Current price: 3.1 cents
Market Capital: 5.9 million
Cash: 2 million
SOI: 180 million
Third and final tip and the riskiest of the trio, but hey what isn't with specs and predicting the future?
A few red flags here, at least in the past, so the question of whether management are actively working for wider shareholders remains an issue.
The potential pivot here was a contract announcement last week, which after an initial surge was brutally sold off, so if you look at the chart it looks as if no announcement was released at all.
Personally, I've been following the Juul story recently (video below) and it's unrivaled status to reach decacorn status after VC funding, surpassing even facebook.
The smoking market is in a period of disruption like we've never seen before as traditional paper 'n fire smokers migrate to e-cigarettes. The market is growing exponentially as I have posted a lot about supported by articles on another thread.
Juul have nailed this market (73%) with a combination of "cool" flavors and high nicotine pods, to the extent that Altria (Marlboro) bought a 35% stake for USD 12 billion last year and going on record that they were preparing for the future of smoking.
Juul's current market capital is around USD 38 billion and they started in 2017 with around USD 100 million.
In relation to ESE, they produce a range of "cool" e-juice flavors, similar to the flavored products dominating sales for Juul, and have just signed a commercial deal with a Californian company. ESE's distinction or USP is ESE's products have characteristics & effects of reverse engineered cannabis plants - at least that's how it is promoted on their website.
Now, this deal involves several stages and clearly some believe it is questionable by the way the share price has reacted. That said, if the company can get through the initial test period (150,000 units in 6 months), then numbers rise to 450,000 units in the first year, and likely a big re-rate is on the cards. Indeed, if the 3 year renewable deal is fulfilled, the numbers being bandied around in the 3rd year of the contract are eye-opening - 5 million 10cc units.
The company will have well and truly taken off by this point.
Owing to the past operations of this company, please do your own research here. From my angle, it seems to be a case of take the highest risk and get in early and reap the highest rewards - IF, it were to come off.
(20min delay)
