If only someone could bottle the experience of finding an overlooked company, investing for pennies a share and cashing in for 10, 20 or 30 times what you paid. Priceless, right? But how to find those companies? Small caps aren’t covered by the mainstream press and analysts the way blue chips are, and determining value of an early-stage company before profit and loss statements take on real meaning and big questions about science and markets are answered can be difficult. That is why veteran investors like Tom Swaney, president of California-based Harwood Capital Inc., like to meet management in person at events like the California Capital Conference.
The event brought 18 companies and 20 professional investors together in the beautiful Napa Valley at the end of November for a series of one-on-one meetings that resulted in insights Swaney says just can’t be found on company websites. For those who couldn’t make it to the Wine Country for this exclusive meeting, The Gold Report asked professional investors in attendance to share their secrets for making the most of these meetings, and had them flag the companies they would be following up on in the coming weeks.
Michael Jacks, head of private equity at Sutter Securities, said that his preparation process is different for different types of companies. The conference was a mix of resource and tech plays at different levels of advancement. “For operating companies, you can look at the market, cost of production, distribution channels and margin, but for the small mining companies, it is really a play on the guy running it,” he says. “I want to know if he has done it before and earned money for shareholders. I want to know his model. Mining companies have to raise a staggering amount of capital and …read more