Engagement Labs Inc (EL-X)

It’s gone up, it’s gone down. Revenues are small, but growth rate is high. They have an online piece (software), but the offline piece is highly coveted. Could be an IP claim, where someone buys them just for the IP. They’re flush with cash.

This is trying to become the Nielsen ratings for social media. There is a need for this as advertisers want it. They have technology and a lot of code and have put together some interesting projects. This has been a bit of a heartbreaker. They’ve had a lot of turnover in the executive suite, and are on their 3^rd CO, who owns a lot of shares. He has been averaging down and buying more stock. Thinks it has bottomed and is going to come back.

(A Top Pick April 9/15. Down 52.14%.) This is trying to become the Nielsen Ratings of social mediums. He still likes it and thinks it is going to come back. Their quarter over quarter revenue is double digit growth, and are getting close to break even. He is most encouraged that they are building a brand, and you are starting to see their E value brand crop up in the media. Saw it mentioned in the Wall Street Journal recently. The market cap is $20 million now. They spent more than that on their platform. A long-term investment. Still a Hold.

It is a higher risk, small company. They want to become the next Neilson Ratings service. They attracted smart people who know the industry. They don’t have a lot of revenue, but it is growing. Big brands are trying them out. If they like them then they will buy more of their services. They have limited cash resources and he is not sure they have enough working capital to take them to profitability.

In the business of trying to become the benchmark for advertisers, something like the Nielsen ratings. A small company, and very, very early, so it is high risk, but they are showing good revenue growth. Profitability is still a long ways away. Analysts seem to like it. Last target he saw was $1.20. This is one that you can buy on dips. Now is a good entry point.

Advertisers need tools to know if they are getting a good RIO in social media. They have a good management team and advisory board. They just signed a million dollar contract.

Interesting little company. Essentially they act as a marketing efficiency indicator. Think of them as what Nielsen is to the television space or comScore (SCOR-Q) to the Internet space, they are the social media space. They want to be the de facto standard for measuring the effectiveness of social advertising in social media. Got a lot of publicity during the Super Bowl. Just got a new CEO who came from comScore, and thinks he will grow the business. Still very much early days, but potentially could be something very big. Very small company, so you may want only a small portion of your portfolio in it.

A very, very early stage company, but also very interesting. They measure online mobile engagements. If you are an advertiser and you are doing mobile advertising, you want to know who you are reaching, how much time the spend, how valuable is your brand, etc. This is trying to fill that need. Similar to a Nielsen for rating of TV, etc. It attracts an amazingly qualified and well-known group of advisers. Has a good CEO. Not a lot of revenue yet, but when people in the industry decide they want to be part of it, they are probably on to something. Early stage but highly promising and interesting. Starting to rebound now.