The Big Reveal
Here are three things I thought You Should Know as we close off the summer and head into the Labour Day long weekend - after which we’re promising you The Big Reveal (see #3 below)
1. New story: Know anyone suffering from diabetes? Of course you do - I do as well. That’s why I’m thrilled we’re bringing Sernova Corp. (SVA-T $0.83 Mkt cap $218 million) on board - they’ll be in Geneva, Zurich and London with our European team next week, September 6-8. This is a fast-growing, regenerative medicine therapeutics company for the treatment of patients with insulin-dependent (Type 1) diabetes, hemophilia A and thyroid diseases. Perfect timing to learn about this story with multiple catalysts coming up in Q3 and Q4 and new research coverage coming out to add to the four dealers already covering the story, with Buy recommendations and target prices ranging from $3.50 to $6.00.
If you’re in Geneva, Zurich and London and want to connect with us, let me know. And if you’re anywhere else and would like to learn more about the story, let me know as well. You’ll be hearing a lot more from this company in the weeks and months ahead.
2. In the news - here are three companies in the Peterson Capital client list that have had noteworthy news recently:
Lucara Diamond (LUC-T $0.46 Mkt Cap $204 million) - Two weeks ago Lucara appointed William Lamb as new CEO, replacing Eira Thomas, who was and still is a strong Peterson Capital friend and supporter who joined our conference in the south of France last September and brought this very strong story to our attention. Here is William’s bio on the Lucara website, and his LinkedIn profile. A number of people in the mining industry who I know well have given me very strong endorsements of William’s reputation as an excellent mine operator. He’ll have his work cut out for him given the July 17 announcement of delays and cost overruns on the underground expansion of the prolific Karowe mine in Botswana. Given that he was CEO of Lucara from 2008 to 2018, he should hit the ground running.
I connected with William by phone last week when he was in Vancouver, just before leaving for Botswana, asking for an update on the LUC story since our network of IAs in Canada and family offices in Europe have a very large position in this story. He let me know that he’ll give the market an update when he’s back in mid-September, but left me with this: “I think this is one of the most unique mining stories out there and I’m truly excited about the road ahead.”
Stay tuned.
Volatus Aerospace (VOL-V $0.21 Mkt Cap $25 million) - Volatus beat analyst Q2 2023 expectations and delivered strong revenue, record EBITDA and significant cost savings across the line - all of which were hugely impressive. Echelon’s Rob Goff has a $0.75 target price and highlights that Glen Lynch’s company is well placed for some very sizeable new contracts in what he calls a “very robust pipeline”. Lots happening in this sector now, and Volatus is clearly a market leader.
If you’d like a short update from Glen, let us know - his focus on the business plan and tremendous people skills with his team members are two things I’ve seen first hand since he joined our platform more than a year ago. Lots happening now with this company in a sector clearly poised for massive growth and consolidation, and Glen’s the right guy to lead it.
NOW Vertical (NOW - V $0.32 Mkt Cap $11.8 million) - This stock is up 50% off its all-time lows of $0.20 since new CEO Sasha Grujicic took the reins on June 5th of this big data, analytics and vertically integrated software and services provider. The Q2 numbers just released show more signs of a strong turnaround taking place here, with these numbers compared to Q2/22:
Revenue +102%
Adjusted EBITDA +305%
Gross Profit +98%
Cost savings $2 million
I had a long chat with Sasha shortly after he took over as CEO in June. He’s a razor-sharp, articulate and very focussed young CEO. If you’d like a chat with him, let me know. It’s well worth your time. Watch this story.
3. The Big Reveal - On Wednesday, September 6th we’re going to offer you a Big Reveal: a new platform at Peterson Capital that provides huge benefits to our IAs, funds, family offices as well as our public company clients.
I’ll be personally leading this platform from the front lines, and so very much looking forward to it. It will create unique platform in the Canadian IR space that pulls together best practices that I’ve seen in my career from retail sales, institutional sales and investment banking.
Stay tuned.
Thanks for your continued interest and support - and enjoy a wonderful Labour Day weekend here in Canada.
Rick Peterson (He/him)
Chair