http://www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2016/01/27/promo-wat…
Promo watch: Sirona Biochem (V.SBM) burning up the charts on the back of German interest
Chris Parry Chris Parry, Stockhouse.com
Pop quiz: How many Venture exchange stocks have been up every day for the last week?
Now, how many jumped 43% in that time? And how many of those jumped 24% today?
Just one: Sirona Biochem Corp (TSXV:SBM, Forum).
The ‘fluorination chemistry platform being used to develop safe and more effective cosmetic and pharmaceutical products’ has kept a pretty low (if consistently upwards leaning) profile over the last year, but over the last week the thing has gone nuts, with Wednesday trading showing the highest jump in the ticker since 2011.
I was confused by this, because the company hasn’t released news that would usually propel such a jump. I mean, their news flow is fine, fairly sciencey, mostly positive, but what could possibly have caused this leap?
So I went to Twitter and found a lot of talk about the company – in German.
And I found local stock marketers are walking around with video presentations of the company story, as seen below:
I’ve seen these before, just a few days ago in fact, from Naturally Splendid (TSXV:NSP, Forum), who tells me a German investor paid to have them created.
And they’re amazing.
So I think it’s safe to assume the Frankfurters have decided Sirona is a great deal and started pounding the ask.
But what do they know? Why now?
So I called Howe and Bay’s Hani John El-Rayess, one of the market outreach guys behind this ticker and the Twitter account in question, and here’s his pitch:
“It’s a great story, it just wasn’t being told for the longest time. Their principal product is a skin lightener, and the reason why it’s used by consumers is, in Asia, middle class people often don’t like to look like they’ve been working in the fields all day. They want that porcelain ‘inside the house’ look, so Sirona came out with a first product that they licensed to Valeant (TSX:VRX, Forum), who is obviously having a tough time right now but is huge in the pharma space. They then went on to develop a second product that is completely non-toxic, unlike their competitors. A lot of skin-lightening products have carcinogens and the like.”
“So Sirona has a non-toxic skin lightening cream that works many times faster than anything else on the market, and is better for you. Now they’re in talks with a number of potential licensees in the cosmetics/big pharma sectors, and they feel that they should see something materialize in a licensing agreement in this product in the next 90 days or so, according to their presentation. The numbers that have been bandied about are potentially somewhere in the neighbourhood of $90m in licensing fees.”
That’s no small amount. I asked El-Rayess is he feels setting the table for a $90m fee may backfire if the actual amount proves to be smaller, and he said even if a deal eventually came in at ¼ of that price it could represent a big opportunity at these levels.
“There’s a group out of Germany called First Berlin Equity Research that has done a very favourable research report on the company, and they’re forecasting a 90c target price,” he says. “The structure of the company isn’t great, to be honest, with 150m shares out, but that comes with a company that has been around for a long time. We’ve been brought on for a small engagement with the company to reach out to investors we know, biotech investors, to introduce the story and we’re sending out that video presentation and getting a really great response.”
The video presentations are pretty boss, it must be said. I mean, they literally contain a video player with an LCD screen, and when you watch them enough times that the battery runs out (about three hours), they even have a USB charging port so you can watch it more.
Shut up, right? Sure beats a crappy PDF.
“We’re going to do them for all of our Howe and Bay clients,” says El-Rayess. “When people ask for more info on the company, we offer them the package with the First Berlin report and you see these guys have capability to execute on a major licensing deal, it doesn’t take long for people to express interest. The company has $1.2m in the bank, two licensing deals already, a third coming, more product lines on way - that’s why you’re seeing this jump.”
The Howe and Bay guys are an aggressive little outfit with some good wins behind them, but they’re looking to step up to a higher level and see Sirona as a good step on that track.
Another recent Howe and Bay client was Global Gardens Acquisition Corp (CSE:VGM, Forum), a company that has managed to get its health product, Veggemo Vegetable Milk on retail store shelves at an amazing rate over the last few months. They pitched me in the Bahamas a few months back and I was hesitant because retail is a slog, but that company is moving so hard and so fast, it recently closed the first tranche of a $0.25 raise at a 47% premium to the share price. A national product demo program has since commenced.
But back to Sirona – the obvious question is, is there substance to go with the story? Are they *really* going to bring in $90m in licensing? That’s something that will play out in the weeks and months ahead – specifically in three months, when that licensing deal is supposed to have landed.
But in a market where ‘level’ is almost considered a win, and ‘up’ is considered largely ambitious, engaging in a little game theory by getting in front of committed market awareness campaigns is increasingly a valid investing strategy.
And if a company forms behind it, all the better.
--Chris Parry http://www.twitter.com/chrisparry
FULL DISCLOSURE: Naturally Splendid is a Stockhouse Publishing marketing client, but nobody else mentioned is. The author and Stockhouse have no commercial interest in Sirona; just following the money is all..
Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2016/01/...WdvujcaKKwvc9bP.99
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