I came across Seychelle Environmental Technologies Inc (SYEV) whilst rooting through stocks which Dan Schum has disclosed in his portfolio but not written up yet (Thanks for the idea Dan!). As I suspected the firm is tiny, cheap , illiquid and hairy. Just how I like 'em! SYEV 's description on the OTC markets website reads as follows; "Seychelle is a worldwide manufacturer and marketer of portable water filtration products with proprietary filters that remove up to 99.9999% of contaminants that can be found in drinking water sources. Over 7 million filters have been sold in 33 countries through a network of dealers, distributors, humanitarian and faith-based groups, and militaries. The extensive product line includes bottles, water pitchers, drinking water straws, canteens, pure water bags, pouches and pumps; ideal for daily family use or emergencies." The firm was founded back in 1986 by Carl Palmer who was a pioneer in creating home reverse osmosis products. This is the third water filtration company he's started having sold the previous two, Aq-ro-matic Inc to Coca-Cola Co. back in 1973 for $4 Mil in stock and cash, and PurWater International/Interntional Membrane Laboratories to AMF Cuno Corp for around $6 Mil in 1986. You can read a bit about him here. If you want to listen to a podcast interview with the founder you can listen here. Here's some numbers; Market Cap = $2,125,945 Share price = $0.08 Common = 26,574,313 BV = $3.489,247 Total Debt (not inc. warrants or operating leases) = $877,030 Cash = $2,174,866 No prefs but there's currently 6,407,221 warrants outstanding with a weighted average life of 1.54 yrs and an excise price of $0.21. Operating lease obligations are ; 2019 = $147,509 2020$= 258,181 2021 = $153,209 Total = $558,899 Revenues and earnings are lumpy with SYEV, every few years the firm turns a profit when a natural disaster hits or a tele-evangelist pumps their products. Here's BV for the last few years; 2015 = $4.58 Mil 2016 = $5.86 Mil 2017 = $3.62 Mil 2018 = $4.3 Mil 2019 = $3.75 Mil Here's revs and net profits/losses for the last few years; 2015 = $4.31 Mil / -$1.41 Mil 2016 = $10.91 Mil/ $1.03 Mil 2017 = $4.38/ -$2,15 Mil 2018 = $5.28 Mil/ $660k 2019= $3.15 Mil/ -$240 k Now to the charts. I see a stock selling at it's lowest price since 2004, I see a stock which has frequently moved up several hundred percent in the past. I hear the ghost of Ted Warren whispering into my ear 'This is a buy'.
Before we get too carried away let me describe the fine head of hair this stock currently sports. For starters, despite being based in CA, the firm is incorporated in NV. It re-incorporated there from Utah back in '98. At this point you might want to start running away! Given the outstanding warrants there's a good chance of some dilution if SYEV runs up like it has in the past. The firm is also currently involved in legal proceedings; "There is a pending legal action named Rolling Tides, LLC vs. Carl Palmer, Seychelle Environmental Technologies, Inc., and other defendants. The case was brought in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Orange. The action alleges certain fraudulent transfers occurred from Seychelle to the various defendants. The plaintiffs have refused to identify any such transfers by date or amount. The matter is in discovery and trial is set for August, 2019. All the defendants have denied the allegations of the complaint, and are vigorously defending the matter. It is not likely that the case will be settled without trial. The Company believes that the case has no merit." This is probably enough to put most people off but not me. When I'm looking at a stock I ideally want to see 3 things, a) discount to tangible assets b) multi year or absolute low on the long-range chart c) Some evidence or prospect of change Point C brings us to the recent release of an 8K by the company; "Effective March 8, 2019, Mr. Carl Palmer resigned from his offices as Treasurer, President, CEO and CFO of the Company. There are no disagreements between the Company and Mr. Palmer. He remains a Director of the Company and plans to continue to work with the Company primarily in a consulting capacity, with a focus on strategic issues. A copy of his resignation letter is attached. Also on March 8, 2019, Ms. Cari Beck became the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. She is also a Director and HR Manager. Effective March 8, 2019, Ms. Jocelyn Straubinger became the CFO and Secretary-Treasurer of the Company." The board had previously removed Palmer from the helm back in 2016 stating ; "This decision of the Board is the result of its dissatisfaction with Mr. Palmer’s past performance regarding both ongoing operations and customer and employee relations" Shortly thereafter they did a U-turn and announced a Co-management structure. You can read about these actions here and here. Given Palmer is 85 years old it's probably reasonable that he takes a step back. A point of interest is the fact that Mr Palmer is the Father of Cari Beck and the Father-in-law of John Beck (Director). So, it's a family affair. Could be a good thing, could be a bad thing. Right, what's SYEV worth? Assuming it should be worth it's current BV then around $0.13 per share might be fair value, you might have a different opinion after seeing those warrants and operating lease obligations. If SYEV has another good year like 2016 where it earned $1 Mil then maybe it's worth a lot more. If it can earn 3 or 4 cents per share again and get a no growth P/E pricing from the market of 7-8 then maybe it's fair value range is somewhere between $0.20-0.32 per share. Last I checked the firm had a $300k backlog. Given the recent unfortunate events with Hurricane Dorian and the imminent Humberto perhaps the firm's business will increase. In terms of ownership, the family owns 58.25% of the common. If they want to screw minority shareholders they can. I'm a simple man and my thesis is simple here. I see a tiny illiquid stock which is currently subject to negative market sentiment, it is selling at a multi year low and has the potential to run up several hundred percent if it has a good earnings year. I see some emerging potential with a change in leadership. I buy then sit and wait. Thanks for reading , David Long SYEV
24 Comments
G
9/16/2019 06:48:00 am
Insightful write-up, thank you! This one hit my radar too but once the operating leases were accounted for it didn't look as appealing (from a discount to NCAV perspective) relative to other opportunities.
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David
9/16/2019 07:41:35 pm
Hi G,
Reply
G
9/16/2019 11:45:48 pm
Thought if I'd ask there would be something new to uncover. How can they use a reverse spilt to force out minority shareholders? I get it technically; they'll have a share price higher than the value of current shareholders holdings... in that case what happens to minority shareholders stock?
David
9/17/2019 09:09:14 pm
Hi G,
Reply
G
9/18/2019 12:03:08 am
That usually happens at what price? Current market price?
David
9/22/2019 10:33:32 am
Hi G,
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michael boller
9/16/2019 12:26:58 pm
Is it possible to invest e.g. USD 10k in this Stock?
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David
9/16/2019 08:23:07 pm
Hi Michael,
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michael boller
9/16/2019 07:07:27 pm
Yes, but if you go global you can can find even cheaper stocks. E.g. Kerlink (ALKLK) trades for a Net-current asset / Market Cap ratio of about 2, price to sale of 0.35 and price to book of 0.3.
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David
9/16/2019 08:32:40 pm
Thanks Dan,
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David
9/16/2019 08:50:38 pm
Thanks Dan,
Reply
michael
9/17/2019 11:23:43 pm
There are several things that I like about this stock; it is tiny, illiquid, trades below net-current assets and at a multi-year low, debt free, cash flow from operations is slightly positive, high cash balance.
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J
9/25/2019 08:12:17 pm
Hi David - how are you alerted if a stock like this in your portfolio shoots up to a price you'd consider selling at?
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David
9/25/2019 09:09:46 pm
Hi J,
Reply
Bala
4/26/2020 05:36:35 pm
Hi David,
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David
4/26/2020 05:47:14 pm
Hi Bala,
Reply
David
6/17/2020 07:30:34 pm
SYEV has filed a Form 15;
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Iota
6/18/2020 05:01:30 pm
IT is moving up and down like crazy with tiny volume. Probably some traders who use market orders. So i dont see any sell off
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Ahmad
7/6/2020 07:06:55 pm
I talked to the company and they are not planning to provide any financials anymore neither on website, OTC nor mail. They are going fully dark
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David
7/8/2020 06:13:09 pm
Hi Ahmad,
Iota
7/9/2020 07:44:49 am
So they are going to kill the warrants?
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Ahmad
7/9/2020 09:48:09 pm
She told me they are going fully dark only because of the expenses of audit, report, etc.. I feel there's more to it than just the expenses though. My guess is the pending litigation has something to do with this
Reply
9/3/2021 02:41:34 pm
We need to talk now! We have a tremendous amount in common. Check out www.noplaceforcommonsense.com. It is my life's story and will give you some idea of what I am about.
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