FRESH EISQ REPORT: For new and current investors
Good basis to start your own DD- again the main things this stock has is an important technological advantage in a high demand, big money market niche. We all need to examine competitors they have, but the HP relationship is the kicker....says a lot.
Spoke with John who strikes me as a pretty good I/R guy - minimum of hype and open (ut not too open)with info.
** Biggest thing he explained was the software compression technology they have. They are able to store 5 times more information on a 1mb chip than HP can. Superior compression technology is a huge advantage to have. That was good to hear.
** Their main competitor in the Middle East where there are billions of dollars of opportunity for this technology is apparently Ericsson who has a type of "palm-pilot" type of device.. Obviously the SmartCard is much less costly. This bears more DD of course, but if true sounds promising.
** The CEO, Terry Kirby, has had associations with upper management at HP for years, and the relationship is solid.
** HP gives them tremendous clout and an "inside track" when responding to RFP (Requests for Pricing)
** They are hopeful on the 3 major bids outstanding that total $500 Million and hope to hear on them soon; they are responding to many others on a smaller scale and are confident. The only questions is "when"; sometime the cycle is fairly short, sometime longer.
** Some News on these and other developments is likely days away
** Their earnings per share and profit margins should be extremely pleasing to shareholders when they start landing some contracts.
Finally take this for what it is worth, but I ask what he thought a FMV (Fair Market Value) for the stock is. Why not? I often ask this just to find out if somebody is full of hype.
He answer is that when they spoke to a Dean Witter official he thought that although it was hard to determine without a contract that $3-5 was reasonable on speculation alone.
Of course, even one contract could change everything but it may take patience or it may not. But with only 16 million shares O/S this one could be a nice long term stock. It's a hot, sexy niche too.
PS-he was fairly certain KMPG is their in-house auditors.
All for now,
DAVE
***
PS-Re-read this PR really closely if you are interested more long term.
(COMTEX) B: ELECTRONIC IDENTIFICATION INC - EI2 And HP To Bring Smart
B: ELECTRONIC IDENTIFICATION INC - EI2 And HP To Bring Smart Card Application
To A Global Market
New York, New York, Jan. 27, 2000 (Market News Publishing via COMTEX)
-- Electronic Identification, Inc. (EI2), developer of Smart ID Card
technology supported by a state-of-the-art Intranet framework,
announced EI2 and HP have strengthened its teaming agreement to meet
challenges of capturing the Middle East business. The companies are
completing an agreement to match funds to accomplish the technology
roadmap and pre-sales engineering objectives. EI2 will lead a
comprehensive analysis of its technology with the goal of establishing
a roadmap leading to the complete merger of EI2's innovations with
mainline HP smart card architecture. At the same time, an evaluation of
the latest innovations in embedded chip technology, digital cameras and
finger print readers will be conducted. Conceptual architectures for
network computing systems and legacy system integration will be
created.
The following is a direct reprint of an article in the San Jose and
Silicon Business Journal, entitled: Safer smart cards goal of
partnership
BY LORNA FERNANDES Special to The Business Journal Hewlett-Packard
Co. has sealed a partnership with Vancouver, Canada-based Electronic
Identification Inc. to enhance security on smart cards. The companies
are working together on three projects totaling $500 million for
customers in the Middle East, and have several joint projects slated
for Europe. Both firms were sketchy on the details of the contract
because of a need for secrecy.
HP has been researching and deploying smart card technology for
several years, and has a facility of about 4000 employees working
specifically on smart cards in Grenoble, France. But Electronic
Identification brings more to the table, said Donnie Foster, HP general
manager of e-solutions for the Americas. "[The company] uses an
interesting technology that allows more information to be stored on the
card," Mr. Foster said. Smart cards are used for identification and
security. The technology stores information about the cardholder on a
chip that is surrounded by an antenna and embedded on a card. The card
is then placed in the proximity of a card reader, which recognizes the
card and approves or negates entrance or access to information.
Electronic Identification's compression software allows customers to
include photos and finger- or handprints on the chip, which make it
desirable for high security clients and government agencies. While
technology companies such as HP have been trying for years to ignite
interest in smart cards in the United States, the cards have caught on
in Europe and the Middle East at a fevered pitch. The technology was
introduced in Europe while Europeans were still conducting most
transactions in cash, so it was easily adopted, Mr. Foster said. In the
United States, Americans had made the transition from cash to credit
and were not easily swayed. "HP has committed to supply all systems
integration, hardware and people," said Terry Kirby, chairman and CEO
of Electronic Identification. "We are providing the software."
The company has a small office in Alameda and is planning to open a
satellite office near the HP campus in San Jose. It also plans to house
employees and equipment in HP's Cupertino offices by year-end.
Lorna Fernandes is a staff writer with the San Francisco Business
Times, a sister publication.
"With this agreement in place", added, Mr. Terry Kirby, Chairman & CEO
of EI2, "working with HP opens a lot of new doors for us. HP with its
new aggressive philosophy and its lead in the "Smart Card" technology
is one of the few companies that has the global clout and presence to
successfully assist EI2 in closing our existing government business as
well as implementing and promoting EI2's e*PICS technologies and
solutions in the global market place that is ripe with major
opportunities."
By taking advantage of market demand and the "Smart Card" experience
offered by the Grenoble, France component of HP, along with the global
consulting unit of HP, EI2 will be able to mobilize both leading design
proven services with 24x7 uptime and 99.9% efficiency HP hardware and
the very cost effective electronic identification solutions provided by
EI2. "The companies together will build a "Smart Card" solution that
should quickly become an industry standard for the issue of Identity
and Residence Cards as well as Electronic Visas. We at EI2 could not
ask for a better systems integrator and the prominent and superior
quality of HP products as well as its global services and support
organization." said, Terry Kirby.
EI2 develops and markets electronic identification issuing and
authentication systems. It also provides an Intranet based framework
for the issue of fraud and tamperproof ID cards via its flagship
product line, the Electronic Personnel Identification and Control
Systems (e*PICS). E*PICS allows for the rapid development of customer
specific applications that include the integration of legacy systems. |
