Here is one stock that I think has a chance to be a fairy tale story,
turn-around stock. The company is Chantal Pharmaceutical. It could
also conceivably go bust, so be very careful. Invest only with money you can afford to lose.
Chantal Pharmaceutical Corp. is one of my favorite micro-cap company
special situations. They are a pharmaceutical company that primarily
markets a line of skin care products based on the use of a new coumpound called "Ethocyn" which is supposed to help repair/increase the elastomers in your skin. If this is the case, then it might be a true wrinkle eliminator/smoother.
Some participants in a "half face" contest are being featured in
advertising with results quite remarkable to me where they used it on half of their face only. There have been studies by a Professor of Dermatology at the UCLA Medical Center showing a significant increase in the skin's elastin fiber production after 2 months in patients in the study.
Chantal also engages in other research and development efforts on
products for androgen mediated disorders such as acne, hirsutism, male
pattern baldness, benign prostate hypertrophy and treatment of certain
cancers. Cytocol and Metcyclor are the company's two other potentially
significant patented compounds.
The company has been through a series of disasters (which was also
disastrous for the share price and many shareholders) and despite all that has happened, things are looking better to me at CHTL lately. In 1995, CHTL soared and made some folks very happy. But then, Chantal collapsed from over $28 per share in the end of 1995/early 1996, to its current level.
It started with a negative article in Barrons which raised a number of questions and caused the stock to plunge and a lot of media attention to turn away at that time which hurt marketing and other efforts at the company. A shareholder lawsuit also ensued. They had delays with their accounting as they were getting an inventory system working with their marketing partner Stanson Marketing. One of the accounting firms resigned and another subsequently hired. CHTL was warned for the late filing by the SEC. There is a lot of information in the other CHTL thread on SI and elsewhere on the web on past events and the financials.
But since that time, things are looking up to me. I still think there
are major hurdles to be jumped for this company, but my feeling is that the tide has turned for CHTL. Ethocyn appears to me to work. The "half face" contest results are very convincing in my opinion as was the clinical study by the UCLA professor.
The company has agreements with David Hasselhoff of the hit TV series
"Baywatch" for promotion of Ethocyn skin care products. Hasselhoff can probably endorse any product he wants, so he must see some potential for the product which he is reported to use as he works in the hot sun on the Baywatch set.
Sales are expanding internationally in Asia and Europe this year for
the first time. Chantal has elected 5 new board members who will add a lot of industry experience to the company. I highly recommend reading their personal profiles.
The company is intending to terminate its marketing agreement with
Stanson Marketing which I feel will increase their profitability on their US sales.
In addition to the recent election/re-election of all of the board
members and with the appointment of Polly Bergen as COO, the company just got authorization to issue up to 50 million shares which greatly
increases their ability to finance future growth.
The Dream
The dream here is that CHTL has indeed turned the corner on its recent
past. If the company survives, then in the dream, it returns to its former high of over $28.
That would make a Million dollar plus position out of a relatively
tiny $30K investment now.....
It's been there before, can it do it again??? |
