Alexco (AXU) has by dint of history full ownership over one of the most prolific silver producing regions in Canada. It is funded to get to production and has no debt. AXU is a very clean, simple story, enabling the investor to have full access to a cheap, unlevered silver near-term to be producer. AXU will be producing as a low-cost producer in a well-proven high grade area.

Trinity Biotech (TRIB) has two distinct segments:

1. Clinical laboratory machines which function in the areas of haemostasis, infectious disease and clinical chemistry. These are machines designed for high through-put laboratories with the profit coming from high level of disposables. This segment accounts for 83% of revenues.
2. Point of Care Tests for HIV and a Tristat test for Diabetes (about to be released late 2008). This segment accounts for 17% of revenues.

My thesis is that this is an excellent and cheap acquisition for a number of players. Due to its small size, TRIB's cost structure (a combination of direct [63% sales] and indirect sales force [37% of sales], which is somewhat out of proportion due to the $150m in sales size when melded into a larger organization) would be wildly accretive.

Perceptron (PRCP) makes automated systems which historically have been used for automobile assembly. The core competency is in measurement for process control. Newer products enhance enabling robots to automate flexible vehicle assembly. Other products measure gap and flush in the finished good to see if the fit and finish is within acceptable limits.

Greatbatch (GB) is a designer and manufacturer of custom parts and technologies for implantable devices and within the commercial battery industry (mostly for oil and gas applications). This is specialty power. GB's legacy emerges from a private battery company that transformed itself to a public company in 2000  providing implantable batteries for cardiac medical devices.

SunPower did a secondary of 7m shares at $29.50 in June 2006. Cypress Semiconductor (CY) owns 76% of the common stock and 98% of voting stock.

SunPower's advantage is that they believe they can reduce the cost of cells by 50% in next five years and reach a grid parity. To accomplish this, they will rely on their expertise in semi manufacturing. SWPR is working on developing thinner wafers (using less silicon) with a better yield.

• A move away from content in the mobile space to mobile infrastructure.
• A more cautious directive from its Board to "harvest" more non-core acquisitions.

Looking at the first shift - VeriSign divides its Communications Services Group (52% of total revenue in Q2 2006 or $206M) into two categories:

1. Communications - connectivity, database and messaging ($120m in Q2 2006)
2. Commerce and Content - included Business to Consumer applications such as Jamba! and Jamster!, and Business to Business digital content services and mobile marketing. ($86m in Q2 2006)

• In 2007, demand for LCD TV screens would be higher than anticipated because 25% of TV demand stems from North America, where LCD TV penetration is low. Bernstein anticipates it will be in the low 40s. As of the end of Q2 2006, LCD penetration sits at 19%. S-Curve adoption rates, according to Bernstein, make Corning a buy.
• Corning will benefit from supplying the key players.
• 42-inch will emerge as the size of choice for LCD TV, replacing 32-inch. Corning stands to benefit from this in two ways: 1) By increasing glass sales per TV set dramatically. And 2) A dramatic surge in unit-volume sales as demand ascends the S-Curve.

However, reading the Corning conference call transcript from Q2 2006, the issues do not appear to be at all what Bernstein purports:

I remain short the stock (see original post).

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Perhaps the most pleasant aspect of the call was the continuing ramp from exploration to production. MMR has always been a little "blue sky story" of plumbing the deep hitherto unexplored and unproduced natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico. For the first time, the hard numbers began to show some long term promise.

Highlights include:

Yesterday, PSDV announced certain amendments to a $15m subordinated convertible that was completed in June 2005. Investors reacted angrily chopping the share price by 20%.

Most obvious was the change to the conversion price from AU98c to AU32c. Further changes included a pushing out of the repayment dates to July 2007 and January 2008, removal of a cash reserve requirement, and the ability to redeem the notes anytime from royalties or new raisings.

Here is my thesis as to why I believe it's time to go long with this stock:

a. Insmed has a once a day injectable drug approved by the FDA. It is called Iplex. The drug is a combination of igf-1 and bp3. It is approved for small indication - a treatment for very short children that aren't helped by growth hormone. It has Orphan Drug Designation.

Here is my thesis on why now is the time to go long this company:

a. MMR’s focus is on the ultra-deep gas plays where less than 5% of all wells have been drilled. MMR currently has rights to over 400,000 gross acres in the GOM. According to management, MMR has at least 23 high potential drilling targets which hold about 1.8 Tcfe of net un-risked reserves.

USEC supplies low enriched uranium for nuclear power plants. USEC has lived off a twenty-year advantageous Russian contract for uranium. As a producer of enriched uranium, USEC is inefficient and needs to raise large amounts of capital (almost 1.5 to 2x its market capitalization). Further competition will beset USEC given the July 5, 2006 announcement that Urenco will build a plant in New Mexico scheduled to start producing in 2008.

Here's my short thesis for USU:

I bought Psivida on 3 July at $3.95. Here's my long thesis:

a. A novel delivery system with broad applications using a compound that is naturally found and broken down in the body – silicon. The advantage of the compound is that it can be machined into a nanostructure to dissolve at controlled rates.

a. VRSN is a serial acquisition company desperately trying to cover diminishing cash flow and eroding business. Goodwill on the balance sheet exploding to $1.3bn.

b. Income Statement misleading due to number of acquisitions. Revenue growth slowing and deferred revenue growth slowing suggesting past acquisitions have not been accretive.