Energy Program

MicroPlanet Technology Corp.
TSXV: MP
OTC Pink: MCTYF
Shares Outstanding: 100.8 million
Fully Diluted: 155.8 million
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Today, Sustainable Energy announced that it is partnering with MicroPlanet for the company’s part in the Ontario Rural Micro-FIT Program. The reason Sustainable initiated the partnership is because MicroPlanet’s technology addresses a major challenge with the integration of small renewable energy sources (solar panels on homes) back into the power grid. Traditional grid infrastructure was designed for unidirectional energy flow (i.e. power planet to homes). With the advent of renewable energy sources, utilities require MicroPlanet’s voltage regulation technology in order to appropriately integrate them into the power grid.

In laymen’s terms, pushing too much power back into the grid without a control and balance mechanism will create surge problems for the system.

According to management, the opportunity lies within the fact there are thousands of locations that are not tied back into the power grid. While it’s clear there is a market to be exploited, we are not going to pass comment on what the Ontario government’s attitude may be to the potential to resolve the problem through the partnering of the respective technologies.

The Micro-FIT Program is a stream of the Ontario Power Authority’s (OPA) Feed-in Tariff (FIT) Program for renewable energy in Ontario. It is intended to encourage the development of “micro-scale” renewable energy projects (i.e. houses with solar panels) across the province. Owners of these projects will be paid a fixed price for the electricity they produce. Prices are set at a level intended to enable project owners to recover the costs of the projects, as well as to earn a reasonable return on their investment over the term of the contract.

To view the full news release, please click here

The Advantages Of VentriPoint’s VMS™ System Over MRI To Be Presented At EUROECHO

VentriPoint Diagnostics Ltd.VPT - TSX Venture
Shares issued: - 102.6 million
Fully diluted: - 134.0 million

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VentriPoint announced today that Dr. Shelby Kutty is presenting his clinical paper on VMS™ at The Annual Congress of the European Association of Echocardiography, EUROECHO, December 7 -10^th, 2011.

Dr. Kutty was the topic of an early December VentriPoint news release, as he is leading a specialty trial in Omaha comparing MRI to VMS. Of significance, the trial was not paid for by VentriPoint and was initiated by Dr. Kutty.

The paper is definitive and as stated in the press release ìnnovative as it clearly outlines the advantage of using the VMS™ in therapeutic follow through for clinical studies with systemic single ventricle vs. MRI.

To be hosted in Budapest, Hungary, EUROECHO is considered to be one of the largest and most important scientific meetings on non-invasive cardiovascular diagnosis in the world. The Congress has over 70,000 members and is very well attended by its member practitioners.

In addition VentriPoint has announced Victor Ton its European Sales Manager, will be representing the company at its booth at the Congress.

Victor Ton has a 17 year plus career in imaging/diagnostics sales and will be based in the Netherlands.

VentriPoint continues to expand its product line and now has an increased presence in Europe where its product is approved for sale. We expect a continuation of good news.

Click here to view today’s news release.

Acasti’s Second Phase II Study – An Additional Perspective

Acasti Pharma

TSXV: APO
Shares Outstanding: 71.0 million
Fully Diluted: 80.1 million

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Yesterday, Acasti announced it launched a second Phase II study to evaluate the safety, efficacy and dose response of its prescription drug candidate, CaPre, for patients with hypertriglyceridemia (high blood levels of triglycerides).

The study is being conducted in Canada by JSS Medical Research and the Principal Investigator is Dr. Robert Dufour. According to management, the open label approach is different from the double blind Phase II clinical trial announced by Acasti this past October, in that there will be a shorter treatment period and recruitment will be faster and the data will be made available earlier.

According to Wikipedia “an open-label trial or open trial is a type of clinical trial in which both the researchers and participants know which treatment is being administered.”

Management expects results will be available somewhere in late April / early May 2012. However the timing also depends on how quickly JSS Medical can recruit the 174 patients required for the study.

To view yesterday’s news release, please click here

Leading Cardiac Institution Joins Ventripoint Clinical Trials and FDA Responds with Clarification

VentriPoint Diagnostics Ltd.VPT - TSX Venture
Shares issued: - 102.6 million
Fully diluted: - 134.0 million

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VentriPoint announced today that another prestigious institution, the Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska has joined the clinical trials to validate its VMS™ 3D imaging technology.

This is again adding momentum in advancing the science of VMS™ and overall market awareness.

Even more good news is that Dr. Shelby Kutty who is leading the clinical trials in Omaha will be presenting the findings of the study to the EuroEcho Congress in Budapest, next week.

The significant item in the press release is that the FDA has sent a letter and response to the company’s latest submission (July 20, 2011) suggesting clarifications to the clinical trial and plan, which the company is implementing. The key here is that the FDA will be meeting with VentriPoint on January 5, 2012 to review its regulatory submissions for approval of the VMS™ heart analysis system. FDA approval is a significant milestone for the company to have as it will enhance its ability for market penetration dramatically.

The company does believe FDA approval will be forthcoming after this meeting...

See yesterday’s news release here...

Neptune’s Q3/F12 Guidance Calls For Record Revenue - $5-5.25 million

Neptune Technologies & Bioressources
TSXV: NTB - NASDAQ: NEPT
Basic Shares: 48.2 million
Fully diluted: 53.9 million

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Today, Neptune Technologies & Bioressources announced that it expects that the third quarter 2012 ended November 30, 2011 will see revenues of between $5 - $5.25 million. A solid increase of 17% to 22% over the same quarter last year.

Neptune management cites the U.S. rollout of its Neptune Krill Oil (NKO™) as a major contributor to the increase in revenue. Natrol® is currently distributing and selling NKO™ throughout the US. The name of the product on WalMart and Walgreen shelves is “Natrol® Omega-3 Krill Oil”. Click here to view Natrol’s webpage dedicated to its NKO™ product.

WalMart hasn’t posted the product online yet; however you can check out the product available on the Walgreens website by clicking here.

To view the full news release, please click here