• Micro Cap Club Interview with John Abbott CEO of Quepasa Corp (QPSA)

    Posted April 5, 2012 By in Blog, Interviews With | No Comments

    I was an investor in Quepasa (QPSA) back in 2010 when I was looking for a micro cap way to play the social networking buzz that was starting.  At the time Quepasa was the only publicly traded social networking company that existed.  Under John Abbotts leadership executing his business plan along with really no other public way for investors to invest in social networks created a scenario which really helped drive the price of Quepasa shares from $3 in early 2010 to a high of $15 a year later.  During 2011 a flurry of social networking IPO’s including Groupon, LinkedIn, Zynga, and others hit the market thus decreasing the scarcity of investment vehicles.  Investors had choices which led to some money leaving Quepasa and the stock fell back to the current levels.  Late in 2011, Quepasa completed its merger with MyYearBook, and now they’ve announced that by the fall of 2012, both MyYearBook and Quepasa will be merged under the MeetMe platform. (Click the Play Arrow below, or you can download the full interview) Read More …

  • Book Review: Blueprint to a Billion by David Thomson

    Posted March 30, 2012 By in Blog, Book Reviews With | No Comments

    John Moore of Acorn Energy (ACFN) recommended I read Blueprint to a Billion.  I’m glad I did.  The book goes into detail analyzing the fastest growing companies since 1980, in particular those companies that reached $1 billion in revenues the quickest.  Of the 7,454 companies that have gone public since 1980, 25% have failed (no longer trade), and only 5% (387 companies) have made it to $1 billion in revenues.  These 387 companies are called Blueprint Companies.  Thomson interviewed hundreds of upper level management teams that are/or were part of these top 5% companies to see what set their businesses apart from the rest.

    The book goes into detail of common quantitative and qualitative attributes of blueprint companies.  Thomson outlines three distinct growth trajectories to $1 billion in revenues that were common after these companies hit their inflection points: Four year (ie: Broadcom, Cisco, Google), Six year (Microsoft, Starbucks), and Twelve years (Fastenal, Tractor Supply, Fifth Third Bancorp).  Blueprint companies also had similarities when it came to marquee customers/partners that got them on the map, internal management styles, board makeup, and other more qualitative attributes.

    As a full time investor in micro cap companies I am always betting on the jockey.  I was most intrigued learning about some of the more qualitative similarities (ie: management related) amongst the blueprint companies.  I think many other micro-small cap investors will find value reading this book as well.

    Bottom Line: Read It! (Buy it Here)

    The MicroCapClub (mc2) is an exclusive micro cap forum focused on micro cap companies (sub $500m market cap). The MicroCapClub was created and founded by Ian Cassel as a way to share ideas and to learn from other seasoned like-minded micro cap investors. Our goal at MicroCapClub.com is quality membership and quality stock ideas.  If you are an experienced micro cap investor, feel free to Apply today.

  • Launching a Global Brand: Del Sol to ZAGG

    Posted March 29, 2012 By in Blog With | No Comments

    I’m in the middle of a vacation via a seven day cruise hitting up different points in the eastern Caribbean (San Juan, St. Maarten, and St. Kitts).  As many know each destination also operates as a giant shopping mall as merchants are looking to cash in on the several thousand tourists that arrive by cruise ship everyday.  The cruise lines themselves are also constantly pushing certain brands.  One of the brands Celebrity is pushing the most is Del Sol. Del Sol is a retailer that sells apparel and other trinkets that change color when they are hit by sun light.  The company has over 100 stores throughout the world.

    I first heard of Del Sol not on a vacation, but when I was visiting with Robert Pederson CEO of ZAGG Inc. (ZAGG) in 2008.  I asked him about his background and he told me about his family’s involvement in starting and managing Del Sol, and how he in particular was in charge of the inline store roll out.  The game plan with ZAGG was to mimic what he successfully rolled out for Del Sol.  Website first, mall kiosks second, and inline stores third.

    Fast forward four years and ZAGG has grown from $10 million revenue run rate to $200 million, and the company is starting their third stage of the brands roll out, launching inline stores.

    One of the books I’m reading on the cruise is “Blueprint to a Billion”, by David Thomson.  The book studies US companies that have grown to $1 billion in revenue from their IPO since 1980.  There have been 387 of these companies out of 7454 as of the publication of the book (2006).  I’ll save my full book review for when I’m finished with it, but it got me thinking about ZAGG as potentially being one of these rare companies to get to $1 billion in revenue.

    Most would still consider ZAGG a micro cap today ($350m market cap).  For many of us at Micro Cap Club that were early to the story ($10-20m market cap) in 2008 ZAGG is much more of a large cap to us now ;)   At Micro Cap Club we are trying to find the next micro cap super stars.

    The MicroCapClub (mc2) is an exclusive micro cap forum focused on micro cap companies (sub $500m market cap). The MicroCapClub was created and founded by Ian Cassel as a way to share ideas and to learn from other seasoned like-minded micro cap investors. Our goal at MicroCapClub.com is quality membership and quality stock ideas.  If you are an experienced micro cap investor, feel free to Apply today.

  • Should I make a Company Visit?

    Posted March 17, 2012 By in Blog, Educational, Question & Answer With | 5 Comments Should I make a Company Visit?

    UNBELIEVABLE…..can mean one of two things after leaving a micro cap company. I’m either amazed at where the stock is priced for what they have in house and want to buy more or I’m shocked that the company is even in business.  Obviously, as micro cap investors we look at all the essentials when evaluating a company. Several questions come up while evaluating a micro cap during the due diligence period. Does the company ….have less than 75m shares out? Debt? High Growth phase? Close to breakeven? Operations producing cash? Need to raise money? High Margin recurring revenue model? Hiring….who? Management team background? These are just a few steps I like to take while evaluating a company. Taking the time and energy to travel is well worth the money spent. Just to name a few of the companies that I’ve visited over the past year have been SPIN, BFDI, RVUE, OPCO, ESPH, LBMH, TOOT, FLXT, VTNR, INMG, ZYXI, & CTDH. Read More …

  • The Super Bowl of Micro Cap

    Posted February 6, 2012 By in Blog, MicroCapClub Stock Pickers Contest With | No Comments

    On Sept 2nd, 2011 we started the Micro Cap Club Stock Pickers Contest.  The MicroCapClub Stock Pickers Contest is a long only, buy and hold only, contest. The contest was created to identify who the best micro cap stock pickers are over the course of time. Almost anyone can manipulate a stock in the short term to get a quick gain. Heck most of the penny stock guru writers with a subscription base do it all the time. This contest is aimed to take out the short term component (ie: manipulation component) since time is the great equalizer. Doing well in this contest is a function of macro intelligence + micro intelligence + luck.

    Each participant picked five micro cap stocks each with the winner having the highest cumulative portfolio return.  The contest would be evaluated on 6 month, 12 month, 18 month, and 24 month performance. We announced round 1 results (6 month results) this week.  I would compare this to the first quarter of the Super Bowl.  Honolulu Trader has a huge lead after the first quarter, so lets see if he can hang on to it.

    The MicroCapClub (mc2) is an exclusive micro cap forum focused on micro cap companies (sub $500m market cap). The MicroCapClub was created and founded by Ian Cassel as a way to share ideas and to learn from other seasoned like-minded micro cap investors. Our goal at MicroCapClub.com is quality membership and quality stock ideas.  If you are an experienced micro cap investor, feel free to Apply today.

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