Relationship marketing is nothing new to the world of advertisers and marketers. Finding and developing a close tie with the targeted consumer is one of the easiest ways to build long term sales and loyalty. The world of technology, however, has put a different spin on the concept and forced marketers and advertisers to adapt. Reaching the consumer is no longer just about magazine or television ads. It is about getting the attention of the customer where they are at any given point in the day. Considering that most people are running here and there all day long, this is no simple task. An investor that can find a company that has solved this problem is an investor that may find sold profit.
Montavo Inc., a development stage mobile device applications developer and marketer, works to develop and market wireless mobile devise applications targeted toward advertisers and consumers. The company’s lead product, mDeal-Finder, involves the combination of GPS location applications with advertisements, coupons and user defined options. The company’s main customer base includes: wireless carriers, mobile handset manufacturers, vehicle manufacturers and navigation devise manufacturers.
In a general sense, the company has been working to make the mobile wireless devise work to the advantage of consumers and advertisers. A consumer can show interest by defining wants on their mobile devise to then receive advertisements, coupons and directions to where that particular coupon or product can be redeemed or found. The advertiser can likewise take advantage by offering promotions targeted fairly closely to the consumer’s tastes. Ultimately, the company’s product works to narrowly define a consumer and target market to them.
The company has been having a certain amount of success in developing its concept and is now expanding it to the realm of television advertising. Through an agreement with SinglePoint, the company can now access the SingleBrand Ad Marketplace to directly insert text messages into text message campaigns associated with national television shows. The program is targeted at consumers who choose to interact with television shows using their mobile devise. Initial networks involved include Bravo, NBC Universal and MTV. Mobile wireless is a quickly advancing market and still working to find the many applications it can afford. Montavo appears to have found a combination that is well suited to the devise/consumer relationship. Penetration is the key to success and profit. If it can achieve the necessary critical mass, there may be solid profit potential down the road.
Monday, March 23, 2009
c:Alice in Wonderland a Comic Book Illistration
A discriptive story-board for a comic book illistrator
fade from edges in lighter pastels
With mother gone for the afternoon Alice was at a loss for something to do. She wondered the large English house old brown beams thatched roof, good sized but not mansion, shrubs around back door three quarters the height of the door, and onto good size terrace of blue stone type terrace, nicely landscaped with herbs, stone steps to crush stoned horizontal path with English perennials’ and knee high stone wall defining terrace and lawn and into the back yard garden.
Alice (alone) held one arm cross her slender 11 yr. oldish body on the verge of becoming a nice looking woman well proportioned as she walked. The other arm propped at a 90 degree with elbow heavily locked against the opposing wrist wrapped around her front. Her head caulked just a bit so her mid-back length dirty blonde hair, parted messily down the center almost contained with a blue band, strands slightly apart hangs just off her head. Index finger slowly twirling a strand of hair while she’s lost in thought. Her dark eyes glaze just a bit against a white pasty English skin that shows a bit of shine but more wonder than porcelain doll like. An oval face with a nicely formed chin structure giving just a bit of girlish pudge but not enough to show. Eyelashes barely move but almost appear to be fake in their blackness and size but remain in proportion if not just a bit oversized. In her traditional black flats and afternoon jumper of blue neck ruffle like Queen Elizabeth closing off neck but with slight “V” shape at neck center black trim along top of ruffle, with white apron bib strap around neck.
she slowly moved with a fluid motion but not entirely aware of where she is going. The darker green properly trimmed boxed hedges rise just above her 5’-2” frame with evenly spaced breaks exposing a rose garden beyond of deep reds and pinks. These were formal rose gardens clipped and clean.
Frame
Not so much a garden as a large tract of grass leading to a slightly more dense forest of at first beach trees with wide large round trunks, light graying splitting bark. At least 20 feet round and 1000 feet tall if a foot. Dull light green leaves formed like slender spades but in the hundreds of thousands rustling quietly and lending a slight shimmer in the afternoon high cloud light. The beeches large bracket like roots just melding into the trunk at least two feet up the trunk. The beeches branches long and swooping as a saucer to a length of fifty feet. From a distance it is a large and smoothly formed sight as an aged soldier against time living 100’s of years.
Alice wonders toward the beeches down a slight pitch in the grass and an opening between the branches just 4 feet high and dark further on.
Frame
Alice bends slightly from the waste and slowly moves the few branches covering the opening to the side with her right arm while curiously looking into the darkness with crooked neck. Her hair hangs off her shoulder as she peers in
Frame
In the understory of the tree the branches are wide apart and easily climbable with their swooping grey arch’s acting as stairs placed just right for climbing but not evenly, they had to be one foot in diameter as they hit the ground only to become a bit more slender further out. A home within the tree to be sure with amber drying beech leaves as a carpet but little else save a branch or two, just ahead one swooping branch just touches the ground before it begins its journey back toward the sun some30 feet away at the edge of the tree canopy a flat light gives a mat tone to colors. The trunk as the security and safety monitors a girl lost in thought and wonder might need.
A few steps in Alice sees an open space and looks up and around with wonder arms at her side a moving head to end up seeing far ahead a more dense section of the trees understory but it is to far, dense and dark to see what is there.
Frame
She hears a rustling to the right side and quickly spins on her right foot her skirt twirling as if at a dance and coming to a stop at the end. Her left foot follows and stops her as her hair follows to stop on her chest. Eyes wide and moist she spies a rather large rabbit some 25 feet away (same frame) some four foot tall not fat not skinny a rather average shape, grey and dirty white fur longer than one would expect and almost kept but with an air of casualness and not caring, big eyes and black nose with long whiskers, a white snout with upward pointing tendencies, mouth almost disappears in lower snout region, straight upright ears pointing up but leaning back slightly due to motion standing upright but at a slight angle as he moves quickly forward left leg out, large oversized gold pocket watch with short red lanyard and oversized watch hands. The watch wider and winder protector are particularly oversized in the left hand and long brown cain with gold headpiece in right. All motion is forward with a stiff back (think New Yorker) as he says “Late, I’m Late!” in a decidedly anxious and irritated way. Its large feet with exaggerated toes not in proportion to its height and stately air about itself almost hide the English vest he’s wearing with cotton tail sticking out at the bottom of the vest.
Frame
Standing slightly forward with legs slight parted an astonished Alice puts one hand to her mouth as a megaphone and calls “for what!, What are you late for?” The Rabbit (in background) but closer to his goal does not reply but maintains his haste for the darker region of the beech understory looking at his watch saying “I’m late, I’m late.”
fade from edges in lighter pastels
With mother gone for the afternoon Alice was at a loss for something to do. She wondered the large English house old brown beams thatched roof, good sized but not mansion, shrubs around back door three quarters the height of the door, and onto good size terrace of blue stone type terrace, nicely landscaped with herbs, stone steps to crush stoned horizontal path with English perennials’ and knee high stone wall defining terrace and lawn and into the back yard garden.
Alice (alone) held one arm cross her slender 11 yr. oldish body on the verge of becoming a nice looking woman well proportioned as she walked. The other arm propped at a 90 degree with elbow heavily locked against the opposing wrist wrapped around her front. Her head caulked just a bit so her mid-back length dirty blonde hair, parted messily down the center almost contained with a blue band, strands slightly apart hangs just off her head. Index finger slowly twirling a strand of hair while she’s lost in thought. Her dark eyes glaze just a bit against a white pasty English skin that shows a bit of shine but more wonder than porcelain doll like. An oval face with a nicely formed chin structure giving just a bit of girlish pudge but not enough to show. Eyelashes barely move but almost appear to be fake in their blackness and size but remain in proportion if not just a bit oversized. In her traditional black flats and afternoon jumper of blue neck ruffle like Queen Elizabeth closing off neck but with slight “V” shape at neck center black trim along top of ruffle, with white apron bib strap around neck.
she slowly moved with a fluid motion but not entirely aware of where she is going. The darker green properly trimmed boxed hedges rise just above her 5’-2” frame with evenly spaced breaks exposing a rose garden beyond of deep reds and pinks. These were formal rose gardens clipped and clean.
Frame
Not so much a garden as a large tract of grass leading to a slightly more dense forest of at first beach trees with wide large round trunks, light graying splitting bark. At least 20 feet round and 1000 feet tall if a foot. Dull light green leaves formed like slender spades but in the hundreds of thousands rustling quietly and lending a slight shimmer in the afternoon high cloud light. The beeches large bracket like roots just melding into the trunk at least two feet up the trunk. The beeches branches long and swooping as a saucer to a length of fifty feet. From a distance it is a large and smoothly formed sight as an aged soldier against time living 100’s of years.
Alice wonders toward the beeches down a slight pitch in the grass and an opening between the branches just 4 feet high and dark further on.
Frame
Alice bends slightly from the waste and slowly moves the few branches covering the opening to the side with her right arm while curiously looking into the darkness with crooked neck. Her hair hangs off her shoulder as she peers in
Frame
In the understory of the tree the branches are wide apart and easily climbable with their swooping grey arch’s acting as stairs placed just right for climbing but not evenly, they had to be one foot in diameter as they hit the ground only to become a bit more slender further out. A home within the tree to be sure with amber drying beech leaves as a carpet but little else save a branch or two, just ahead one swooping branch just touches the ground before it begins its journey back toward the sun some30 feet away at the edge of the tree canopy a flat light gives a mat tone to colors. The trunk as the security and safety monitors a girl lost in thought and wonder might need.
A few steps in Alice sees an open space and looks up and around with wonder arms at her side a moving head to end up seeing far ahead a more dense section of the trees understory but it is to far, dense and dark to see what is there.
Frame
She hears a rustling to the right side and quickly spins on her right foot her skirt twirling as if at a dance and coming to a stop at the end. Her left foot follows and stops her as her hair follows to stop on her chest. Eyes wide and moist she spies a rather large rabbit some 25 feet away (same frame) some four foot tall not fat not skinny a rather average shape, grey and dirty white fur longer than one would expect and almost kept but with an air of casualness and not caring, big eyes and black nose with long whiskers, a white snout with upward pointing tendencies, mouth almost disappears in lower snout region, straight upright ears pointing up but leaning back slightly due to motion standing upright but at a slight angle as he moves quickly forward left leg out, large oversized gold pocket watch with short red lanyard and oversized watch hands. The watch wider and winder protector are particularly oversized in the left hand and long brown cain with gold headpiece in right. All motion is forward with a stiff back (think New Yorker) as he says “Late, I’m Late!” in a decidedly anxious and irritated way. Its large feet with exaggerated toes not in proportion to its height and stately air about itself almost hide the English vest he’s wearing with cotton tail sticking out at the bottom of the vest.
Frame
Standing slightly forward with legs slight parted an astonished Alice puts one hand to her mouth as a megaphone and calls “for what!, What are you late for?” The Rabbit (in background) but closer to his goal does not reply but maintains his haste for the darker region of the beech understory looking at his watch saying “I’m late, I’m late.”
c: Crosstex Energy L.P. Streamlines its Natural Gas Systems for 2009 and Future Growth
In past natural resources posts, oil and gas exploration companies have been featured. They are generally smaller companies working to make their mark and achieve “going concern” status. These companies, however, are at the beginning of the food chain; they start the entire vertical manufacturing base moving. There are, however, other “smaller” companies along that vertical chain working to put that oil and gas to use. They come in all shapes and sizes but operate to get the oil and gas to combust when and where it should. Understanding that these companies are just as solid for profit opportunity as the oil and gas exploration companies is not all that difficult. Finding them can be. An investor that can find a solid company capitalizing on oil and gas exploration is one that may also find profit.
Crosstex Energy L.P., a midstream natural gas company, works to transport, treat and market natural gas. The company currently services 4bcf of natural gas per/day with approximately 5,700 miles of pipeline, 12 processing plants, 4 fractionators and approximately 195 amine treating and dew point control plants.
Although one might think transporting and treating of natural gas would be a fairly straight- forward process, it is not. Natural forces and market conditions play a large factor in the overall scheme of getting treated product to market. This past third quarter saw a dip in revenue due to hurricane damage, market conditions and product interruption. Fortunately, the disruption was short lived, but it did show that the process of getting natural gas from here to there is not just a matter of installing pipe and making connections.
Making connections and gathering natural gas, however, did expand in the third quarter 2008 to a degree. Margins increased 13% as gathering systems and throughput increased around Barnett shale locations in North Texas (a major system node for the company with several pending issues.) Treatment of gas also saw similar increases for the quarter with throughput and larger plant size helping to maintain production levels.
The future looks fairly bright for the company as national leaders come to understand the need for expansion of the country’s natural gas infrastructure and use. The shorter term realities, however, do still hold to the nature of a commodity item and the need for access to capital (as witnessed by the company’s sale of two non-core properties to generate capital and pay down debt.) Prices are sure to rise and fall in relation to the needs of a slowing domestic industrial base, but a cycle is just that … a cycle. Finding an investment at the lower end of a cycle is afterall the trick. Lower demand will affect additions to throughput in the shorter run, but only to the degree that a balance point allows for the economy to continue to operate and homeowners to heat their homes. Gas will always flow, regardless of circumstance, and Crosstex Energy will be at the center of it all.
Crosstex Energy L.P., a midstream natural gas company, works to transport, treat and market natural gas. The company currently services 4bcf of natural gas per/day with approximately 5,700 miles of pipeline, 12 processing plants, 4 fractionators and approximately 195 amine treating and dew point control plants.
Although one might think transporting and treating of natural gas would be a fairly straight- forward process, it is not. Natural forces and market conditions play a large factor in the overall scheme of getting treated product to market. This past third quarter saw a dip in revenue due to hurricane damage, market conditions and product interruption. Fortunately, the disruption was short lived, but it did show that the process of getting natural gas from here to there is not just a matter of installing pipe and making connections.
Making connections and gathering natural gas, however, did expand in the third quarter 2008 to a degree. Margins increased 13% as gathering systems and throughput increased around Barnett shale locations in North Texas (a major system node for the company with several pending issues.) Treatment of gas also saw similar increases for the quarter with throughput and larger plant size helping to maintain production levels.
The future looks fairly bright for the company as national leaders come to understand the need for expansion of the country’s natural gas infrastructure and use. The shorter term realities, however, do still hold to the nature of a commodity item and the need for access to capital (as witnessed by the company’s sale of two non-core properties to generate capital and pay down debt.) Prices are sure to rise and fall in relation to the needs of a slowing domestic industrial base, but a cycle is just that … a cycle. Finding an investment at the lower end of a cycle is afterall the trick. Lower demand will affect additions to throughput in the shorter run, but only to the degree that a balance point allows for the economy to continue to operate and homeowners to heat their homes. Gas will always flow, regardless of circumstance, and Crosstex Energy will be at the center of it all.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
c: MAP Pharmaceuticals Inc. Announces Deal with AstraZeneca, $800 Million + Potential
Looking at the wide variety of companies working to make a go of their businesses makes one wonder when and if any of them actually make the leap from development stage company to profitable. So many companies operate in the negative and on credit through the year, with only a hope of breaking through. Every once in a while, however, a company makes the leap after laying out millions to get their product to market. Jumping on the bandwagon at the right time is the way to profit, especially when most investors have been hiding in cash for so long. Risk is still there, but then again how low can things go at this point. Pharma has the cash and may be one of the few places to look for a more “stable” play.
MAP Pharmaceuticals Inc., a development stage drug company, works to develop pharmaceutical type medications primarily directed at pediatric asthma, non-pediatric asthma, migraines and diabetes. The company is more specifically involved in the medications and cardiac inhaler delivery systems involved with the delivery of these medications.
To imply that the company is more oriented toward the delivery system of the medications it develops would be misleading. It is the company’s work with inhalable drug particles, to enable inhalable cardiac delivery, that drive value in the company. It currently has four products in later stage Phase I-III development involving this type of medication and delivery system. Its lead pediatric asthma product, Unit Dose Budesonide, is in the midst of Phase III trials. Announced today, the company will be working globally with AstraZeneca to market and develop the product. From all indications regarding the agreement, the company may be able to eliminate the “development stage” description it currently uses to describe its status. Limited details indicate a $40 million initial cash payment, another $35 million at health acceptance and another potential $825 million + in payments if sales and marketing work as planned. From a separate and speculative forward looking point of view, success of this particular product would also bode fairly well for the other pipeline products that the company has in trials.
As mentioned in past posts, “Big Pharma” has quite a large pile of cash waiting to be used and a short pipeline of products and patent restrictions. It needs to begin looking further into the future to keep its revenue stream flowing. Finding smaller development stage companies is one such way to accomplish this task. Apparently, MAP Pharmaceuticals is one of those companies. Others are working to get their products along the food chain with pipelines churning. But until then, MAP is enjoying a nice holiday season and a solid coming year if and when its Unit Dose product finds approval.
MAP Pharmaceuticals Inc., a development stage drug company, works to develop pharmaceutical type medications primarily directed at pediatric asthma, non-pediatric asthma, migraines and diabetes. The company is more specifically involved in the medications and cardiac inhaler delivery systems involved with the delivery of these medications.
To imply that the company is more oriented toward the delivery system of the medications it develops would be misleading. It is the company’s work with inhalable drug particles, to enable inhalable cardiac delivery, that drive value in the company. It currently has four products in later stage Phase I-III development involving this type of medication and delivery system. Its lead pediatric asthma product, Unit Dose Budesonide, is in the midst of Phase III trials. Announced today, the company will be working globally with AstraZeneca to market and develop the product. From all indications regarding the agreement, the company may be able to eliminate the “development stage” description it currently uses to describe its status. Limited details indicate a $40 million initial cash payment, another $35 million at health acceptance and another potential $825 million + in payments if sales and marketing work as planned. From a separate and speculative forward looking point of view, success of this particular product would also bode fairly well for the other pipeline products that the company has in trials.
As mentioned in past posts, “Big Pharma” has quite a large pile of cash waiting to be used and a short pipeline of products and patent restrictions. It needs to begin looking further into the future to keep its revenue stream flowing. Finding smaller development stage companies is one such way to accomplish this task. Apparently, MAP Pharmaceuticals is one of those companies. Others are working to get their products along the food chain with pipelines churning. But until then, MAP is enjoying a nice holiday season and a solid coming year if and when its Unit Dose product finds approval.
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