Our Stocks to Watch tomorrow include NXT Nutritionals Holdings Inc. (OTCBB: NXTH), Evolution Fuels Inc. (OTC: EVFL), Mammoth Energy Group Inc. (OTC: MMTE), Vega Biofuels Inc. (OTC: VGPR), Left Behind Games Inc. (OTCBB: LFBG) and Quantum Corp. (NYSE: QTM).
NXT NUTRITIONALS HOLDINGS INCORPORATED (OTCBB: NXTH)
"Up 45.07% on Wednesday"
Detailed Quote: http://www.otcpicks.com/quotes/NXTH.php
Headquartered in Holyoke, MA, NXT Nutritionals Holdings, Inc., through its wholly owned subsidiary NXT Nutritionals, Inc., is a developer and marketer of proprietary, patent-pending healthy alternative sweeteners, food and beverage products. The common ingredient for all of the Company’s products is its all-natural sweetening system SUSTA™, a minimal calorie, all-natural, nutritional sweetening system. SUSTA™ currently serves as an ingredient and sweetener for the Company’s nonfat all-natural Healthy Dairy™ yogurt smoothies and is marketed as a standalone product as well. More information about the Company may be found at www.nxtnutritionals.com.
NXTH News:
October 27 - NXT Nutritionals' CEO Michael McCarthy Releases Letter to Shareholders
Discussion Updates Shareholders; Speaks to Future Corporate Initiatives and Expanding Opportunities for NXT Nutritionals’ SUSTA™ Natural Sweetener
NXT Nutritionals Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: NXTH) (“NXT Nutritionals”) developer and marketer of SUSTA™ Natural Sweetener, the great tasting, all-natural, healthier sweetener, released a letter to shareholders from Michael McCarthy, president and Chief Executive Officer, providing investors with management’s vision for the company in the remainder of 2009 and beyond.
Dear Shareholders:
As Chief Executive Officer of NXT Nutritionals, it is my pleasure to speak with you today and bring you details of our various corporate initiatives and discuss our plans for the future. Our intent is to regularly inform current and potential investors of our progress, as NXT Nutritionals becomes uniquely positioned to capture a significant share of the alternative sweetener market with our game-changing, SUSTA™ Natural Sweetener.
As you may have discovered through our recent distribution announcements, NXT’s corporate online videos, or simply by visiting one of the many grocery stores that are distributing our product, our flagship product: SUSTA is a cutting-edge, natural sweetening system that is poised to revolutionize the alternative sweetener marketplace. It has minimal calories, no lingering aftertaste and is all-natural. Not only does SUSTA sweeten the taste of food without all of the side effects of sugars or chemicals, it also contains healthy probiotics; vital dietary fiber; antioxidants and key cellular nutrients – leading to an increased metabolism. SUSTA simultaneously supports the health of your bones, heart, and immune system.
This is in contrast to many of the other leading sweeteners, which use chemicals to achieve their sweetening effects.
These other leading sweeteners have been shown, through various research studies, to fool the body into responding to these chemicals almost identically to sugar, a phenomenon known as “metabolic syndrome.” The AHA sets the limit at nine teaspoons of sugar, or 150 calories a day, for men and six teaspoons, or 100 calories a day, for women. Although sugars sourced from natural fruits and vegetables are considered healthy, added sugars like those found in soft drinks and processed foods should be limited. (1)
As more consumers around the world become aware of these effects, we believe there will be a quantum shift to natural solutions like SUSTA. In fact, SUSTA is well positioned to be a leading natural alternative sweetening system in the marketplace. It is currently being sold as a stand-alone sweetener and is in our Healthy Dairy® Yogurt Smoothies, with plans to expand to a variety of SUSTA-based beverage drinks and nutritional products.
As expressed in our constant updates on distribution agreements nearly 1,200 supermarkets in the Northeast region are now stocking the 50-packet boxes of SUSTA, including, just to name a few: ShopRite, Shaw’s Supermarkets, Pathmark, A&P Fresh, Super Fresh, Waldbaum’s, Food Emporium, Associated Supermarkets, Foodtown, Kings Super Markets, Pioneer Supermarkets, Met Foodmarkets and Key Food.
SUSTA can be used in coffees, teas, cereals, anything that requires a sweetener. Our SUSTA products are packaged in individual 2 gram packets and will soon be available in a multi-serve pouch that will be suitable for baking.
SUSTA is ideal for individuals craving sweetness but for whom sugar is not a viable option. At the top of this list are diabetics, individuals on weight loss programs, and those proactively managing obesity. Another target demographic consists of the legions of health conscious consumers that have called for the rapid rise in organic and all-natural food and beverage sectors over the last ten years. And finally, SUSTA is aimed at those with active lifestyles, wellness advocates and sports enthusiasts, who want to maintain their healthy diets and routines.
In addition to the stand-alone sweetener, NXT has developed a line of SUSTA-enhanced yogurt drinks marketed as Healthy Dairy® Yogurt Smoothies. These drinks are all-natural and nonfat; they contain 23 essential nutrients and proteins; and they come in five great flavors, with several new flavors on the way.
Healthy Diary smoothies are now in several thousand stores in 14 states along the East Coast. No other smoothie product in the marketplace today has Healthy Dairy’s combination of appealing packaging, the health benefits of SUSTA and our unique taste profile.
NXT Nutritionals will also rapidly expand into the bulk ingredient segment by aggressively targeting established consumer food and beverage product companies and encouraging them to incorporate SUSTA into their products.
In order to better promote all of our products, brand awareness of our stand-alone sweetener: SUSTA, is crucial. SUSTA will be driven by an aggressive PR campaign and a massive sampling program. Because of the health benefits of SUSTA, especially for diabetics, the Company intends to partner with a number of health organizations and engage a number of high profile celebrities, such as our recent announcement of Blair Underwood as spokesperson, to use and endorse SUSTA.
On the corporate side of our business, we have been assembling a robust group of consummate experts to our Board of Directors in the past three months, including: i) Paul S. Auerbach, Doctor of Emergency Medicine at Stanford
SUSTA’s increase in popularity will be driven by the simple fact that we believe that it is the healthiest alternative to sugar currently available. The type of energy that is starting to build around the SUSTA brand is truly extraordinary.
I thank you for your attention and support. For further and constantly updated information, please visit our website at www.nxtnutritionals.com. For access to our latest Investor Fact Sheet, as well as overview videos and industry information, please navigate to www.trilogy-capital.com/autoir/nxth_autoir.html.
I look forward to communicating with you again soon.
Sincerely,
Michael McCarthy
President and CEO
NXT Nutritionals Holdings, Inc.
(1) August 24, 2009 issue of “Circulation,” published by the American Heart Association.
EVOLUTION FUELS INCORPORATED (OTC: EVFL)
"Up 100.00% on Wednesday"
Detailed Quote: http://www.otcpicks.com/quotes/EVFL.php
The Company endeavors to market renewable transportation fuels at retail fuel stations that will provide blends of ethanol from 10% to 85% (E10 to E85), and biodiesel blends from 5% to 20% (B5 to B20). The Company's plan calls for the development of a chain of renewable fuel stations that extend from Texas to Mississippi that will be a combination of "Evolution Fuels"-branded fuel stations/convenience stores and western-motif truck stops modeled after the Willie's Place Truck Stop in Carl's Corner, TX.
EVFL News:
October 27 - Evolution Fuels to Extend Its Branding Efforts Through Franchising Strategy
Evolution Fuels, Inc. (OTC: EVFL) (the "Company") announced that in addition to its evaluation of fuel station locations for acquisition and/or leasing for its initial rollout of Evolution Fuels retail stations, it is also considering the concept of offering franchising arrangements to interested parties for certain locations in its targeted geographical regions of Texas and Oklahoma, and eastward through Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
Under the potential franchise arrangement, franchisees would gain the potential benefit of the Company's ongoing efforts to effectively brand the "Evolution Fuels" concept of fuel stations and convenience stores with a distinctive, high visibility motif, availability and promotion of the use of renewable fuels, onsite blending dispensers, and potential income tax credits of up to $50,000 through the U.S. Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Tax Credit Additional benefits would include increased petroleum fuel purchasing power through economies of scale, and the supply of the biofuel portion of the fuels from Evolution Fuels.
Per the Company's plan, the stations will offer renewable fuel blends at the pump. The fuel dispensers are uniquely designed to blend petroleum fuels with renewable fuels within the dispenser as the fuel is delivered into the vehicle. The planned product offering includes E10 (10% ethanol blended with 90% petroleum gasoline), E20, E30, and E85, as well as B20 (20% biodiesel blended with 80% petroleum diesel).
The Company will begin accepting franchise applications by the end of the year from those parties interested in participating in the vision of this brand of fuel stations/convenience stores.
MAMMOTH ENERGY GROUP (OTC: MMTE)
"Up 66.67% on Wednesday"
Detailed Quote: http://www.otcpicks.com/quotes/MMTE.php
Golden Eagle International, Inc. mines and explores for gold and copper minerals in the
MMTE News:
January 27 - Mammoth Energy Changes Oil Field Operator to Increase Production
Mammoth Energy Group, Inc. (OTC: MMTE) announced its review of the 4th quarter 2008 performance of the field operator it hired to operate its oil and gas leases in Oklahoma. In management's opinion, that performance was insufficient. By mutual consent of the parties, the operator has terminated its operations on behalf of Mammoth Energy. As a result, Mammoth Energy will replace its field operator to improve its oil and gas production.
Mammoth Energy has identified a potential new operator that has many years of experience in the industry, and is currently negotiating a contract that would allow the replacement operator to have "boots on the ground" in
"We were not satisfied with the operator's performance during the 4th quarter of 2008 and decided a change was necessary," said Joe Overcash, Mammoth Energy's CEO. "We received only one check for $300 from the operator in the 4th quarter of 2008, and we have received credible reports that at least one tank of oil from our leases, and perhaps more, have been extracted from the leased sites but not yet sold. We need to take, and are taking, steps to improve our revenues from these properties."
The Company is also seeking a satisfactory accounting of 4th quarter performance from the operator. A preliminary accounting has been provided, but several items require further information, which the Company is actively seeking.
In the 4th quarter of 2008, Mammoth Energy had oil and gas leases in 2
Under the contracts in both Noble and
MMTE is also in negotiations with an oil and gas industry consultant who would work on acquiring other leases for MMTE to help the Company increase both its assets and its revenues during the first quarter of 2009.
VEGA BIOFUELS INCORPORATED (OTC: VGPR)
"Up 19.35% on Wednesday"
Detailed Quote: http://www.otcpicks.com/quotes/VGPR.php
Vega Biofuels, Inc. engages in the production and sale of biofuel products worldwide. The company manufactures energy efficient pellet fuel made from organic waste bi-products. It offers bio-mass and bio-diesel products for power generation units. The company was formerly known as Vega Promotional Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Natural Fuels Industries, Inc. in February 2009. Natural Fuels Industries, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in
VGPR News:
October 28 - Vega Issues Corporate Update
Vega Biofuels (Vega Promotional Systems) Inc. (OTC: VGPR) issues the following corporate update:
With the fourth quarter now under way, the Company is concentrating on existing business as well as considering various opportunities in other parts of the world. The past few months have been an extremely busy time for the Company.
The Company recently announced it had entered into an agreement with
While the Company reviews various international opportunities, it continues two existing projects in the
The Green Valley Project in western
Earlier in the year, the Company announced the addition of Interim CEO, Michael Knauff. A seasoned veteran of the alternative energy business, Mr. Knauff has proven to be a very important addition to the Company's management team. Mr. Knauff is helping to drive various power generating projects for the Company, including the Green Valley Project.
The Company also announced plans to build a manufacturing plant in the State of
Vega has also applied for a financial grant from the State of
The Company is also in the process of changing its legal name to Vega Biofuels, Inc. and will alert its shareholders when the process has been completed.
The Company's Mission Statement is to provide the most consistent and finest quality biofuel products to consumers throughout the world, and in doing so, increase our shareholder value.
We will have additional information concerning these projects as we move forward.
LEFT BEHIND GAMES INCORPORATED (OTCBB: LFBG)
"Up 10.53% on Wednesday"
Detailed Quote: http://www.otcpicks.com/quotes/LFBG.php
Left Behind Games, Inc. engages in the development, publishing, and distribution of video games and related products in the
LFBG News:
October 28 - Left Behind Games Announces Market Testing is Now Underway in Walmart Stores
Left Behind Games Inc. (OTCBB: LFBG), dba Inspired Media Entertainment, a leading publisher of Christian video games, announced that Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has now placed LFBG inventory in 85% of the 100 Walmart stores in the Dallas and Houston market areas where a product trial test is being conducted. Although the games were made available a week later than anticipated, they are now on the shelves in most of the test market stores. This has been confirmed first-hand by Inspired Media's Sales Representatives. Each participating store has received, or will receive, eight (8) games per title. The games are priced at $29.96 & $19.96 and are located among PC games in Walmart's Entertainment departments.
Troy Lyndon, CEO, says, "To enhance our marketing impact and increase sales, we have launched a 'Buy one from Walmart and get another FREE from us' campaign to 100,000 homes. Also, in an effort to promote the arrival of the games in Walmart stores, Inspired Media started on October 12th to send out letters of appeal to thousands of Texas-based church pastors, and will continue to do so over a 10-week campaign through Christmas. There is even more exciting marketing support planned to ensure positive results during this trial period. We are motivated to offer incentives for everyone to buy these games for themselves, their children and grandchildren, churches and home schools."
To take advantage of the special Walmart promotion, Inspired Media is encouraging everyone to find out more at www.inspiredmedia.com/walmart.
Christian products have gained popular acceptance in the music and book sections of retailers over recent years. For many years, Walmart has sold gospel music and both fictional and non-fictional Christian books, including the well-known Left Behind book series which has sold more than 65 million copies. Yet, there are few, if any, moral or Bible-based video game choices for youth and adults alike.
Now in a first step to fill this gap, Walmart is offering three of LFBG's PC video games to determine the response of consumers in the
The demographics in
Inspired Media Entertainment currently publishes six games including Tribulation Forces, the sequel to the original game LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces, known as the most widely distributed Christian PC game in history. The Company's LEFT BEHIND branded games are based upon the popular novel series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins which have sold millions of books in 30 languages worldwide. Inspired Media also offers three games under the Charlie Church Mouse brand, for ages 2-8 and Keys of the Kingdom for all ages.
QUANTUM CORPORATION (NYSE: QTM)
"Up 21.47% on Wednesday"
Detailed Quote: http://www.otcpicks.com/quotes/QTM.php
Quantum Corp. is the leading global storage company specializing in backup, recovery and archive. Combining focused expertise, customer-driven innovation, and platform independence, Quantum provides a comprehensive, integrated range of disk, tape, and software solutions supported by a world-class sales and service organization. This includes the DXi-Series, the first disk backup solutions to extend the power of data deduplication and replication across the distributed enterprise. As a long-standing and trusted partner, the company works closely with a broad network of resellers, OEMs and other suppliers to meet customers' evolving data protection needs.
QTM News:
October 27 - Quantum Corporation Reports Fiscal Second Quarter Results
* Total revenue of $175 million — up 9 percent sequentially
* GAAP gross margin rate of 43.8 percent — highest in more than eight years
* GAAP net income of $11 million — highest in nearly five years
* Disk systems and software revenue of $28 million — up 36 percent year-over-year and 47 percent sequentially
Quantum Corp. (NYSE: QTM), the leading global specialist in backup, recovery and archive, announced that revenue for its fiscal second quarter (FQ2'10), ended Sept. 30, 2009, was $175 million. This represented a 19 percent decline from the same period last year (FQ2'09), primarily due to the significantly weaker economy, a continued sales mix shift toward higher margin opportunities, and lower royalties (partly reflecting a one-time royalty payment from Riverbed Technology, Inc. last year). Despite the year-over-year decline, revenue grew 9 percent on a sequential basis. In addition, the company increased its GAAP gross margin rate to 43.8 percent and GAAP operating income margin to 8.5 percent — up from 38.5 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively, in FQ2'09. In both cases, this was the highest level achieved in more than eight years.
Quantum also reported its second consecutive quarter of GAAP profits, with $11 million in net income, or basic earnings per share of six cents. This compared to a GAAP net loss of $3 million in FQ2'09 and represented the company's best performance in nearly five years. The $11 million profit included a $2 million net gain related to the retirement of convertible debt, offset by $9 million in amortization of intangibles, $3 million in stock-based compensation charges and $2 million in restructuring costs. The net impact of these four items reduced basic earnings per share by five cents.
Quantum generated $31 million in cash from operations for the quarter, paid down $20 million of its senior debt, and ended the quarter with $85 million in cash and cash equivalents.
"Despite the continuing impact of the economic downturn and changes in the deduplication landscape, we delivered some of our best results in many years," said Rick Belluzzo, chairman and CEO of Quantum. "This included significantly higher gross margin rates, operating income and margins, and net income, compared to both last year and the prior quarter. We also generated strong growth in disk systems and software revenue, with our branded DXi backup/deduplication sales up significantly, both year-over-year and sequentially.
"Our September quarter results reflect a number of initiatives we have implemented over the past year, as well as an aggressive shift we made in our go-to-market focus during the quarter in response to changed industry dynamics," continued Belluzzo. "While we have more work to do in completing our transformation to a storage systems company, our performance clearly shows the substantial progress we've made."
Quantum's product revenue, which includes sales of the company's hardware and software products, totaled $118 million in FQ2'10. This represented a decrease of $25 million from FQ2'09, primarily reflecting expected declines in both OEM tape automation sales and OEM devices and media revenue.
Disk systems and software revenue, inclusive of related software maintenance and service revenue, was $28 million in the September quarter. This was up approximately $7 million from the same quarter last year, primarily due to record sales of Quantum's DXi7500 enterprise disk backup and deduplication system. Contributing to these record sales were several deals of more than a million dollars, including new DXi account wins at one of the top utility companies in the world and another national utility provider in
The increase in disk systems and software revenue also included modest growth in StorNext� sales on both a year-over-year and sequential basis. In addition to a strong contribution from federal government business, Quantum closed several major StorNext deals, including a new win at one of the leading
Looking beyond FQ2'10, Quantum said it expects to build on its branded revenue momentum in disk systems and software with last week's announcement of the company's new DXi6500 family, a set of preconfigured disk backup and deduplication appliances targeted at the midrange NAS market and optimized for sale through independent channel partners (see press release titled, "New Quantum DXi6500 Family Delivers Unparalleled Combination of Simplicity and Value in Midrange Deduplication," Oct. 21, 2009).
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