There are, of course, multiple ironies here, not the least of which is the fact that the very US brands that are collapsing in their homeland are some of the hottest models in Russia. GM’s Chevrolet brand saw a 59% increase in units sold in Russia for 1Q08 vs. 1Q07. Ford saw slower growth—only a 6% increase quarter over quarter— though its Focus is the best-selling model in Russia.

AuthenTec has continued to execute their business strategy, has introduced several new products to the market, and is is looking very reasonably priced at these levels.

The elephant in the room on why it isn’t getting recognition is the market has been in the dumps for the entire month of June, but I believe the primary reason it isn’t getting noticed is the first quarter was not nearly as strong as many hoped. I would have to agree on the last point, as I had expected a much stronger quarter due to the tremendous backlog they had generated in the 4th quarter. Now, lets not get to upset here as the quarter was still 100% stronger than last year! I have inquired about the quarter being weak and why more of the backlog was not done during the first quarter. I have been informed from the IR department that the reason for more of the backlog not being done in the first quarter was due to the lunar new year and the tremendous snow storm whipping out more than half of the quarter.

The company has grown enormously in the past year, yet, as stated on this call, the financial systems and capabilities the management had in place were unable to keep up.

After the market closed on June 25th, 2008, SoundBite announced that they reached a settlement agreement with Universal Recovery Systems, Inc. [URS], the owner of the Universal Systems Right Party Contact Solution, a patented approach to maximizing right party contacts.

I've written a lot about Primus Guaranty over the past couple months because I feel it is a very misunderstood company, and its small size means that it gets very little analyst coverage. Still, Primus is a fast-growing player in the huge market of selling credit default swaps, or credit protection largely written on corporate debt.

Drucker has held his own legend in the sphere of executive management [almost every MBA student and CEO has heard of this man]. Accordingly, he is the father of management, writing the commandments as to how management ought to be implemented throughout a corporation. If one were to go back to the first few novels on management published by Drucker, one would find that the majority of today’s “hot executive business books” will, without a doubt, spew the main points Peter had been teaching his entire life.

Q1 2008 Earnings Call

One of the interesting microcap ideas presented at the Value Investing Congress West in May was Canada-based Photochannel Networks, whose business is providing online digital photography solutions for retailers.  If you’ve ever electronically sent photos to a retail store for pick up, you may have used Photochannel technology.

Microvision (MVIS) shares are sharply lower this morning on a highly negative post about the company on the investment blog aggregation site Seeking Alpha.

The post is attributed to someone named Liam Mulcahy, who is described as someone who “works in a hedge fund that is short Microvision.” The hedge fund isn’t named; and I can’t find anything else on the author. Anyone know who he is?

Those who have read my stuff know that I have been bullish on the fertilizer and seed companies for some time now. Some stocks I like better like Potash Corp. (POT) and others that trade at a value like Compass Minerals (CMP), and there are also areas that are being ignored, such as agricultural chemicals. Just like seeds and fertilizer, insecticides and other chemicals are seeing increased pricing power. They have been ignored as farmers in the United States and Canada prefer to purchase seeds that are genetically altered to be resistant to insects, fungus, etc. The reason that we are still seeing a large demand for these chemicals is that many countries do not allow some or all of the technologies that are offered by companies such as Monsanto (MON). Investors anticipate that countries such as China will allow these technologies, but I believe they will continue to use chemicals until they develop their own.

As I have highlighted most of the big players in this arena, I will be trying to find smaller companies that have access to this. These companies are compelling, not just through growth, but with larger companies looking for growth through acquisitions. LSB Industries (LXU) has a $416 million dollar market cap and thus is speculative, but this also aids in growth with respect to the company. This company has lagged somewhat recently with respect to its residential exposure, but looks good on a long term basis. They provide components for air conditioning systems with respect to commercial and residential. They also have chemical exposure to mining, construction, industrial acid and agriculture.

It goes without saying that oil drillers and service companies will do well, as will the producers. Honda (HMC) and Toyota (TM) could do okay but the American consumer is tapped out so I'm not a buyer of those stocks now. However, more people are parking their SUVs and are riding their bikes or taking public transportation to work. That means municipalities will have to keep buying buses, particularly fuel-efficient ones, which in turn means that some of the bus manufacturers will be doing a lot of business over the next few years. GM (GM) may be closing its pick-up truck plants but you can bet that no one will be shutting down bus production lines.

Strong economic growth and rising income levels have increased demand for motor vehicles and transportation fuel, making China the second-largest energy user in the world. Vehicle related pollution is increasingly becoming a significant problem in China’s cities, prompting the Chinese government to aggressively promote the use of natural gas. The use of CNG as a fuel significantly reduces the cost of operating a vehicle. Analysts estimate that at current market prices, switching from gasoline to CNG can reduce fuel costs for a bus or a taxi by more than 40%. An industry projection made by PetroChina (PTR) estimates that there will be more than 1,000 retail CNG filling stations and more than 300,000 CNG vehicles in China before the year 2010.

It’s time to go Hollywood!

At the time, the company believed in-office testing could expand the market for nerve conduction studies to as many as 9.5 million procedures annually, creating a $1 billion opportunity. The cash-generating consumables, mainly disposable electrodes, are the stuff medical device dreams are made of.