Stocks – June 21, 2023

Corning, Inc (GLW)

Corning Glass Works, previously known as the Brooklyn Flint Glass Company, moved to Corning, N.Y., in 1868. For the next 155 years, Corning Glass Works (now called Corning, Inc) became known for products such as light bulbs, Pyrex and Corning ware, Gorilla Glass, optical fiber, and Steuben art glass. But Corning was never about Brands or Products. Corning is about research.

There are probably more genius level scientists in Corning NY than any equal acreage of land on Earth. Let me say that another way: Corning is a city in Steuben County, New York, United States. The city encompasses an area of 3.26 sq mi (8.45 km2), and the population at the 2020 census was 10,551. In 2022 the company ( which remember is in Corning, NY) acknowledged employing 61,000 people. How do they do it?

They are SCIENTISTS. Pure and simple. There is no Steve Jobs or Tim Cook at Corning. Scientists at Corning just quietly without any fanfare invent stuff or (usually) invent new processes that make an existing product better. The glass on your Smartphone or your giant flat screen TV is usually Corning. Regardless of what Covid Vaccine manufacturer you used, they all bought those little dose bottles from – yup – Corning. Hundreds of millions of those little bottles. Why Corning? They are the best and the cheapest.

Every US Space vehicle from the Mercury Capsule to the Space Shuttle used Corning glass for windows. The submersible vessel that recently failed to complete its visit to the Titanic did not use Corning glass in its one porthole. The scientists at Corning will continue to quietly invent new stuff even after the Coming Climate Change Causes all life on Earth to end (except for Corning, NY). That’s just what they do. Do I think Corning (GLW) is a good investment. Yes. You get a decent dividend and long-term appreciation. Trust the scientists.

Stocks – June 9, 2023

Energy Recovery, Inc (ERII)  Part 2

The big challenge for stock market analysts  is placing Energy Recovery, Inc (ERII) in an Industry. Unfortunately, most of the Comparison Stats require an Industry. No matter what Industry you choose, ERII fails many ratios. As a result, this Company doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Which, frankly, I’m not upset about.

For investing purposes, I’ve always placed ERII into an industry of one. This company alone makes Reverse Seawater Osmosis economically feasible. If you want to build a RSWO facility you MUST buy their pumps. Pretty cool, huh. But let’s not mention the M word; let’s call it 98% Market Share. You think $ERII has a future? You think we’ll stop needing fresh water soon?

But wait – there’s more! Lately the Company has been trying to break into the CO₂  Refrigeration Industry; with enough success to be nominated for the Refrigeration Innovation of the Year Award at ATMO America 2023.  KC Chen, Vice President of CO₂ at Energy Recovery, will be presenting with Steven Goh, Director of Energy Management at Vallarta Supermarkets: “CO₂ Refrigeration Enabled by Energy Recovery: Benefits Beyond Emissions.” – June 12, 3:30pm EST. That’s this coming Monday; so, this news is fresh, baby.

UPDATE JUNE 13, 2023:

Energy Recovery received the Innovation of the Year Award at ATMO America 2023. Two years ago ERII was THINKING about entering the Refrigeration Industry. In two years they will OWN it just like the Reverse Seawater Osmosis Industry. Why? How? Read on…

First one definition: HFCs are chemicals made up of hydrogen, fluorine, and carbon. They are commonly used in air conditioning and refrigeration. The refrigeration section of your local Supermarket uses row after row of HFC fueled refrigerator coils. There are plenty more in the back storage rooms. Your home and car air conditioners probable use Freon, an HFC. Supermarkets continue to use HFCs because they are CHEAP. Anything else will cost more.

Enter Energy Recovery with a turbo pressure pump ( yes, the SAME basic pump used for RSO) that suddenly improves the cost equation for a high pressure CO₂ Refrigeration System and makes CO₂ the solution the Industry has been searching for. Do you think $ERII stock price will go down in the future? Well, isn’t that all you really need to know?

D-Wave Quantum Computers (QBTS)  Part 2

No, I have no idea why D-Wave stock has jumped from 50 cents to over 2 bucks. Maybe they’ve doubled the number of press releases they’ve released. I DO know why the stock went from 10 bucks to 50 cents. It went Public via a SPAC and was grossly overvalued initially. A 100 Million dollar Company does not become a Billion dollar Company just by going public. Eventually the Market will price you correctly and that’s what happened in the March/April period.

I got in at 53 cents and am happy with the appreciation, but don’t see a reason. Still, I’m an optimist. Quantum computing is a Solution looking for the right Problem. There are other bigger Companies in this space, but I like the little guys who were thinking Quantum when most techno nerds were skeptical. I’m holding till 10 bucks.

Stocks May 19, 2023

Webvan Group, Inc (WBVN)

At the time it closed in June 2001, Webvan delivered groceries in Chicago; Los Angeles; Orange County, California; Portland, Oregon; San Diego; San Francisco; and Seattle. Webvan management woke up one morning and found themselves with an extraordinary amount of infrastructure and without the ability to get to profitability. Webvan entered Bankruptcy 18 months after its IPO.

I was both financially and emotionally invested in Webvan. In 2001, I was my Dad’s caregiver, he was failing and grocery shopping was becoming increasingly problematic. I WANTED Webvan to succeed. It took years to recover from the financial debacle of their demise. My lovely wife STILL hasn’t recovered.

Webvan’s business model was to build its own Distribution Centers and source its deliveries from these facilities. Today (2023) Fresh Direct uses this same business model. Fresh Direct has offered fresh food delivered to your door since 2002, BUT and this is a BIG BUT – just in the New York City area. They have ONE distribution center. They are succeeding. They are thinking about expanding.

One might say Webvan was a little ahead of itself. The only reason for Webvan to open operations in 7 cities before proving the viability of its business model was “Management Hubris”. I should have seen it, but I was blinded by my desire for them to be right. I haven’t made that mistake again – came close with VUZI, but that’s another story.

Energy Recovery, Inc (ERII)

We’ve got saltwater; we need fresh water.

There are two basic methods for breaking the bonds in saltwater: thermal distillation and membrane separation. Thermal distillation involves heat: Boiling water turns it into vapor that is collected and condensed back into water by cooling it down (the salt is left behind). Membrane separation is also called reverse osmosis. Seawater is forced at high pressure through a semipermeable membrane that separates salt and other stuff from fresh water.

All the original desalination plants were built using thermal distillation  because it was cheaper. Researchers at Energy Recovery, Inc developed a combination pressure pump and turbine that was able to take a flow of high-pressure seawater and blast it through a membrane to produce fresh water but at the same time the pump was directing the pressurized seawater through a turbine that produced enough electricity to save 60% of the pump’s cost. Whew! Quite a mouthful of tech stuff.

The ”PX Exchanger” changed the desalination cost equation to favor Reverse Osmosis and indeed, all new plants and refits of existing plants are switching to Reverse Osmosis.

When I first bought Energy Recovery, Inc in 2014 the company was embroiled in a patent lawsuit with a former owner who thought he owned the patent rights. The stock was in the single digits. The suit was eventually resolved in the Company’s favor. Management went a little crazy for a few years trying to cram the PX Exchanger technology into the Fracking Industry. Eventually sanity prevailed and today ERII is the only game in town if you want to build or re-fit a desalination facility cost effectively. Is ERII a good investment at 25? Yes. Am I buying? No. Am I selling? A little every time I need a big vacation!

Stocks April 20, 2023

Total Helium (TSXV:TOH) is a publicly traded helium exploration, production and storage solutions company. I do not own Total Helium, but some words below are from their website. Very well written.

Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe, with hydrogen being the first. Liquid helium, the coldest element on Earth, is needed to keep MRI machines running and without it, doctors would lose a critical medical tool. D-Wave uses liquid Helium to cool its Quantum Computers (Oh what a web we weave!).

Unfortunately, the Earth is running out of helium. In fact, helium is the only element on the periodic table that is considered a nonrenewable resource on Earth. Helium is generated deep underground through the natural radioactive decay of elements such as uranium and thorium. “It takes many, many millennia to make the helium that’s here on the Earth,” says Sophia Hayes, a chemist at Washington University in St. Louis. The helium seeps up through the Earth’s crust and gets trapped in pockets of natural gas, where it can be extracted.”¹

What’s more, helium is so much lighter than air that it actually escapes the Earth’s atmosphere once it is released from those underground natural gas pockets unless it is stored properly. In other words, the helium that was inside every balloon that you have ever popped in your life is now floating around in space somewhere, never to be used again.

When you consider the facts that all the helium that humans can currently use already exists and is trapped underground and that, unless that helium is recycled after it’s used it is lost into space forever, it becomes clear why Total Helium and many other companies are investing in the business of helium exploration and storage. My Twitter response to this would be “Let’s ask Elon to pick up some Helium on his way back from Mars”.

P.S. I AM invested in Helium One Global Ltd (HLOGF). Why? Why not?

¹Am I the only one who sees the fault in Sophia Hayes’s logic?

Stocks April 13, 2023

D-Wave Quantum Computers (DWAV)  is trying to be a nerd’s “girl next door” and the “town Ho” and almost succeeding. God Bless Nerdiness.

Ur-Energy Inc. (URG) buy an American Uranium company – well…. Is Canada still considered American?

I love Corning (GLW). Ever been to Corning, NY?  Do you know anyone who lives in Corning, NY?  Ever read (or seen) “The Puppet Masters”?

I was a General Motors Bondholder in 2009 when the government said “you know that rule that says bondholders get paid first? Welllllll, in THIS case the Unions get paid first”. Please excuse my forever jaded attitude about “the rules”.

Argentina Lithium & Energy Corp. (TSXV: LIT) (FSE: OAY3) (OTC: PNXLF) is focused on acquiring high quality lithium projects in Argentina and advancing them toward production. I own some PNXLF not because I’m an evil person but because I’m an investor and right now I consider this industry a good investment. Why THIS Company? Why not! Do your own research!

Do you know why most lithium batteries are produced in China? It’s because China doesn’t care about poisoning its land, its water, its air, and its people. Australia mines lithium but ships it to China for refining. Hydrochloric and Sulfuric acids are used in battery production and are not good for earth, water, air, or people.

I just bought a car – a Subaru Outback gas engine heavy safe car with a 9.5inch ground clearance. Tesla has a 5.5inch clearance and it’s $40,000 worth of batteries are located between the wheels right above that clearance. So, to all the people in Fort Lauderdale  who last week had to drive thru or park in a foot of water, I say: “Maybe we got ahead of ourselves !”