Archives for October 16, 2017

Exclusive: T-Mobile, Sprint aim to announce merger without asset divestitures – sources

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FILE PHOTO: Smartphones with the logos of T-Mobile and Sprint are seen in this illustration taken September 19, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

By Liana B. Baker and Anjali Athavaley

(Reuters) – T-Mobile U.S. Inc and Sprint Corp plan to announce a merger agreement without any immediate asset sales, as they seek to preserve as much of their spectrum holdings and cost synergies as they can before regulators ask for concessions, according to people familiar with the matter.

While it is common for companies not to unveil divestitures during merger announcements, T-Mobile’s and Sprint’s approach shows that the companies plan to enter what could be challenging negotiations with U.S. antitrust and telecommunications regulators without having made prior concessions.

Reuters reported last week that some of the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust staff were skeptical about the deal, which would combine the third and fourth largest U.S. wireless carriers. However, regulators can only begin reviewing a corporate merger once it has been agreed to and announced.

T-Mobile and Sprint are preparing a negotiating strategy to tackle demands from regulators regarding asset sales, including the divestment of some of their spectrum licenses after their deal is announced, the sources said.

The companies’ announcement of a merger agreement, currently expected to come either in late October or early November, will focus on the potential benefits of the deal for U.S. consumers, including the advancement of next-generation 5G wireless technology, which requires considerable investment, the sources added.

The sources asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. T-Mobile and Sprint declined to comment.

“It is better for Sprint and T-Mobile to listen and learn the concerns of regulators first, and see whether there is anything that can be done to address those concerns,” MoffettNathanson research analyst Craig Moffett said.

A combination of T-mobile and Sprint would create a business with more than 130 million U.S. subscribers, just behind Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc .

Companies often chose not to make any pre-emptive announcements on divestitures when they announce mergers. For example, when U.S. health insurers Anthem Inc and Aetna Inc separately announced deals two years ago to acquire peers Cigna Corp and Humana Inc , they did not reveal which assets they would be willing to divest. U.S. federal judges shot down both mergers on antitrust grounds earlier this year.

Some media and telecommunications deals in recent years have been announced with divestitures, such as U.S. cable operator Comcast Corp’s proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable in 2014, which was later called off after regulatory pushback. When U.S. TV station owner Sinclair Broadcast Group announced its acquisition of peer Tribune Media Co in May, it said it might sell certain stations to comply with regulators.

Companies often also choose to place caps in their merger agreements on the size of divestitures they would be willing to accept in their negotiations with regulators. T-Mobile and Sprint have not yet agreed to include such a cap in their merger agreement, though it is possible they will do so, one of the sources said.

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UBS research analyst John Hodulik said in a research note earlier this month that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission will likely force T-Mobile and Sprint to make some divestitures of spectrum, since the combined company would have the most airwaves in its sector with more than 300 MHz, putting it ahead of Verizon’s and AT&T’s holdings.

T-Mobile spent $8 billion in a government auction of airwaves earlier this year. Sprint stayed out of the auction, touting its holdings of high-band spectrum, which it says can move large volumes of information at high speeds.

Having access to a lot of spectrum is particularly important for the 5G wireless offerings that AT&T and Verizon hope to launch to better compete with high-speed Internet services from cable companies.

T-Mobile and Sprint believe that the U.S. antitrust enforcement environment has become more favorable since the companies abandoned their previous effort to combine in 2014 amid regulatory concerns, according to the sources.

The two companies have not yet introduced a breakup fee in their merger negotiations that would compensate one side if regulators reject the deal, though it is possible one will be agreed to by the time the deal is signed, the sources said.

Investors have been waiting for the deal to be announced since Reuters first reported last month that T-Mobile and Sprint were close to agreeing tentative merger terms.

Sprint shareholders are expected to receive little to no premium in the deal, meaning that Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp <9984.T>, which controls Sprint, and other Sprint shareholders will own around or more than 40 percent of the combined company. T-Mobile majority owner Deutsche Telekom AG and the rest of the T-Mobile shareholders will own the remainder.

It is still possible that the negotiations between T-Mobile and Sprint will conclude without a deal, the sources have cautioned.

(Reporting by Liana B. Baker in San Francisco and Anjali Athavaley in New York; Additional reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Facebook announces cord-free Oculus Go for $199

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Facebook’s (FB) virtual reality arm Oculus, announced its new Oculus Go at its Oculus Connect 4 conference on Wednesday. The headset, which will ship next year for $199 is aimed squarely at taking virtual reality more mainstream.

“It’s hands-down the easiest way to get into VR,” Facebook vice president of VR Hugo Barra told the audience during the conference.

The Oculus Go is an all-in-one, standalone headset that, unlike, previous headsets from Oculus, doesn’t need to be hooked up to a PC. The Go also includes new optical lenses which enable the same field of view offered by previous Oculus headsets, but with reduced glare.

The Oculus Go headset ships early next year for $199. Source: JP Mangalindan

For Oculus, the Go is an incredibly important new piece of hardware as it competes in an increasingly crowded market. The Oculus Go hits a sweet spot Mark Zuckerberg emphasized was necessary: it’s a relatively affordable piece of hardware meant to offer up competitive features.

The Go will also play a pivotal role in Zuckerberg’s new goal of getting 1 billion people in virtual reality.

Why it’s hard to trust the U.S. on Russia’s alleged Kaspersky espionage

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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (R) listens to Russian antivirus program developer Yevgeny (Eugene) Kaspersky (L) as he visits the Kaspersky Labs company development center in Moscow on June 18, 2009. (AFP PHOTO)

The Russian government used antivirus software from the private Russian company Kaspersky to steal classified U.S. data, according to several recent reports.

The revelations, following months of vague warnings from U.S. officials, suggest that the U.S. has “direct evidence that there are ways to remote into Kaspersky and pull data back without the user’s intention,” David Kennedy, a prominent security consultant and former U.S. Marines hacker, told Yahoo Finance. “And that is very, very scary. That means that anybody in the world that has Kaspersky installed may have the potential to have their data accessed by Kaspersky.”

But many in the cybersecurity community, such as American cyberwarfare expert Jeffrey Carr, argue that the U.S. government’s allegations shouldn’t be trusted and that “Kaspersky Lab has suffered more slander from more supposedly reputable news outlets than any company in recent memory.”

The debate broke open last week when the Wall Street Journal reported that Russian government hackers had stolen classified data from the home computer of an NSA contractor who had Kaspersky antivirus software installed. Kaspersky software, like all antivirus software, requires access to everything stored on a computer so that it can scan for malicious software (known as malware).

A subsequent New York Times report detailed how Israeli intelligence alerted the U.S. of the Russian espionage-via-antivirus after infiltrating Kaspersky’s system in 2014 and watching Russian hackers search computers running Kaspersky for specific codenames of classified American programs.

The Journal then reported that U.S. intelligence agencies “studied the software and even set up controlled experiments to see if they could trigger Kaspersky’s software into believing it had found classified materials on a computer being monitored by U.S. spies,” and that the experiments “persuaded officials that Kaspersky was being used to detect classified information.”

One former U.S. official, explaining that the company’s software would have had to be programmed to scan for specific keywords, asserted to the Journal: “There is no way, based on what the software was doing, that Kaspersky couldn’t have known about this.”

A picture taken on October 17, 2016 shows Yury Namestnikov, the head of Kaspersky’s Russian research and analysis department at the company’s headquarters in Moscow. (AFP PHOTO)

‘I think it settles things’

Kaspersky denied the allegations, saying, “Kaspersky Lab was not involved in and does not possess any knowledge of the situation in question.” Consequently, the question is whether observers should trust Kaspersky or the U.S. government, who is making the claims through selective leaks and mostly anonymous sources.

“I think [the slew of reports] settles things, but that’s only if you have some element of trust in what the [U.S.] government is leaking,” Dave Aitel, a former NSA research scientist and CEO of the cybersecurity company Immunity, told Yahoo Finance. “It’s not like we have real evidence. And that’s a difficult thing. … We are now in a world where the [U.S.] government may never be able to present the real evidence against a company and still is going to be forced to act on it. And we’re going to all have to make decisions about whether we trust the government in each and every case because they’ve been wrong before.”

Skeptics demand pure evidence, which the U.S. government cannot provide without revealing highly valuable details about how the information was obtained.

“There’s no good way to do it is the problem,” Aitel said. “It’s not like there’s been a magical way where you can both show the evidence and protect sources and methods. And I don’t there ever will be, especially in this world which is so tightly tied to intelligence sources — where we have a difficulty [trusting] the government in the first place. The issue, largely, is that we don’t trust the [U.S.] government. And there’s really good reasons for that.”

In this case, the evidence is relatively strong.

“According to the public information, the Israelis have screenshots and key logger dumps of this activity happening,” Aitel said. “To me that says they were watching it in real time. And they know exactly who was at the desk because if they have a key logger, they know who’s logged in. They know a lot about the people involved, so we haven’t seen all of the information that the Israelis have.”

Kaspersky’s commercial software is used by more than 400 million people worldwide.

‘Trust us, this company is doing bad things’

U.S. officials have been wary of Kaspersky for years, and the FBI warned big business and U.S. agencies to avoid the popular anti-virus software used by 400 million people worldwide. In September, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., wrote an op-ed in the New York Times arguing that “it is unacceptable to ignore questions about Kaspersky Lab because the answers are shielded in classified materials. Fortunately, there is ample publicly available information to help Americans understand the reasons Congress has serious doubts about the company.”

Aitel explained that the U.S. government knows it has a trust issue, which is why the leaks have come out in a particular way.

“It’s really tough to take a message from the government and trust it as it stands, which is why they did this panoply of leaks to give a veneer of, ‘Hey, it’s not just a Republican member of the administration,” Aitel said. “It’s actually a group of people. They’re well read. There’s a Democratic senator doing an op-ed. … This [Russian operation] dates back to 2014 and 2015, it’s been verified by an outside party, which is Israel. So I think there’s a lot to this story where [the U.S. government] is saying: Listen, this time you have to trust us, this company is doing bad things.”

Eugene Kaspersky as a Soviet military cadet.

‘When I go to banya, they’re friends’

Kaspersky Labs was founded by Eugene Kaspersky, a cybersecurity expert who attended a KGB-backed cryptography institute before working for Soviet military intelligence. In 2012, Wired highlighted “the paradox of Eugene Kaspersky: a close associate of the autocratic Putin regime who is charged with safeguarding the data of millions of Americans; a supposedly-retired intelligence officer who is busy today revealing the covert activities of other nations; a vital presence in the open and free Internet who doesn’t want us to be too free.”

While Kaspersky maintains that he has no current ties to Russian intelligence, he “rarely misses a weekly banya (sauna) night with a group of about 5 to 10 that usually includes Russian intelligence officials,” Bloomberg reported in 2015. “When I go to banya, they’re friends,” Kaspersky said at the time.

In July 2017, Bloomberg reported that emails show “Kaspersky Lab has maintained a much closer working relationship with Russia’s main intelligence agency, the FSB, than it has publicly admitted.” The report stated that “Kaspersky provides the FSB with real-time intelligence on the hackers’ location and sends experts to accompany the FSB and Russian police when they conduct raids. … [Kaspersky employees] weren’t just hacking the hackers; they were banging down the doors.”

The big question for the cybersecurity community is whether Eugene Kaspersky — a former Russian government cryptologist who built a globally mainstream software company — knew that Kremlin hackers were using his companies software for espionage. He denies that he did. Evidence (via more selective leaks) could prove otherwise.

“[The Israelis] no doubt have pretty damning screenshots if you’re going to get a United State Democratic Senator to get worked up enough to write the op-ed,” Aitel said. “So if they have the user names that were on those machines, then they know Kaspersky himself is lying. And if he’s willing to lie, then he is basically making a bet that this information is not going to come out because it might risk some source of some kind. But I think he might be wrong. So I think the story is going to continue.”

Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky Lab, speaks at the 2013 Government Cyersecurity Forum in Washington,DC on June 4, 2013. (AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM)

‘There’s been a lot of burned bridges’

In any case, the reluctance to believe the espionage allegations against Kaspersky reflects the damaged relationship between the U.S. government and the U.S. information security community.

“I see a lot of people in the industry still defending Kaspersky,” Aitel said. “And to be honest, I blame it on the Obama administration and previous administrations, which really didn’t want to engage with the information security community and treated [outside infosec experts] as they weren’t an important part of the discussion.”

Aitel noted that on Oct. 10, the same day that New York Times reported Israel’s role in exposing Kaspersky, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave a speech signaling a harder line against encryption that was seen as unhelpful by outside cybersecurity experts.

“I’m not seeing how this gets us closer to having the real discussion about solutions in this space,” Ari Schwartz, a former senior director for cybersecurity under Obama who became the managing director of cybersecurity services at a law firm, told the Washington Post. “The government feels as though tech companies have to find a solution for them, and the tech companies feel as though the government just doesn’t understand how they’re putting the larger security at risk here.”

Aitel said that the speech showed that Washington still wasn’t listening enough to outside experts.

“When the information security community says ‘responsible encryption is a nonstarter,’ but the Department of Justice is still pretending like it’s going to be OK, I think that’s that old mindset: ‘We can just market it, we’ll put a law through, and they won’t really get a say in it.’ … There’s been a lot of burned bridges. The lack of trust is palpable. It’s unfortunate though, and I think it needs to change.”

Former NSA hacker Rob Joyce, the current White House cybersecurity coordinator, gives a talk in January 2016.

‘Doing the work of rebuilding those bridges’

All that said, progress is being made. One bright spot is the appointment of Rob Joyce, who previously led NSA’s hacking division (office of Tailored Access Operations), as the White House’s cybersecurity coordinator.

Aitel explained that the U.S. government needed cybersecurity people with technical experience — as opposed to those with only policy experience — to garner respect and trust from the information security community at large.

Joyce “is doing the work of rebuilding those bridges,” Aitel said. “His team is just better. They know these people [in the infosec community]. They can go out and have dinner with them; he’s approachable. With the previous administration, it was like: ‘No, we know better than you and you’re always wrong.’

“And I know that you can’t sell any kind of newspaper that has anything positive about the Trump administration,” Aitel added, “but that doesn’t make it not true.’’

Blue Light Cystoscopy Increases Bladder Cancer Detection Rate

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Before we discuss this major technology shift, we need to add an important footnote: the company we discuss, Imagin Medical Inc. (CSE: IME OTC: IMEXF), just announced approval of human testing for their product.

See the news release:(1)

We add this note because the news is not widely known and puts the company at a completely different stage of development.

Imagin Medical’s stock has not noticeably changed, likely because the news is so new and hasn’t been publicized except to peers in the medical industry.

Companies in the unique position of being in clinical testing with a breakthrough product who are virtually unknown don’t come along every day. We urge our readers to carefully consider that there are few public medical companies this operationally advanced – including in human testing with a fully patented medical system – but trading at pennies per share.

Imagin Medical is a Revolution in The Making

Can you remember the last time you watched a low-res, cathode ray TV? You might or you may be too young to have even experienced that ancient technology. But you certainly can remember experiencing the clarity and detail that came to life when you saw your first HD movie on a 1080i flat screen… and perhaps more recently when you saw an Ultra-High-Definition 4K TV at full resolution.

That is the kind of difference that Imagin Medical Inc. is bringing to the medical imaging and diagnostics market for the treatment of one of the most widespread and costly forms of disease: bladder cancer.

And that’s why its diagnostic system can revolutionize treatment.

Imagin Medical Inc. is an emerging medical imaging company that we think could make a fortune for investors who take advantage of its early stage development. We view this as a biotech style breakthrough without the many hurdles associated with biotech development and with a direct path to product sales as early as 2019.

Medical Imaging’s New Reality

Just as the other digital technologies have been advancing in leaps and bounds, so too has medical imaging. You’ve probably noticed this everywhere from your dentist’s chair, where x-rays now arrive on the screen, to orthoscopic surgery as an in-patient or even in a small clinic. Medical imaging and the diagnostics that it supports are being totally transformed.

There are powerful, new technologies and techniques that are being adopted almost daily. A select few companies have taken the opportunity to draw on the new capabilities and are developing patented approaches that can forever change the way that diseases are diagnosed and treated.

This is the calling of Imagin Medical Inc. and their i/Blue™ Imaging System for the imaging and treatment of tumors targeting bladder cancer.

You won’t likely know about Imagin Medical yet. Their patented i/Blue™ Imaging System just passed through the prototype stage and is about to go into human testing. For our readers, that’s a good thing. Since it’s not widely known, you can accumulate stock at pennies a share– well before the wider market takes notice and creates demand.

We’ve spelled out why we think the situation is a great opportunity that holds the potential for big profits.

One Hundred Times More Accurate at Visualizing Tumors

Imagin Medical is the developer of the i/Blue™ Imaging System to help detect bladder cancer and reduce its recurrence by dramatically improving the urologist’s ability to visualize, identify and then remove cancerous cells.

Here’s how the technology works:

With the development of compact color video cameras over 30 years, urologists have adopted endoscopes (or cystoscopes) combined with white light and video imaging to visualize the interior of the human bladder in order to detect cancer.

Using this technology, providers established that malignant lesions may not be visible and not detected during endoscopic examination alone. So in 2010, the FDA approved a combination of fluorescing drugs and specialized blue light imaging to improve the visualization of tumors.

Bladder cancer tumor, visualized through an endoscope using white light (left image) and blue light using Photocure’s chemical agent called Cysview®* (right image)

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Without question, this method produces better visualization and detection of malignant lesions. However, the available technology has several issues that are slowing the wide adoption of this technology.

The main drawbacks besides an inability to more accurately visualize the tumors, are the time needed to absorb fluorescing drugs and the inability to view multiple perspectives of the bladder at the same time.

Imagin Medical’s i/Blue™ patented computer technology, white light and near-infrared fluorescence overcomes all of these shortfalls.

The company’s approach allows the system to accurately image in less than 15 minutes vs. the one-hour period required to metabolize the drug using conventional fluorescing.

Current imaging technology offers only blue filtered images showing a highlighted fluorescence image of the cancer, but without a precise indication of where it is located in the bladder. To see that, the surgeon needs a white light only view to show the full landscape of the bladder, causing them to have to switch back and forth between the white and blue light images on separate systems.

Imagin Medical’s computer application cleans, reprocesses, blends and displays the image of the bladder and cancer onto a single monitor at the same time.

Most importantly, Imagin’s i/Blue™ system increases sensitivity for detecting the cancer specific contrast agent by 5 orders of magnitude or in terms of visibility, 100,000X.

This advancement in sensitivity is vitally important because it improves the surgeon’s ability to detect even flat cancers and to visualize their margins for more complete removal. Ultimately this can dramatically reduce the risk of recurrence, slowing the progression of the disease.(2)

Simply a Better Solution: Less Invasive, Less Costly, More Effective

Advancements in medical technology are crucial, but if they are impractical or too expensive, they simply won’t find their way into the medical system. It’s a fact.

What’s really exciting about the i/Blue™ System is its ability to improve results, simplify procedures, save time, and save money. And in the healthcare system, that is always going to be a major factor.

With a shorter period to review initial diagnostics (roughly 1/3 previous requirements), the time savings is expected to increase the efficiency of the Operating Room markedly. Since it is minimally invasive, the i/Blue™ System will also enable diagnostic and surgical procedures to be performed in the less expensive physician’s office for follow-up exams.

In the end, the recurring nature of the bladder cancer due to missed or undetected tumor removal has made it the most expensive form out of treatable cancers.

Through more effective diagnostics and vastly improved imaging, the i/Blue™ system can have a profound impact on the outcomes from surgery to remove tumors and thereby seriously reduce the cost of treatment or re-treatment.

The i/Blue™ System is such a giant leap forward in the medical imaging space that it qualifies as a disruptive technology

Heavyweights in The Field Doing What They Do Best

Imagin Medical’s products are based on the technology invented by Dr. Stavros Demos at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).

Dr. Demos worked in collaboration with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and Dr. Ralph deVere White, one of the world’s leading authorities on bladder cancer, for more than five years to determine the system’s feasibility.

Imagin Medical has now licensed the technology from LLNL and moved the final stages of development to the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE).

We don’t often detail the backgrounds of management, but in this case we think it’s important to understand the professional level of the team responsible for the current and future path of Imagin Medical and its’ i/Blue™ technology.

Imagin’s management have successfully forwarded numerous products and valuable research to the medical field over their lengthy careers including:

Dr. Stavros G. Demos is the technical advisor to the company. He is a prolific inventor and scholar, as well as a laser materials expert. Companies using his technologies include Muse Microscopy, Near Infrared Imaging, and Biosense/Webster. Dr. Demos holds 20 patents and has published more than 115 scholarly journal articles.

Dr. Stavros is the original inventor of the i/Blue™ system and is continuing to work with Imagin in developing the technology. Imagin has an agreement with UC Davis and the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics where Dr. Demos continues to support Imagin’s development team through clinical evaluations and into commercialization.

Dr. Ralph deVere White who serves as Imagin’s Medical Advisor, is one of the world’s foremost authorities on bladder cancer. He has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific articles. He is also the director of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and a professor of urology at the university. He will actively consult with the Imagin team about bladder cancer.

Rounding out this impressive group is Dr. Edward Messing, Chief of Urology at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Dr. Messing is a renowned expert in the diagnosis and treatment of cancers of the bladder, prostate, kidney, and other genitourinary organs. He has conducted extensive research in the basic biology of bladder and prostate cancers and has been the principal investigator on numerous clinical studies for the detection, prevention and treatment of genitourinary cancers.

Drs. Demos and deVere White continue to the lead in the guidance of testing and development of the i/Blue™ System. Dr. Messing will sponsor the Clinical Research Study at the

University of Rochester using i/Blue Technology.(3)

Bladder Cancer is the 6th Largest Cancer Market

Imagin Medical participates in the enormous medical imaging, diagnostics and treatment market. The US spends $4.5 billion per year on imaging alone. The diagnostic imaging segment has seen continual growth based on the increasing number of patients, as well as an increasing demand for minimally invasive surgery, which requires precise imaging.

Increasing investments from public-private organizations; growth in the number of diagnostic imaging centers; rising prevalence of cancer; increasing geriatric population and the subsequent growth in the incidence of various diseases; technological advancements in diagnostic imaging modalities; and increasing preference for minimally invasive treatments all drive the growth of this market.

More specifically, the i/Blue™ System is targeted initially at imaging and treatment of bladder cancer.

This year, an estimated 79,030 adults (60,490 men and 18,540 women) will be diagnosed with bladder cancer in the United States. It is estimated that 16,870 deaths from this disease will occur this year.

The treatment of bladder cancer is the most expensive form of cancer to treat, accounting for cumulative costs of $4 billion or about 3.2% of all cancer care each year. It is the sixth largest market for cancer treatment and yet treatment approaches have not changed significantly over the past 25 years.

Healthcare providers and the medical system are desperately seeking ways to reduce the cost of treatment for bladder cancer and provide better, more effective diagnostics and monitoring, since it often requires multiple treatments and continuous follow up over its course. (4)

Potential for Additional Applications Adds Major Value

While Imagin is initially focusing on the bladder cancer imaging market, the company expects that its dual-light, single-screen imaging system will set new standards of care for doctors and surgeons in detecting many other kinds of cancers and conditions.

These may include laparoscopic (general and gynecology), colorectal and thoracic procedures related to cancer and non-cancerous conditions.

According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Medical Imaging market is accounted for $29.8 billion in 2016 and is expected to reach $45.1 billion by 2022. (5)

The US represents the largest market where each day 10,000 people turn 65 years old. The impact of The Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) is also providing access to additional services like imaging for more of the population.

The Asia-Pacific region is the fastest growing area. This region is driven by the massive population base and the many environmental health issues created by rapid industrialization.

China is evolving into a massive market for healthcare products in dire need of effective diagnostics and treatments. This one market alone is a potential gold mine for IME to expand the application of its patented technology.

FEATURE STOCK: FOR COMPARISON

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The Winners: Too Late For Mass Gains, But Good To Study

These stocks represent some of the biggest winners in the healthcare sector over the last several years. These are large cap stocks, but they are evidence of just how well the industry has performed as a whole and offer insight into the kind of mammoth companies who could look to acquire a well positioned company like Allied Health Care Products.

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Our Recommendation: We Give IME Our Strongest BUY Rating

It’s hard not to be impressed by what you see when drill down into Imagin Medical Inc. This is a pure execution play.

By that we mean, the research and development is all but complete and the technology is proven very effective for diagnostics in treating bladder cancer. This removes massive risk for investors.

Imagin Medical’s i/Blue™ technology is also patented. So the company has the ability to build, license or sell its technology and retain all of the value in what is almost certain to be a disruptive technology.

And speaking of acquisitions, it’s pretty common for medical device companies to grow by acquisition, not organically. We see that as a real possibility as IME goes through its human testing recently announced. A lot of attention will come to the product and company as results are published through the National Institute of Health.

The other major risk factor with emerging medical device or technology companies is having the management needed to “get it done”. By their credentials, the team is truly outstanding. They are leaders in their respective fields who have demonstrated their ability to successfully bring medical devices and new technologies to market before.

The market for the effective treatment of bladder cancer is large and growing worldwide. Imagin Medical can potentially offer one of the only major improvements and cost-effective solutions that the market is seeking right now.

Companies that can deliver breakthroughs for healthcare products and services are expected to continue to be very attractive. That goes for the so called “killer B’s” in our summary (Baxter, B&D and Boston Scientific), and for the small companies with disruptive technologies and a strategic pathway to revenue, including Imagin Medical Inc.

It’s still unknown whether the Trump version of the Affordable Healthcare Act will deliver on the proposed tax cuts that could give the medical device industry a big boost. We will have to wait and see. Based on the industry’s current strong performance, that really doesn’t appear to be a deal breaker.

Let’s face it, if you are dealing with bladder cancer or might face it in the future, you really want Imagin Medical Inc. to succeed. We all might get a big benefit for backing them in the developing stages.

 

USA News Group
Editorial Staff

 

 

Sources:

(1) Imagin Medical news release – https://finance.yahoo.com/news/imagin-medical-receives-approval-1st-212242836.html

(2) Technology efficacy – https://imaginmedical.com/technology/

(3) Clinical Research Study – https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03058705?term=imagin+medical&rank=1

(4) The excessive cost of early Stage Bladder Cancer – https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1002/cncr.25227/asset/25227_ftp.pdf;jsessionid=CD2167D8CD074FB3B7C56B4B0F887379.f03t04?v=1&t=j8kvn488&s=7e17361d0151c457c6b8db3bd0137c891c49ecec

(5) Market for Imaging –  https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/diagnostic-imaging-market.asp

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer

 

Nothing in this publication should be considered as personalized financial advice. We are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular financial situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized financial advice. Please consult a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decision. This is a paid advertisement and is neither an offer nor recommendation to buy or sell any security. We hold no investment licenses and are thus neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice. The content in this report or email is not provided to any individual with a view toward their individual circumstances. USAnewsgroup.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Market IQ Media Group, Inc. (“MIQ”). MIQ has been paid a fee for Imagin Medical Inc. advertising and digital media. There may be 3rd parties who may have shares of IME, and may liquidate their shares which could have a negative effect on the price of the stock. This compensation constitutes a conflict of interest as to our ability to remain objective in our communication regarding the profiled company. Because of this conflict, individuals are strongly encouraged to not use this newsletter as the basis for any investment decision. The owner/operator of USA News Group does not own any shares of IME.

While all information is believed to be reliable, it is not guaranteed by us to be accurate. Individuals should assume that all information contained in our newsletter is not trustworthy unless verified by their own independent research. Also, because events and circumstances frequently do not occur as expected, there will likely be differences between the any predictions and actual results. Always consult a licensed investment professional before making any investment decision. Be extremely careful, investing in securities carries a high degree of risk; you may likely lose some or all of the investment.

Small Medical Wonders Hold Promise for Big Profits

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Before we discuss this major technology shift, we need to add an important footnote: the company we discuss, Imagin Medical Inc. (CSE: IME OTC: IMEXF), just announced approval of human testing for their product.

See the news release:(1)

We add this note because the news is not widely known and puts the company at a completely different stage of development.

Imagin Medical’s stock has not noticeably changed, likely because the news is so new and hasn’t been publicized except to peers in the medical industry.

Companies in the unique position of being in clinical testing with a breakthrough product who are virtually unknown don’t come along every day. We urge our readers to carefully consider that there are few public medical companies this operationally advanced – including in human testing with a fully patented medical system – but trading at pennies per share.

Imagin Medical is a Revolution in The Making

Can you remember the last time you watched a low-res, cathode ray TV? You might or you may be too young to have even experienced that ancient technology. But you certainly can remember experiencing the clarity and detail that came to life when you saw your first HD movie on a 1080i flat screen… and perhaps more recently when you saw an Ultra-High-Definition 4K TV at full resolution.

That is the kind of difference that Imagin Medical Inc. is bringing to the medical imaging and diagnostics market for the treatment of one of the most widespread and costly forms of disease: bladder cancer.

And that’s why its diagnostic system can revolutionize treatment.

Imagin Medical Inc. is an emerging medical imaging company that we think could make a fortune for investors who take advantage of its early stage development. We view this as a biotech style breakthrough without the many hurdles associated with biotech development and with a direct path to product sales as early as 2019.

Medical Imaging’s New Reality

Just as the other digital technologies have been advancing in leaps and bounds, so too has medical imaging. You’ve probably noticed this everywhere from your dentist’s chair, where x-rays now arrive on the screen, to orthoscopic surgery as an in-patient or even in a small clinic. Medical imaging and the diagnostics that it supports are being totally transformed.

There are powerful, new technologies and techniques that are being adopted almost daily. A select few companies have taken the opportunity to draw on the new capabilities and are developing patented approaches that can forever change the way that diseases are diagnosed and treated.

This is the calling of Imagin Medical Inc. and their i/Blue™ Imaging System for the imaging and treatment of tumors targeting bladder cancer.

You won’t likely know about Imagin Medical yet. Their patented i/Blue™ Imaging System just passed through the prototype stage and is about to go into human testing. For our readers, that’s a good thing. Since it’s not widely known, you can accumulate stock at pennies a share– well before the wider market takes notice and creates demand.

We’ve spelled out why we think the situation is a great opportunity that holds the potential for big profits.

One Hundred Times More Accurate at Visualizing Tumors

Imagin Medical is the developer of the i/Blue™ Imaging System to help detect bladder cancer and reduce its recurrence by dramatically improving the urologist’s ability to visualize, identify and then remove cancerous cells.

Here’s how the technology works:

With the development of compact color video cameras over 30 years, urologists have adopted endoscopes (or cystoscopes) combined with white light and video imaging to visualize the interior of the human bladder in order to detect cancer.

Using this technology, providers established that malignant lesions may not be visible and not detected during endoscopic examination alone. So in 2010, the FDA approved a combination of fluorescing drugs and specialized blue light imaging to improve the visualization of tumors.

Bladder cancer tumor, visualized through an endoscope using white light (left image) and blue light using Photocure’s chemical agent called Cysview®* (right image)

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Without question, this method produces better visualization and detection of malignant lesions. However, the available technology has several issues that are slowing the wide adoption of this technology.

The main drawbacks besides an inability to more accurately visualize the tumors, are the time needed to absorb fluorescing drugs and the inability to view multiple perspectives of the bladder at the same time.

Imagin Medical’s i/Blue™ patented computer technology, white light and near-infrared fluorescence overcomes all of these shortfalls.

The company’s approach allows the system to accurately image in less than 15 minutes vs. the one-hour period required to metabolize the drug using conventional fluorescing.

Current imaging technology offers only blue filtered images showing a highlighted fluorescence image of the cancer, but without a precise indication of where it is located in the bladder. To see that, the surgeon needs a white light only view to show the full landscape of the bladder, causing them to have to switch back and forth between the white and blue light images on separate systems.

Imagin Medical’s computer application cleans, reprocesses, blends and displays the image of the bladder and cancer onto a single monitor at the same time.

Most importantly, Imagin’s i/Blue™ system increases sensitivity for detecting the cancer specific contrast agent by 5 orders of magnitude or in terms of visibility, 100,000X.

This advancement in sensitivity is vitally important because it improves the surgeon’s ability to detect even flat cancers and to visualize their margins for more complete removal. Ultimately this can dramatically reduce the risk of recurrence, slowing the progression of the disease.(2)

Simply a Better Solution: Less Invasive, Less Costly, More Effective

Advancements in medical technology are crucial, but if they are impractical or too expensive, they simply won’t find their way into the medical system. It’s a fact.

What’s really exciting about the i/Blue™ System is its ability to improve results, simplify procedures, save time, and save money. And in the healthcare system, that is always going to be a major factor.

With a shorter period to review initial diagnostics (roughly 1/3 previous requirements), the time savings is expected to increase the efficiency of the Operating Room markedly. Since it is minimally invasive, the i/Blue™ System will also enable diagnostic and surgical procedures to be performed in the less expensive physician’s office for follow-up exams.

In the end, the recurring nature of the bladder cancer due to missed or undetected tumor removal has made it the most expensive form out of treatable cancers.

Through more effective diagnostics and vastly improved imaging, the i/Blue™ system can have a profound impact on the outcomes from surgery to remove tumors and thereby seriously reduce the cost of treatment or re-treatment.

The i/Blue™ System is such a giant leap forward in the medical imaging space that it qualifies as a disruptive technology

Heavyweights in The Field Doing What They Do Best

Imagin Medical’s products are based on the technology invented by Dr. Stavros Demos at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).

Dr. Demos worked in collaboration with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and Dr. Ralph deVere White, one of the world’s leading authorities on bladder cancer, for more than five years to determine the system’s feasibility.

Imagin Medical has now licensed the technology from LLNL and moved the final stages of development to the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE).

We don’t often detail the backgrounds of management, but in this case we think it’s important to understand the professional level of the team responsible for the current and future path of Imagin Medical and its’ i/Blue™ technology.

Imagin’s management have successfully forwarded numerous products and valuable research to the medical field over their lengthy careers including:

Dr. Stavros G. Demos is the technical advisor to the company. He is a prolific inventor and scholar, as well as a laser materials expert. Companies using his technologies include Muse Microscopy, Near Infrared Imaging, and Biosense/Webster. Dr. Demos holds 20 patents and has published more than 115 scholarly journal articles.

Dr. Stavros is the original inventor of the i/Blue™ system and is continuing to work with Imagin in developing the technology. Imagin has an agreement with UC Davis and the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics where Dr. Demos continues to support Imagin’s development team through clinical evaluations and into commercialization.

Dr. Ralph deVere White who serves as Imagin’s Medical Advisor, is one of the world’s foremost authorities on bladder cancer. He has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific articles. He is also the director of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and a professor of urology at the university. He will actively consult with the Imagin team about bladder cancer.

Rounding out this impressive group is Dr. Edward Messing, Chief of Urology at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Dr. Messing is a renowned expert in the diagnosis and treatment of cancers of the bladder, prostate, kidney, and other genitourinary organs. He has conducted extensive research in the basic biology of bladder and prostate cancers and has been the principal investigator on numerous clinical studies for the detection, prevention and treatment of genitourinary cancers.

Drs. Demos and deVere White continue to the lead in the guidance of testing and development of the i/Blue™ System. Dr. Messing will sponsor the Clinical Research Study at the

University of Rochester using i/Blue Technology.(3)

Bladder Cancer is the 6th Largest Cancer Market

Imagin Medical participates in the enormous medical imaging, diagnostics and treatment market. The US spends $4.5 billion per year on imaging alone. The diagnostic imaging segment has seen continual growth based on the increasing number of patients, as well as an increasing demand for minimally invasive surgery, which requires precise imaging.

Increasing investments from public-private organizations; growth in the number of diagnostic imaging centers; rising prevalence of cancer; increasing geriatric population and the subsequent growth in the incidence of various diseases; technological advancements in diagnostic imaging modalities; and increasing preference for minimally invasive treatments all drive the growth of this market.

More specifically, the i/Blue™ System is targeted initially at imaging and treatment of bladder cancer.

This year, an estimated 79,030 adults (60,490 men and 18,540 women) will be diagnosed with bladder cancer in the United States. It is estimated that 16,870 deaths from this disease will occur this year.

The treatment of bladder cancer is the most expensive form of cancer to treat, accounting for cumulative costs of $4 billion or about 3.2% of all cancer care each year. It is the sixth largest market for cancer treatment and yet treatment approaches have not changed significantly over the past 25 years.

Healthcare providers and the medical system are desperately seeking ways to reduce the cost of treatment for bladder cancer and provide better, more effective diagnostics and monitoring, since it often requires multiple treatments and continuous follow up over its course. (4)

Potential for Additional Applications Adds Major Value

While Imagin is initially focusing on the bladder cancer imaging market, the company expects that its dual-light, single-screen imaging system will set new standards of care for doctors and surgeons in detecting many other kinds of cancers and conditions.

These may include laparoscopic (general and gynecology), colorectal and thoracic procedures related to cancer and non-cancerous conditions.

According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Medical Imaging market is accounted for $29.8 billion in 2016 and is expected to reach $45.1 billion by 2022. (5)

The US represents the largest market where each day 10,000 people turn 65 years old. The impact of The Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) is also providing access to additional services like imaging for more of the population.

The Asia-Pacific region is the fastest growing area. This region is driven by the massive population base and the many environmental health issues created by rapid industrialization.

China is evolving into a massive market for healthcare products in dire need of effective diagnostics and treatments. This one market alone is a potential gold mine for IME to expand the application of its patented technology.

FEATURE STOCK: FOR COMPARISON

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The Winners: Too Late For Mass Gains, But Good To Study

These stocks represent some of the biggest winners in the healthcare sector over the last several years. These are large cap stocks, but they are evidence of just how well the industry has performed as a whole and offer insight into the kind of mammoth companies who could look to acquire a well positioned company like Allied Health Care Products.

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Our Recommendation: We Give IME Our Strongest BUY Rating

It’s hard not to be impressed by what you see when drill down into Imagin Medical Inc. This is a pure execution play.

By that we mean, the research and development is all but complete and the technology is proven very effective for diagnostics in treating bladder cancer. This removes massive risk for investors.

Imagin Medical’s i/Blue™ technology is also patented. So the company has the ability to build, license or sell its technology and retain all of the value in what is almost certain to be a disruptive technology.

And speaking of acquisitions, it’s pretty common for medical device companies to grow by acquisition, not organically. We see that as a real possibility as IME goes through its human testing recently announced. A lot of attention will come to the product and company as results are published through the National Institute of Health.

The other major risk factor with emerging medical device or technology companies is having the management needed to “get it done”. By their credentials, the team is truly outstanding. They are leaders in their respective fields who have demonstrated their ability to successfully bring medical devices and new technologies to market before.

The market for the effective treatment of bladder cancer is large and growing worldwide. Imagin Medical can potentially offer one of the only major improvements and cost-effective solutions that the market is seeking right now.

Companies that can deliver breakthroughs for healthcare products and services are expected to continue to be very attractive. That goes for the so called “killer B’s” in our summary (Baxter, B&D and Boston Scientific), and for the small companies with disruptive technologies and a strategic pathway to revenue, including Imagin Medical Inc.

It’s still unknown whether the Trump version of the Affordable Healthcare Act will deliver on the proposed tax cuts that could give the medical device industry a big boost. We will have to wait and see. Based on the industry’s current strong performance, that really doesn’t appear to be a deal breaker.

Let’s face it, if you are dealing with bladder cancer or might face it in the future, you really want Imagin Medical Inc. to succeed. We all might get a big benefit for backing them in the developing stages.

 

USA News Group
Editorial Staff

 

 

Sources:

(1) Imagin Medical news release – https://finance.yahoo.com/news/imagin-medical-receives-approval-1st-212242836.html

(2) Technology efficacy – https://imaginmedical.com/technology/

(3) Clinical Research Study – https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03058705?term=imagin+medical&rank=1

(4) The excessive cost of early Stage Bladder Cancer – https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1002/cncr.25227/asset/25227_ftp.pdf;jsessionid=CD2167D8CD074FB3B7C56B4B0F887379.f03t04?v=1&t=j8kvn488&s=7e17361d0151c457c6b8db3bd0137c891c49ecec

(5) Market for Imaging –  https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/diagnostic-imaging-market.asp

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer

 

Nothing in this publication should be considered as personalized financial advice. We are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular financial situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized financial advice. Please consult a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decision. This is a paid advertisement and is neither an offer nor recommendation to buy or sell any security. We hold no investment licenses and are thus neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice. The content in this report or email is not provided to any individual with a view toward their individual circumstances. USAnewsgroup.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Market IQ Media Group, Inc. (“MIQ”). MIQ has been paid a fee for Imagin Medical Inc. advertising and digital media. There may be 3rd parties who may have shares of IME, and may liquidate their shares which could have a negative effect on the price of the stock. This compensation constitutes a conflict of interest as to our ability to remain objective in our communication regarding the profiled company. Because of this conflict, individuals are strongly encouraged to not use this newsletter as the basis for any investment decision. The owner/operator of USA News Group does not own any shares of IME.

While all information is believed to be reliable, it is not guaranteed by us to be accurate. Individuals should assume that all information contained in our newsletter is not trustworthy unless verified by their own independent research. Also, because events and circumstances frequently do not occur as expected, there will likely be differences between the any predictions and actual results. Always consult a licensed investment professional before making any investment decision. Be extremely careful, investing in securities carries a high degree of risk; you may likely lose some or all of the investment.

The Iron Ore Market Is in a ‘Sweet Spot’ Right Now

by

It’s possible for pure iron ore focused plays to outperform the big mining companies based on current market conditions.

Several companies in this vein are attracting interest and one junior miner in particular, Black Iron Inc. (TSX: BKI, OTC: BKIRF), has a strong formula for success and low-cost production.

The market for iron ore has been hot, especially for higher grade ore. Big mining companies with massive iron interests have seen a rally of investor support because of their low valuations, high earnings and big dividends. Rio Tinto for instance paid its largest interim dividend in its history last month.

But things are shifting. The demand for steel from China, the major consumer of iron ore, was dampened in September as that country slowed its forecast based on economic output and said it would lessen steel production during winter to help curb pollution (1).

Interestingly, other Asian countries including India and Vietnam look like they will take advantage of any price drop in iron ore and buy in. That should offset any lack of demand from China and put iron ore back where it was headed: up once again.

For those uncertain about the potential gains in iron ore, consider one well known mining company focused completely on iron ore: Cleveland-Cliffs jumped 12% in August 2017 alone (2).

That’s just one good reason to look at pure iron ore focused companies right now.

As our readers know, we are very positive on the junior mining sector. Many investors have done very well this year in that end of the market. That is why we suggest taking a hard look at Black Iron Inc.(TSX: BKI) (OTC: BKIRF), which is developing a large iron ore project in Ukraine to production.

We like the play, we like the economics and we think you think you’ll agree that the company can double or triple gains made by the more diversified miners, based on its unique opportunity.

You Could BUY a Pure Iron Ore Mining Stock at Pennies Per Share. See Our Recommendation.

Iron Ore Companies Have Been Good to Investors

If you take a moment to review the leaders from our Winners List (below) you’ll likely recognize that these are very large mining companies, save for one iron ore only miner. Our top three selections had a one year return of 54.66%, 19.53% and 92.03% respectively (4). This group has provided strong dividends and solid value.

The challenge for many investors is that these big board stocks trade in the over $40 to $50 a share or above range. They’re comparatively stable, but they already have any large gains and speculation built in to their pricing.

In order to achieve leverage, like 10 to 1, 20 to 1 or better, we realize you need to look at the early stage mining business with the focus on an immediate path to production and a means to expand the resource.

That is the exact description of Black Iron Inc.

Black Iron’s Ukraine Location is Pivotal to Its Success

Black Iron Inc. is a junior Canadian mining company advancing its 100% owned Shymanivske Project located in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, to production.

The project is located in an established mining region with five other operating iron ore mines in close proximity.

Black Iron has been at work in Ukraine since 2010 to develop this large scale project and was moving to production, but they were delayed when Russia decided to invade Eastern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula Region in 2014. Things have since stabilized in the rest of Ukraine and global consensus is that if Putin wanted to take the rest of Ukraine, he would have already done it. He has apparently achieved his strategic objective of securing the country’s naval base and assets most valuable to Russia.

After more than three years of stability, its business as usual in the rest of Ukraine including the region where Black Iron is located.

Black Iron has really moved into high gear as world iron ore economics have been ramping up.

The Shymanivske Project contains 646 million tonnes measured and indicated resources grading 31.6% iron and 188 million tonnes inferred resources grading 30.1% iron.

A bankable feasibility study for the project completed in 2014 provides excellent economics for 9.9 million tonnes per year of 68% iron ore concentrate production, including a Net Present Value of US$3.3 billion at an 8% discount rate and before tax Internal Return Rate of 48%(3).

As a rule of thumb: for base metal projects an after tax IRR of at least 15% is preferred by financiers of mining projects.

Importantly, since the report was issued, the Ukrainian currency (Ukrainian Hryvnia) has depreciated significantly, currently at around UAH 27 to US $1. The original value placed on the resource used an exchange rate of UAH 8 to US $1.

This means that Black Iron has lowered its costs dramatically from the original estimate based on a very favorable exchange rate, which could easily offset any lowered value in global ore prices.

Black Iron’s high grade of ore (68%) also fetches a premium to regular or low grade ores produced in many other regions.

What Black Iron has is a large, bankable ore deposit with significant potential expansion that it is bringing to production. And while the resource itself is the major asset, it’s the location in Ukraine that makes Black Iron’s project so attractive.

Location, Location, Location

As any mining company will tell you, in order to mine ore, you need ready access to move the product to markets, a secure power source and a reliable labor force. Of course being able to access all these at low cost makes or breaks the project.

This is where Black Iron has a potential grand slam.

The project location itself has paved roads to the site and lies just two kilometers from main state-owned rail line. There’s also a surplus of low-cost electricity readily accessible from high voltage power lines that run beside the company’s property. The site is also just 8 kilometers away from the major city of Kryvyi Rih (population 750,000) which has very skilled work force to draw from.

The region where Black Iron operates has rail access to Western Europe and it’s just 140 kilometers to nearest water port providing access to the Black Sea and global seaborne iron ore markets. The obvious targets for its product include Asia, Western Europe, Turkey, and the Middle East.

Besides the favorable exchange rate, Black Iron is also able to able to leverage low-cost electricity, transportation, a skilled work force that makes about $5.00 an hour and all this is rounded out by a highly affordable tax rate paid to the Ukraine government of just 18%.

Ukraine is an ideal spot for this project.

Imagine an IronOre Mining Stock That Could  See Returns of 10x, 20x or more! – See Our Recommendation

The Smart Play in Iron Ore: Junior Miners

Leaders in iron ore mining are typically large companies with part of their interests tied to steel production. They likely mine other metals or develop petroleum etc. For really big returns, we seek out early stage companies with strong economics. These are nearly always junior mining companies, as is the case with Black Iron Inc.

Why juniors? They are flexible and able to move quickly to scoop up opportunities. They don’t bear large overheads and they can shift when needed. Obviously they carry more risk than the BIG mining companies, but the returns can be outstanding.

Black Iron(TSX: BKI) (OTC: BKIRF) is a junior mining company that has put itself in a unique position. Their advanced Shymanivske project in Ukraine represents a $3.3 billion asset that ready to move to production with highly capable management and an impressive board. By any measure that is a huge project with legs and real potential for big pay back.

Take note that Black Iron must report its project by mining regulations NI 43-101 standards. However, the company has said that it will update the 2014 NI 43-101 information to reflect current market economics in Q4 of this year.

FEATURE STOCK: FOR COMPARISON

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Iron Ore Winners: Too Late for Big Gains, But Still Good to Study

We’ve pulled from the leaders in mining that have seen excellent returns this year already based on their focus on iron ore. Investors enjoy the safety of the fact that they are, for the most part, large and diversified across other mining interests and metals. Unfortunately, that’s the very same reason that these companies are not likely to see the kind of major returns that we are looking for in a pure iron ore player like our feature stock.

[table id=18/]

Our Recommendation: We Give BKI Our Highest Pure Play BUY Rating

Our scan of the market indicates that there’s a wide variance in the iron ore sector and that spells opportunity. You have to remember that it’s a commodity, so it is affected directly by demand and supply.

Iron ore markets are volatile and moves up of 100% up or down by 70% are the norm.

Despite the volatility, it’s possible to invest in iron ore miners and make outstanding returns, but you have to be aware of the impact of product grade on price, proximity to rail port and power. Not all miners are the same.

Pure play iron ore companies have potential for huge upside in both the short and long term. Short term they offer speculation on iron ore’s upswings. Long term they offer security of a well-established, predictable industry.

Given the competitors, we think BKI has one of the best positions for iron ore out of any in the global junior mining sector. They certainly have a lot going for them.

Their cost of production, location to world markets in Ukraine, ultra high-grade 68% iron content product, existing infrastructure and strong mining management make the company a shoe-in for success. They have the permitting, available labor and a huge resource to grow a valuable iron ore operation.

Ultimately, Black Iron’s Shymanivske iron ore project could be a leading resource in the region. It’s already valued in the billions.

Bottom Line: You can get in on what is a very affordable point in the iron ore trend now. There is the potential for major leverage in backing a junior mining company that has a proven resource, but that is not yet in production.

We are looking for BKI to move to production rapidly, establish operations, ramp up their capacity and expand the overall resource size and valuations.

Early investors, like those that slip in prior to reaching production, could see an immediate double, triple or more from an initial stake. And although the long-term will be determined by supply economics, we feel that steel production and investments in infrastructure that power the iron ore market are solid bets through to the next administration, at the very least.

 

USA News Group
Editorial Staff

 

Sources:

(1) Seeking Alpha – https://seekingalpha.com/news/3296562-iron-ore-prices-slide-amid-chinese-demand-doubts-peak-steel-warning

(2) Motley Fool –  https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/09/06/why-this-iron-ore-miner-jumped-12-in-august-bestin.aspx

(3) BKI – Bankable Feasibility Study – https://www.blackiron.com/Projects/Shymanivske-Project/default.aspx

(4) Bloomberg Markets – Online as at 10.6.2017 https://bloomberg.com

 

 

Disclaimer

Nothing in this publication should be considered as personalized financial advice. We are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular financial situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized financial advice. Please consult a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decision. This is a paid advertisement and is neither an offer nor recommendation to buy or sell any security. We hold no investment licenses and are thus neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice. The content in this report or email is not provided to any individual with a view toward their individual circumstances. USAnewsgroup.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Market IQ Media Group, Inc. (“MIQ”). MIQ has been paid a fee for Black iron Inc. advertising and digital media. There may be 3rd parties who may have shares of BKI, and may liquidate their shares which could have a negative effect on the price of the stock. This compensation constitutes a conflict of interest as to our ability to remain objective in our communication regarding the profiled company. Because of this conflict, individuals are strongly encouraged to not use this newsletter as the basis for any investment decision. The owner/operator of USA News Group does not own any shares of BKI.

While all information is believed to be reliable, it is not guaranteed by us to be accurate. Individuals should assume that all information contained in our newsletter is not trustworthy unless verified by their own independent research. Also, because events and circumstances frequently do not occur as expected, there will likely be differences between the any predictions and actual results. Always consult a licensed investment professional before making any investment decision. Be extremely careful, investing in securities carries a high degree of risk; you may likely lose some or all of the investment