Become a Member

“The Next Visa” Georges Yared

A quick note for those of you who have not been following this company closely, and might not have noticed that Georges Yared is touting the same stock for GameChangers that Marc Lichtenfeld has been touting for his Access Group.

Georges has ramped up his advertising this year, first pushing Visa and then pushing several different ideas as the “next Visa” — he’s a showman, at least, and he does claim a record of many very big winners over the years. With a strategy like his I would assume he has a good number of losers, too, not unlike Tobin Smith’s ChangeWave — when you go for massive growth in smallish companies, it’s bound to blow up more often than note, and you have to expect that you’ll find enough 1,000% winners to make up for the losers.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that — it’s not too different from many folks who speculate in stocks, most of us are aiming for a few massive winners — very few people sit down to sift through stock ideas and pick those that they hope can produce a 10% annual return. Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for? (First one to identify the source of that quote in a comment below gets a free one year membership in the Irregulars).

So Georges is widely touting this stock as another one of his “next Visa” stocks, though of course it has nothing to do with transactions or financial services at all. Here’s an excerpt of his ad:

“Today, 5 million guesswork biopsies are conducted each year in America, at a cost of $1,800 a time. I estimate that our company only needs to achieve 1.2 million procedures at $175 a time, with $75 of that going straight to the company. That highly conservative number puts us in the $100 million revenue ballpark, at which point we’re beating Ely Lilly and Johnson & Johnson off with sticks. Meanwhile, of course, we’ve got 75 million baby boomers riding off to their sun-drenched rewards, starting this summer.

“You get the picture; a market growing so fast, it’s insane.

“The NEXT Visa?

“Nah—It’s MUCH BETTER THAN THAT!

“THIS is the one you plan your retirement around, not just your daughter’s wedding!”

So, the Access Group has been pushing this one since $4.50 (a couple months ago), Yared is touting it here at $8.50. Where’s it going?

Beats me, I’ve been a bit too skeptical about this one all along, to my financial detriment.

The stock is — this won’t surprise any regular readers — Electro-Optical Sciences (MELA), makers of a little device that they use to scan spots on your skin and assess whether or not they’re dangerous or cancerous.

Lots of fans of this one, and a very sharp move up. I’ve said most of what I can about it in previous posts, here and here — those posts also have some useful comments that you might check out if the stock intrigues you.

Yared adds that he likes the “razor and blade” model (which Warren Buffett also always talks about as his motivation for an original investment in Gillette so long ago), since this firm will sell the little scanner machines as well as get a service fee for the use of their image database that the machine uses to compare a mole to a vast universe of malignant tumors and benign moles.

It’s a great model, if overused as a metaphor by financial analysts and stock touts – for example, the “razor and blade” model is often cited as a reason for the future success (and lofty valuation) of Intuitive Surgical, maker of the million-dollar da Vinci surgical robots … but that doesn’t mean it will work every time it’s tried — I imagine the key will be whether dermatologists embrace it and it gets accepted as a standard tool, knowledge that is beyond my understanding.

I can’t imagine those of you out there in Gumshoeland have even more to say about this one, since I think this is the third time I’ve written about it this year … but you never know, feel free to surprise me!

Are you getting our free Daily Update
"reveal" emails? If not,
just click here...


guest

12345

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

11 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Jan
Guest
Jan
May 28, 2008 6:32 pm

Robert Browning. . .

(Source of quote.)
Wish I were as good with stocks as with lit.

Larry Bebee
Larry Bebee
May 28, 2008 7:24 pm

Nice quote from Robert Browining -Andrea del Sarto

Glad to have found your site. Very helpful information and ideas.

Thanks,

brenda
brenda
May 28, 2008 8:08 pm

Good quick work, Larry — and thanks! I’ve sent your username and password by email, let me know if you don’t get it.

👍 7
Mike Z
Guest
Mike Z
May 29, 2008 9:39 am

Robert Browning quote

skin
Guest
skin
May 29, 2008 10:36 am

As a practicing dermatologist, my take on this is that we have seen similar devices (i.e., MoleMax). A dermatologist trained in the use of dermoscopy will find this bulky and likely expensive tool of little value. As I recall, the MoleMax® was about $50,000.. Another hurdle is reimbursement: without a CPT code for this specific service, insurance coverage will be virtually zero, so the derm will have to convince patients to pay out of pocket. Lots of luck with that. No thanks, I’ll stick with my user-friendly $400. DermLite that is rechargeable and fits in my pocket. (No financial interest in the DermLite.)

Add a Topic
882
Add a Topic
372
Dewey Cheatem & Howe
Guest
Dewey Cheatem & Howe
May 30, 2008 11:37 am

Right on, Mr. Skin, I know where you been. Invested hevily in VASO which designs and manufactures machines to give therapy for angina, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction any other cardiovascular stuff. The machines are very good at what they do. When stock first went public in late 90s, it shot up to $15. (I, of course, didn’t own it then.) It quickly settled to around $5/share (that’s when I bought in) and has slowly sunk to its current $.08/share price, all for a lack of insurance reimbursement. The therapy is expensive; low 4 figures for a series of treatments (you can’t just do it once or twice). The therapy does work, but no one is used to shelling out such an out-of-pocket expense. We’re all spoiled by having the insurance pay all but $25 or whatever. So, here I sit, waiting for the insurance companies to put it on its list. And sit, and sit………….

Add a Topic
5971
Add a Topic
882
Add a Topic
882
rick
Guest
May 30, 2008 9:32 pm

Dear Gumshoe:

I enjoy your website very much for a long time.
I recently saw an article for “Russian Mercenary Makes
Hostile Play for Africa’s Hidden
$55 Billion Energy Fortune

Bidding War Could Launch $3 Stock to $35…
Get In By May 31 and You Could Pocket $53,330

Dear Reader,

Right now, a little-known $3 Canadian wildcatter is at the center of a global power struggle that could launch its share price into the stratosphere.

Thanks to an exclusive deal with the Algerian government, this tiny company could double by August 2008.

———————–

May I know whether you have any idea about this stock referred in the above teaser?
Thank you very much in advance.
Rick

Add a Topic
5971
Add a Topic
5971
web
Guest
May 31, 2008 12:25 am

Thanks for all this input.

👍 7
Jim Phene
Guest
Jim Phene
June 2, 2008 12:58 am

I actually found two companies with similar equipment…Lumenis in conjunction with Astron Clinica…and this includes software for doctors and has been in use in UK and Australia…there is another company in Israel SCS…neither trades on an exchange that I could find…both seemed to be reputable just not available for investment…I had skin cancer…and the whole process would have been much quicker and easier with a device like this…

Thanks for the info on MELA…

Add a Topic
258
Ralph Miegel
Member
Ralph Miegel
June 11, 2008 5:09 pm

“A man’s reach should exceed his grasp” is attributed to Robert Browning, English poet,
1812 – 1889. I once worked for one Bob Browning at
Chicago Bridge and Iron, who had this quote on his desk. He also displayed the Anonymous quote:
“Of all the things in this world, nothing is more useless than an excuse.”
This was way back during the Stagflation era (1974), when the Canadian Loonie was worth $1.05,
due to Watergate.

We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience. By clicking any link on this page you are giving your consent for us to set cookies.

More Info  
32
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x