Why I like DPII (geeze, not another trickle company?).
As threatened in #36, I just listened to DPII's Dain Rauschers presentation. Yahoo's contention that DPII has $80 million in cash, or just north of $4/share, is correct.
biz.yahoo.com
What's more the company has been EBITDA positive for some time. Negative EPS has to do with goodwill amortization, etc. from the munches that make it what it is today. So no burn rate.
siliconinvestor.com
Double bottom? Meanwhile AXYS has been getting out, not with great timing:
insidertrader.com
So some of the lock-up overhang has been relieved. This, in conjunction with their cautious outlook last earnings CC has whacked the stock price. However, I gleaned a couple of tidbits from the presentation . . .
What distiguishes DPII from MCLS and others are two products in addition to their services. One is the Nanokan ultra high throughput chemical synthesis system (IRORI). Aventis and BMS have the only two installed. Now I know why. They have exclusivity until the 3rd quarter of this year, at which point DPII may market the $5 million systems freely. Per other comments I have heard on CCs and relayed, pharma R&D budgets should be set and executed upon about that time. Good synthetic chemists are hard to find, as td points out, so get your NanoKan today! BTW, NanoKans use $1 million/yr in consumables.
The other, mentioned earlier, is the uARCs HTS system licensed from Abbott, which uses the system for half of its internal screening projects. The problem with microtiter plates is that they involve liquids. When you use really dense plates, you use really small quantities of liquid. So small that at a certain density, they start evaporating before they can be analyzed. How ABSC reliably manages 3856 wells is something many would like to know. We're sure that the solution is expensive.
uARCs involves dry spotting 40 nanoliter samples on to a sheet. The target is put in an agar gel, and the sheet is coated with the mixture. Simple, but fast, cheap, and powerful -- and doesn't take up an entire room. DPII's business plan wrt to uARCs is to license it and sell consumables. They intend to sell prespotted sheets, as well as technology/systems so that companies can make their own sheets. The idea being to transform the entire industry's approach to HTS. Can't fault these folks for lack of ambition. Launch is again expected in the 3rd quarter.
To my knowledge, these two products are noticeable improvements on what else is out there. If DPII executes, they could get a lot of mileage out of them. Reminds me of ABSC in the early days, only broader. These two products alone seem worth the extra buck and a half per share Mr. Market is currently charging for DPII.
BLUE HP already likes DPII at these levels. Should it retest lows in a pullback (low 5s or less), BLUE HP & Trickle will be buying. FWIW, that's probably the last of the trickle companies BLUE HP would get, at least for a while. Should be a great relief to many of you that intend to weight the portfolio no more than 30% in tricklish companies. HBIO, TWTI, and a few others will be watched.
Cheers, Tuck |
