Welcome back to another Smartrick’s Pick, I still can’t believe how fast this blog has grown in since I started it. So thank you to everyone who has read/subscribed my reports, I've totaled over 100,000 views now in just over 2 months of doing this.
Instead of focusing on 1 company, I will give my watch list for the month of September. In this report, I will cover the following companies/market spaces and the storylines surrounding them in the upcoming months.
China Auto Market
China’s New Energy Market is something I’ve talked about a lot about recently with companies like IDEX, FRSX, NIO, and XPEV. I think this market space will continue to be a hot one for months to come as China has really made it a point to electrify the country by 2025. So as more companies that operate in China continue to be added to the US stock market we as investors will be able to benefit from these government subsidies that China has put forward.
China Big 3
NIO
I personally love Nio, and their ES6/8 SUV might be my favorite EV on the market currently. In August Nio announced patents for wireless charging, battery as a service (BaaS), and a record number of deliveries. The one negative to short terms swing traders was the offering which has now close adding even more shares to NIO’s massive float.
Upcoming Catalysts for September
Watch for increased deliveries for the month of September
Developments to BaaS, wireless charging or solid-state batteries
Adding an AI capability (C-V2X)
Developments with Hycan ( a joint venture with GAC motors)
Li Auto (LI)
Li Auto the often forgotten EV manufacture when talking about China’s luxury brands, during the month of August they reported 2,711 deliveries setting a new company record. The biggest competitive edge LI has on XPEV and NIO currently is their quick charge onboard generator which decreases battery charge time. XPEV has talked about using the technology themselves but I have yet to see the information that supports that it is a current capability
Xpeng Motor (XPEV)
Xpeng Motors is the new kid on the block in terms of China EV company trading on the US market and there is a lot to be excited about with this company. After recording the most successful IPO of an EV to date the company followed up with recording 6,000 sales of its P7 Sedan in 5 days.
Potential catalysts
Increased deliveries
Upgrading its autonomous capabilities from 2.5 to 3.0 (only Chinese luxury brand with any autonomous driving capability at the moment)
Developments in BaaS service (recently announced) or announcement of solid-state batteries
Graphene market
Tesla’s Battery day has the potential to be a monstrous catalyst for them with Elon Musk announcing Tesla’s new plan/technology in batteries. I believe we will see the graphene market becomes a hot one with solid-state batteries on the horizon.
The breakthrough of this next generation of batteries the key is graphene-lithium-ion hybrid chemistries incorporated into the cathodes of lithium-sulfur cells. As a support material, graphene helps to keep metal ions in a regular order, which generally helps with electrode efficiency and actually there is more graphene in a solid-state battery than lithium.
Graphene is an important material necessary for modern life – it’s in your smartphone, your laptop, your car, and your smoke detectors and flashlights. It is what makes lithium-ion batteries work – and provides performance enhancements for all other types of batteries.
WestWater Resources (WWR)
Announced on August 20th they will start producing a battery line using graphene and will ditch their Uranium business (which they sold on September 8th) Production facilities will be built over the next 2 years as the pilot and test their offerings to customers around NA.
Still far away from revenue but it’ll be a company to watch and possibilities of partnerships with EV manufactures
NET ELEMENT (NETE)
Net Element has signed LOI to merge with Mullen Technologies, a SOCAL EV manufacture that has partnered with Qiantu Motor the manufacture of the K50 super EV car. Not only is Mullen planning on producing this car in the United States they are set to launch the MX 05 EV SUV sometime in 2021.
What is especially interesting about the MX 05 is the battery technology they’re planning on using. It is a solid-state battery that is rated for 1000 km which is far superior to the projects of CATL’s million-mile battery which they’re estimating at 800 km by 2030.
Not only does Mullen have a patent filed in North America and exclusive rights to this technology in the NA markets but they claim they’ll be at full production by 2022. Mullen has stated they plan on using this battery for its EVs but also plans to sell the battery to other manufactures across the NA.
Overall little is known about this company and the merger has investors confused about what will happen when the merger is complete. Net Element is disbanding its payment processing service to jump into the EV market space.
See letter to shareholders August 19th
The Street: PR Blunders can move a stock
Proactive one2one Virtual forum
In the video below 3 promising companies present on their companies future in the Green Energy market space. The companies included:
Envision Solar (EVSI) (rebranding as Beam Solar new ticker BEEM)
Ideanomics (IDEX)
Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc (OTC NMGRF )
Ideanomics (IDEX) update
Previous reports
You know I had to give an Ideanomics update in September we have a lot to look forwards to. This month we will see the AGM (Annual general meeting), the September update of orders/deliveries, and the possibility of merger/acquisition.
Potential Catalysts
Annual General Meeting (AGM)
IDEX recently filed a preliminary filing with the SEC telling shareholders of the upcoming AGM. There is no date set on the meeting and the flyer talked about a vote to raise their private funding via an S/3 offering.
September Update
If you watched the interview from Proactive (above) Alf stated the July-August numbers will be published in a few days. He also talked that as investors we should anticipate profitable Q2Q growth from here on out.
Merger/Acquisition?
In IDEX’s PRE 14A filing it stated that shareholders will vote on a new Standby Equity Distribution Agreement (SEDA) offering of $150 million worth of shares over 36 months with Yorkville Advisors. A SEDA is basically a line of credit agreed upon by a private financer and a company. On September 4th IDEX terminated the prior S/3 offering with Yorkville Advisors of $50 million (Yorkville purchased $30,500,000 worth of shares) So investors should watch out for dilution as Yorkville is able to purchase these shares at a 10% discount.
But what could this offering be used for?
Corazon Mining LTD an Australian based mining company, that operates in Canada, and trades on the UK stock market announced a letter of intent (LOI) of a reverse take over (RTO) of London Critical Metal Market (LCMM). The deal was arranged by Bruno Wu’s Sun Seven Investment Group (SSGI) for 125,000 Euro in the form of a loan. The deal was due to close back in June, but SSGI filed for an extension and the new deadline is December 1st, 2020.
Why is this significant?
Video about Proactive hosts an Interview with Corazon Mining LTD CEO Brett Smith about their drilling progress in Lynn Lake Canada. Corazon is targeting Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Sulphide in the newest dig that was just recently funded (assuming from SSGI)
Inner Mongolia Operations
Inner Mongolia is home to 50% of the world’s Graphene a key component in lithium-ion batteries. IDEX partnered with battery provider CATL in 2019 to provide batteries to mining companies in the province.
The Inner Mongolia market space is projected to be $14 billion over the next 3 years and with graphene becoming a key resource in battery manufacturing this market space is due to heat up any time.
CEO Alf Poor on CleanTech Talks specifically talks about mining operations in Inner Mongolia the limitations of the current industry and where China is headed with electrifying the Inner Mongolia mining industry.
London Critical Metals Market
Technology Metals Market LTD (IDEX 10% stake)
TM2 Platform Offerings (Link)
IDEX Wrap up
Whatever is brewing over at Ideanomics seems to be big and with AGM around the corner it seems we will get some guidance soon. Hopefully, we will find out more about the announcement of Medici Motor Works operations in North America. CEO Alf Poor stated MMW is coming in the second half of the year and that the management team is looking for a property.
But my main focus is operations in Inner Mongolia as so much can come out of that market space very quickly with CATL pushing to produce its 1 million mile battery and taking advantage of Inner Mongolia’s graphene deposits.
ALSO, THE JULY AND AUGUST ORDER BOOK
Disruptive tech or Vaporware?
With the election coming up in the US in November many investors are staying cash-heavy with the looming unknown of how the market will react. I believe no matter what happens there will be certain industries that will be less affected as the industries they are in are too important for the development of modern society. Sectors that fit this mold to me are New Energy Vehicles (NEV) and the infrastructure that surrounds it, gold and other precious metals, and something I like to call disruptive tech.
Disruptive technology is as it sounds it disrupts current market spaces, so this could be the emergence of 5G, IoT (internet of things), AI, robotics, or blockchain to name a few. These companies are aimed to disrupt the current industry and take their share of the market space.
However, the downside to investing in these types of stocks is it considered vaporware or not? Vaporware is described as a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is never actually manufactured nor officially canceled. So basically its a wish in the wishing well or the wish you make when you blow out your birthday cake candles. Will these products ever come to the market? That’s apart of investing in this kind of company.
Energous Corp (WATT)
Energous Corp is a small technology company set on revolutionizing wireless charging which they dubbed “wireless charging 2.0”. The company was started back in 2014 by a team of former Qualcomm and Broadcomm executives with mighty resumes. Energous currently is approved in 112 countries and has 225 patents issued (65 pending).
One big thing to look at with Energous is their recent vote to authorize an additional 150 million shares. (50 to 200 million outstanding) So entering a position you’ll want to watch out for offerings and dilution of stock. I won’t cover much further on WATT as marksizzle from Sizzlin Stocks will be releasing a full report on the company in the near future.
Energous Webcast at LD Micro Conference 9/2
Resonant Inc (RESN)
Resonant Inc works in the 5G market space and uses its proprietary software ISN® platform which they claim will revolutionize filter design to enable high-performance, low-cost and fast time-to-market. Resonant’s main technology breakthrough is called XBAR® which is plans to license to RFID(Radio Frequency) manufacturers to use in their 5G handset.
Currently Resonant is funding the development of its technology through its Foundry Program and is a debt-free company which is really nice to see in a start-up. The company’s CEO George B. Holmes is a former COO of Energous Corp (WATT) and stated the company is aiming to target 24B in revenue by 2023.
Basically Resonant’s technology is set to optimize the speed of 5G to its full potential
RESN LD Micro Presentation (Must Watch)