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Microcap & Penny Stocks : ECNC (OTC:BB) - eConnect -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dkgross who wrote (5292)	3/8/2000 4:16:00 PM
From: Jorjenzak	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18222

by zsmith928) 3-2-00 My impression of Tom Hughes (CEO), Manny Vavolizza (Investor Relations), and the way in which they presented eConnect and their ambitions was very favorable and exciting. It is obvious that eConnect is an emerging company. The offices are small but Tom mentioned at least 2 expansions within in the near future (including more office space in the current location and another space nearby). I must first state that everything about eConnect smells of profit. Tom spoke with my colleagues and I for about 30 minutes (until he had to join a conference call with eFunds), giving us an overview of the companies current operations and its future prospects. After that, we continued our meeting with Manny. I have to admit that afterwards I felt giddy with excitement over the opportunities spoken of, many of which I never would have imagined, but are incredibly exciting. The numbers that Tom spoke of blew me away, and I have to be skeptical and believe these to be optimistic. He projects that eConnect will have 36 global transaction centers up and running within a year. The first to begin operation will be eConnect Dominican Republic and should be going live within 6 weeks. After that, Ireland, Hong Kong, and Australia (Olympics!) will be targeted. The next two countries will be South Africa and Brazil. Each transaction center will be monitored in-country by 2 eConnect employees and will be supported by a team in the United States. Revenues are projected to be collected by a flat fee charge for each swipe of the eCashPad or eCashPad+. These centers will at first be focused on providing a secure payment system for online retailers, however Tom spoke of numerous other ventures that will be pursued. These might include worldwide (save the US, as of now) Powerball, on which the profit margins are enormous, the press released eConnect2Trade, gambling, ATM/banking services, verification, etc. Tom threw at me the ballpark figure of 100 million in revenue for EACH host center once they are fully operational. That equals 3.6 billion in revenue from the total network of global transaction centers, not including the United States. With 170 million outstanding shares (more to come on this issue later), an extremely conservative p/e of 20, and a profit margin (I?m guessing here, as I wasn?t able to address this issue) of 10%, you can do the math. $25 will seem like a steal on this stock. I am also very interested in the prospects for currency transactions within this system. The big problems facing eConnect at the moment have to do with getting their product to market. Their cash portal website (to be named www.ezpayment.com), which will be used to inform and sign merchants with the eConnect system, should be launched next week. Each country will also have its own portal website (to be named the same, but in the language of the country), which will attract merchants. EConnect will also be launching many of its other sites, including the ArtAuctions sites, as well as a tradition ecommerce site, within the coming months. These will serve to provide revenues for the company as well (and more importantly) direct hits to the www.ezpayment.com portal. www.powerclick.com will continue to be used by the company for the same reasons. EConnect?s relationship with eFunds is one of necessity right now. EConnect is an emerging company and will work with eFunds to bring their product to the United States market as well as licensing their Connex software for use worldwide. Efunds, with its direct relationship with Deluxe (DLX), will open a lot of doors for eConnect and their product line and will help them as they market their product to the Amazons and Ebays. Econnect will be what the consumer sees as he will using the eCashPad unit with his credit/debit card. However, eConnect will be utilizing eFunds? extensive relationships with business and financial institutions and connecting directly into their payment backbone. Tom drew a diagram that helped to simplify the process used to secure payment. Here is my simplified version of it: eCashPad…ISP…Linux Transaction Server…eFunds Backbone…Bank 1000 eCashPads will be given away to customers, but as from what I can tell, they will be sold after that. I have a feeling that once Tom present a company with how much money they can save by supporting this payment system, they will not hesitate giving them away to their customers. Besides the immediate discount they would receive from the credit card companies for ?swiping? credit card information instead of entering it (currently something like a 0.4% discount on the transaction fee for VISA/MASTERCARD), merchants will be able to process debit cards, which charge them percentage fee. I was informed that it has been rumored that VISA will require the swiping input, such as eConnect?s, within a year. This would obviously provide a huge incentive for merchants to utilize eConnect?s system. Once again, I must stress how impressed I was both by eConnect?s business model and its company employees. I have found that no matter how good a product a company has, they only go as far as their management. And we have nothing to worry about here. Tom is not only confident about his product line, he is extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable. This goes for all of the employees I met at eConnect. Each and every one seemed exciting about the direction the company is taking and determined to make it a success. I will attempt to include a picture of eConnect?s office once I get it development. If any of you are in the Los Angeles area, go and check it out. It was a great experience and I came away more confident in my investment than ever. GO ECNC!!!