This article was originally published on August 13, 2013, around the time this teaser ad pitch was first circulated. The ad is still largely the same today and is circulating heavily again, and it is clearly still teasing the same company, so we’re just re-posting this article for all our newer readers who have questions… without any updates or edits. The spiel about this “one device to end all disease” is now apparently being used to pitch both the $2,000 Radical Technology Profits newsletter and the $99 Nova-X Report, both helmed by Michael Robinson at Money Map Press, so you might have seen similar spiels come from either of those publications.
The stock teased is at very nearly the same price as it was two ago when we originally covered it (it was around $8.50 then, just over $9 now), and the story is more or less the same (though I haven’t checked the detailed progress of any of their operations) — revenue has fallen for five years in a row, but estimates have started to rise again for 2015 and 2016 so analysts think they will start to grow again. It now trades at a forward PE of 14 on 2016 earnings, and at about 22X expected 2015 earnings (though long term growth expectations among analysts remain very low, about 5%). The dividend amount remains unchanged at 10 cents/quarter, so they still carry an anticipated yield in the neighborhood of 4.3%, close to what it was a couple years ago.
—–from 8/15/13——-
Radical Technology Profits, edited by Michael Robinson over at Money Map Press, is one of the newsletters that, like Breakthrough Technology Alert or the many other competitors, aims to get in early on technology and biotech stories — and also like most of these letters, they pitch their ideas by selling a big picture story that weaves some little company’s product into a larger and more easily identified trend that sounds entirely plausible.
Which isn’t to say that they’re all bad ideas — far from it, I’m sure these kinds of “breakout technology” newsletters all have some dramatic winning picks in their portfolio. The problem is that they all sound like great ideas, and given the bleeding edge nature of most of the technologies they pitch, and the small nature of many of the stocks, the assumption has to be that the major winners will make up for the large number of failures.
The smaller the stocks are that you count on for world-changing returns, the more diversified you need to be — or, I suppose, the more expert and prescient you have to be, though it’s dangerous to start thinking that you can predict things well enough to have a concentrated portfolio of small cap technology names.
But I’m not here to lecture you on how to think about investing in breakthrough technologies — I’m here to try to figure out who Michael Robinson is teasing in his latest ad as the beneficiary of this latest breakout trend. Here’s how he puts it in the email I received today:
“I’m going on record to say that this technology is so overwhelmingly transformative, that I’m comparing it to the internal combustion engine. It will change the way you do everything now and in the future. It’s now creating the Fourth Revolution in the industry. I kid you not, it’s that big.”
So, no shyness there. What is the technology? Here’s more from the ad:
“The End of Disease May Soon Become a Reality Thanks to MEMS
“Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems
“If that name sounds high tech that’s because it is.
“And if you want to live a long and healthy life, without the fear of disease…
“You’ll want to watch this short presentation to the end because…
“MEMS are the Only Existing Technology That Could Eradicate the Dangers of Disease, Add 30 Healthy Years to Your Life…
“And Cost Less Than $50
“And here’s where it gets really exciting for someone in my line of work.
“Today, the patents for the MEMS set to end disease….
“They’re controlled by one tiny, unknown company.
“They Have Been Cleared By the FDA”
You can see the whole presentation if you like here (or read the transcript), it’s a very long one and Robinson talks about how MEMS technology can allow for tiny sensors, powered by body heat, that are implanted under your skin and can alert your smartphone (which will then call your doctor) about changes in your body chemistry that indicate the pending risk of a heart attack. Among many other things, like smart cities with pollution and light sensors all around, and smart arrays of MEMS chips underground to track seismic activity and help to find oil and gas reserves..
So which company is it that he says controls the patents to all this MEMS stuff? After giving examples of a few pharma companies whose stocks skyrocketed on the back of multibillion dollar drugs to address some of the same diseases that can be helped by MEMS technology, he starts to throw in a few clues:
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“A Tech Company 1/30th the Size of These ‘Big Pharma’ Titans, Developed a MEMS Technology That Could End All Heart Disease.
“And it Controls the Patents.
“There is a very simple way for you to get a slice of this company’s patent profits for less than $9. So you’ll be able to cheaply get in, on the ground floor…”
Now, the examples he gave right before that were Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb — so keep that in mind, the stock might not be that tiny. To be 1/30 the size of those titans you’d be talking about a stock with a market cap between $2 billion and $7 billion. Roughly speaking.
Some more clues:
“First Off, They Produce the Lion’s Share of All MEMS Devices.
“Currently, they can produce 4 million devices a day. That’s more than anyone else in the world. And their production capabilities are growing exponentially each year.
“Which is why the companies that turn to them for MEMS technology are a who’s who of Silicon Valley and the Fortune 500 companies.
“Apple, Blackberry, Dell, Bosch, Continental, Delphi, Delta, Denso, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, HTC, Magnetti Marelli, Motorola, Nokia, Philips, Samsung, Seagate, Sony, Western Digital, and Cisco…”
And …
“They Have Also Captured and Secured Total Market Share Domination For All Major Operating Systems.
- They have an astounding 75% of the Apple/iOS market.
- 31.4% of the Android market.
- And 54.4% of the Windows Operating Systems market.
“That’s over 4 times greater than the next closest competitor.
“So when a company is developing a MEMS health technology, and they want to ensure it is scalable across all operating systems both mobile and computer…
“They only have one clear choice.”
And they have a strong patent pipeline, we’re told:
“While this one company controls the Patent Pipeline for the most important MEMS breakthroughs for ending disease…
“Medical MEMS form just one block of their entire 800-patent portfolio.”
So … dominant position in MEMS chips for current mobile phones and tablets, strong patent portfolio with 800+ patents, largest producer of MEMS chips with capacity for four million chips a day, and a stock price under $9. This can only be …
ST Microelectronics (STM)
I know, sorry — this is a big one that you’ve probably already heard of. And it’s been quite weak over the past decade, thanks in part to Asian and US competition (Texas Instruments, all the analog chip makers, etc.) and in part to the weak European economy and currency issues. But it’s probably still the largest European chipmaker, and it was one of the pioneers of MEMS technology and does indeed have the capability of producing four million chips a day, and they do claim 800 patents. There’s quite likely a STM chip in your phone or your car right now.
The MEMS chips, including their medical sensors and other cutting edge products, are a relatively small part of the business, but one that’s growing. That division was less than 20% of sales last year, but the resurgence in growth there is probably a significant reason why the shares have recovered a bit recently. This is a big semiconductor company that might arguably be reasonably priced if you believe the analyst estimates about next year, and if you’re comfortable with their solid dividend (almost 5%), but they also are coming out of a really rough patch — they lost $2 billion last year, tough for a company with a market cap of only $7 billion. There’s a pretty good FT article about them here if you’d like more perspective.
And that’s about all I know about STM — they get teased every now and then as a MEMS pioneer and major patent holder (they’re in a big patent fight with Invensense (INVN) right now, among others), and I agree that MEMS is a huge growth industry, but I don’t know how their patent portfolio will hold up or how long it will be before MEMS chips make a big impact on STM’s bottom line. Most of the companies that are using sensors enabled by STM’s chips are either small or don’t widely publicize the connection, from what I can tell, and most of the early stage research breakthroughs that get trumpeted in this area lately are from not-yet-public little biotech companies.
STM is certainly an industry leader, with a big business in chips for smart phones and tablets and lots of other products, but my impression is that they’re not terribly nimble and they haven’t been very profitable in recent years. If you’ve an opinion to share on this one, feel free to spit it out with a comment below.
My husband was listening to the same video you all are talking about from August on 2/4/14. We searched for it through what was said about the stock. I had come up with the same stock, STM, before finding it here. Does that mean you guys are doing an excellent job? I hope so. I do appreciate your posting. This is my first time to this website area, and would like to be able to come back on other stock questions. Thanks to Slick Rick for his post. I almost bought PRAN today, but decided it could still go down. (And that tip may also be old). It’s good to see it here again. I’d like to find an honest website to post questions and get feedback. Can that be done here?
Michael told me he was only making it available to 250 people, hmm someone said he told them 500, which one Michael? I too ran into gumshoe after doing some deducements from hints in M Robinsons letter and arrived at the same conclusion, ST Microelectronics! Think I will pass, was going to stick three grand on it and make a cool couple million but think I will just keep the three grand for better opportunities. I am a beginner and trying to be very careful!
Lately there have been many versions of the M. Robinson E mail in my mailbox. I’m a risk taker and sometimes a little too impulsive. It almost cost me $1195! Glad I tracked down Travis and the gumshoe before I spent all that money on hope and snake oil. Now that I have the name of the “mystery miracle company” for FREE, I can hit the delete button knowing I did not miss not getting rich.
Yes, Thanks for the instant feedback and for all for putting it in perspective.
The old adage says that there is a sucker born every minute, but what I don’t understand is how these tease artists get away by quoting The FDA this and the FDA that in the execution of their teases. You’d think that such quotes add the air of legitimacy to their articles, wouldn’t you? What would happen if they were called out to show such documentation? These are such trying times and without looking like the majority of so many others whom are down and out and could use a break from the higher food prices and the appearance from the rest of the manufacturing crowd like there’s nothing wrong with the economy. It would be wonderful to have just a tiny bit of honesty here, so everybody could prosper and pull themselves up and out of the quagmire. I realize that this makes me sound squeamish and juvenile but at the cost of sounding as such, where is the justice? Or is it like the old Richard Pryor joke, “just us?”
Anyone know the date the m. Robinson mems video was made ?
I just got the same email. So this has been going on since august 2013?
May 23 2014… and this teaser is still going around! I just ran across it (as an ad) in one of Stansberry’s freebie publications.
Today’s close for ST Microelectronics: $9.38, so except for some time down into the $7 range in the last year the stock has really gone nowhere.
Whew! There’s still time to pile into this hot pick before it goes to the moon! Lol.
I received his email message today.
I have heard about MEMS technology for years. It’s great stuff. I have two RC helicopters which use MEMS technology for the gyros.
I passed on the invitation.
I received a follow-up email to give me another chance at the apple.
I asked in my reply for today’s price of the stock referred to in the presentation and what exchange where the stock is listed.
I haven’t received a reply yet.
I’ll keep you posted.
They spun this from a different angle about a year ago – I almost bought a second subs. to learn about this “amazing tech and company – that will change the world” – so I’m glad to find this site and comments. Here is something else – that will be a great benefit to any investors and/or income tax payers reading here, and Travis. This development I know about personally, been following since 1998: Technology to generate the low cost, clean power for transportation, homes, businesses, etc. with the renewable resources (mainly the sun, biomass, wind, waves). One company has (much of) this technology and recently announced an electric circuit / device (with prototype / proof, credible 3rd party verification) that can make possible electric cars at lower cost to own and power than what we pay now – being able to use capacitors (much lighter, cheaper, that can be recharged instantly) for the power source instead of batteries – and powered by the clean energy of the sun and other – with other techs (that can be mass produced cheap, with about 50 patents). Anyone interested can get more info (free) on this developing public co. through the following site that describes a program they offer to better utilize your taxes (reduces them – putting 30% cash in your pocket, with the 70% going into ownership in the project) here: http://powertaxcredit.com
I found Stock Gumshoe by accident while doing some serious digging for information. Turned our Gumshoe already had my answer. Ok, nobody laugh but I didn’t know there was an actual Gumshoe subscription available. I just thought some computer nerd was locked up in a dark basement spreading the truth and “bringing the man down”. Having said that I have to say Stock Gumshoe has done me right every time. And now a little tip I can offer you. Watch out for the Living Metal pitch. I believe it is from Money Map or Money Morning. They can help you find out about a stock before it goes public for only $1900 plus. It’s already public. It called Stellar (KLH) on the TSXV. How do I sign up for the Stock Gumshoe letter or publishing? Thanks,
Andy
Wow, yes I just received a email from Radical Technology Profits, thought before I read anymore I will log on to Stock Gumshoe, couldn’t believe my eyes, there it was in black and white, great job !!! Best money spent !!!
What company symbol is it ?
I think the stock was INVN. Earlier this year it was in the capitalization range mentioned in the tease and it is a U.S. stock. That said, if I want to invest in MEMs, I would put some money in STM, which is suing INVN for patent infringement and also pays a nice dividend on the current price, and then some in INVN, which is likely to hit a new low for the year this month with loss selling.
STM has been really poorly managed for years, though it may well come back with enough of a demand for MEMS, where it is the largest player. INVN I’ve suggested in the past, but dropped them when it seemed they were getting too squeezed by Apple and Samsung on margins for my expectations to be met… the Motley Fool is putting a lot of hope on INVN’s chip being in the Apple Watch. They’ve been pitching this one for a year or so now, we first covered that ad of theirs here: http://www.stockgumshoe.com/reviews/motley-fool-rule-breakers/whats-tim-cooks-please-take-my-money-stock/
The Motley Fool is for “fools” as are most newsletter services.
Money Map Press is fairly new and its address is:
16 W. Madison St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
This will tell you if the newsletter in question is from them. Thus you can tell from the fine print that it is one of theirs. Motley Fool has been around a long time and its services are easy to identify as well as all the services from Weiss.
INVN has been tanking all year. And no one who sells stock advice can figure out why.
NVDA http://www.stockgumshoe.com/reviews/radical-technology-profits/how-neural-imprinting-will-wipe-out-pain-and-generate-2-86-trillion-in-new-wealth/
Subscribed to Robinson for a year and dropped it. As Gumshoe says, he has some good ones and some others. Certainly not worth the $1000 price.
Wow, that was certainly an interesting read !!!!
Just received the “One Device” pitch in my Inbox yesterday. I listened to it, took some notes, looked promising; saw the come on price; then said to myself I wonder if Gumshoe has any thing to say about it. Well, low and behold when I opened my computer this morning, there was your repeat article about this company. There must have been a lot of people wondering the same thing , should I or should I not. As a new reader, many thanks for anticipating our question!!
Thank YOU, Mike — glad to have you aboard!
PS.
I should have added, I am becoming an IRREGULAR
In my opinion STM has the potential to be a 10 bagger! They have been up to $80 in the past. After the debacle of the telecom joint venture quarterly results have been steadily improving. They have an excellent balance sheet with low debt. They are a leader if not the leader in mems and have a lot of intellectual property (patents). The Internet of Things (IOT) is developing slowly, but it is developing. In the last quarterly report they announced a big upside in business through distribution which means many small/ start-ups are designing with their products. STM will benefit when some of these little guys become big. The cherry on top is their announcement in partnership with AMS of a state of the art NFC solution which should give NXP a run for their money (currently prototyping). Because of STM’s IOT leadership position, their IP, and their balance sheet I believe they are a takeover target by the likes of Cisco, Intel and many others. In my opinion a takeover or selling off the mems division would be a bad thing unless it results in a bidding war. I’m all in with just under 20% of my portfolio.
Dude:
I hate to tell you, but 20% is not ‘all in’.
I’m a new investor and joined Money Morning in Jan 2015. Also joined the extra services for “Energy Advantage,” and “NovaX” for tech stocks. Each cost $49, or $79 for the premium membership which includes books, etc. The memberships have been very educational, and I’ve even made a little money. HOWEVER, I also joined High Velocity Profits for $1,950. The result was disappointing. Maybe I didn’t give it enough time, but they only give you 30 days to get a refund, so I bailed. They refunded the money within 2 days. I also joined Stealth Profits for $1,950; the jury is still out on that one, but I have a feeling I’ll be asking for a refund before the 30 days are up. Perhaps I am less gullible now (in part, due to Travis). Thanks for investigating the MEMS pitch that just appeared again on Money Morning.
Recently cancelled Energy Advantage. While there was some good reading, not much actionable Intel. Look at the good Dr.s portfolios and he doesn’t have alot to brag about. All the recent “alerts” have been about cutting loses and moving the stop losses. THEN, the 2x he claims to have really had something, here comes the upsell. And its always well over $1000. So why bother w a newsletter that doesn’t give u any of Dr. Moors own Big winners? Just my 2 cents, which is about what I’d b willing to pay for Energy Advantage.
I also joined High Velocity Profits & I’m really disappointed in it. I have only gotten 3 tips to buy & they all went south.
Personally, I favor stocks that have a 6 month upward trend and good balance sheets. All else to me is more of a gamble than I am willing to take. Turtle vs. rabbit. Not into get rich quick schemes and promotions.
I am with you, slow and steady wins the race.