Despite its more than five and a half decades at the forefront of the domestic precast concrete market, Smith-Midland’s (OTCQX: SMID) recent coverage gives the impression that the company has only recently sprung into existence, fully armored, like Athena being born from the forehead of Zeus. Currently enjoying a nice pop following the release of its Q2 financials on August 11, shares of this ceaselessly innovative precast concrete manufacturer are now trading around pre-2008 highs, with considerable tailwind in the form of numerous recent project successes.

Globally speaking, the precast concrete industry itself is seeing something of a rebound, after a tough recession period and ongoing adjustment to China’s growth slowing down. A recent study by DecisionDatabases (http://nnw.fm/0Uqia) even projects a CAGR of 3.2 percent moving forward through 2022, when the global precast concrete market is expected to reach upwards of $58.7 billion.

Subsequent to the post-2008 dip (http://nnw.fm/nKW0s) that was experienced by just about everyone, SMID has been a portrait of the old adage that, “slow and steady wins the race.” The company has quietly been advancing the state-of-the-art in precast concrete design, manufacturing, and delivery systems, while landing contract after contract. This constant innovation is readily exemplified by the company’s high-performance SlenderWall™ system, a lightweight (66 percent lighter than traditional precast) architectural cladding system, which is as robust as it is easy to install. Recently described by Rodney Smith, chairman and CEO of Smith-Midland, as the company’s most profitable product, the SlenderWall is a feature-rich and proven system that not only addresses the typical cost and logistical metrics of competing solutions beautifully, it actually offers superior structural advantages as well. This exterior cladding system is effectively isolated from wind loading, seismic shock, expansion/contraction, movement of the underlying steel frame, and other structural forces experienced by the primary structure.

Fully code compliant and available with a proprietary (optional) Lift-and-Release™ panel-landing system, which allows an already simplified installation to be done even faster, SlenderWall is also the only wall system in the industry today to fuse together the four key technologies required for an efficient solution that can easily be applied to either new construction, or renovations. By skillfully leveraging its architectural precast concrete manufacturing expertise, Smith-Midland has found a way to embed high-tech PVA fibers into its products, making the SlenderWall cheap to install, yet able to provide a long lifespan of maintenance-free use. And these beauties are secured with a combination of thermal coated anchors and heavy gauge galvanized steel (or stainless steel studs), making this lightweight solution far more sturdy and long-lasting than one might ever expect.

SlenderWall is the perfect economical and efficient choice for a variety of 20,000 square foot plus jobs, whether it is a renovation like the 2013 Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore Campus nine-story Nelson Harvey inpatient facility) job (http://nnw.fm/7NmdW), or a massive new undertaking like the recently announced 2-mile-long Port Imperial redevelopment project in West New York, New Jersey. This sizable (42,000 square feet of SlenderWall) undertaking with New Jersey’s largest homebuilder, K. Hovnanian (NASDAQ: HOVNP), is a striking example of how prominent SMID has become as an east coast precast concrete manufacturer.

Smith-Midland primarily serves the construction, transportation and utilities markets, as well as the agricultural, beach restoration (via Beach Prisms, a shoreline erosion control barrier system) and small precast building markets (via wholly-owned subsidiary Easi-Set Industries), with a wide variety of brilliantly designed solutions that it sells, licenses, and/or rents to various customers. The company actually cut its teeth back in the 1960s as Smith-Cattleguard Company, which was founded by Rodney Smith and his father when the business was just about precast concrete farm products. This rich tradition is still carried on today in the form of an array of highly durable cattle guards and feed bunks, as well as waste storage and watering systems.

The market’s warm reception to SMID’s Q2 financials is not surprising given that the company’s long-term growth story (slightly hampered by an admittedly sluggish Q1) has been supercharged of late by increased opportunities in several of its primary end markets, due in large part to generally improving underlying economic conditions as well as the company’s own continually growing brand presence. Perhaps the most notable market here for the company is transportation, where SMID operates via its Concrete Safety Systems (CSS) subsidiary. CSS was founded in 1977 as the then nascent industry’s first and only entity focused specifically on leasing highway safety barriers to contractors and state highway departments. CSS is a full-service barrier rental company that delivers, installs and then carts away the company’s J-J Hooks positive connection barrier system, which is ideal for roadwork (freestanding, bolted or pinned), and also security functions (especially when configured with an optional fence top).

CSS is housed at the company’s primary 44,000 square foot facility in Virginia. Between this primary facility, the company’s Smith-Carolina 8,000 square foot facility and the soon to be 40,000 square foot Smith-Columbia facility, SMID will have an enviable 300 mile-wide striking distance up and down 800 miles of the East Coast. This is a considerable territory, stretching all the way from New York City, to the southern Georgia border. The new Columbia location shores up coverage of the Atlanta metropolitan area nicely for SMID, as well as nearly a dozen military bases throughout South Carolina and Georgia, putting Smith-Midland’s legendary ability to innovate front and center when it comes to aggressing a whole host of projects in the region.

In many ways, the precast industry is overshadowed by the looming predominance of government initiated infrastructure projects, but SMID has done a marvelous job diversifying into the rapidly growing residential and commercial construction arenas. At the same time, SMID has positioned itself perfectly to benefit from the $305 billion, five-year highway infrastructure bill passed late last year in December (http://nnw.fm/T70sk), and the company is likely already experiencing a boost because of the bill’s passing. With presidential candidate Trump talking about building a wall on the border between the U.S. and Mexico (a project that would require setting up localized construction facilities for regional manufacturing the way SMID has done for the East Coast), it is not unthinkable that a company such as Smith-Midland could experience considerable upside on sector momentum alone, even without landing any contracts.

But it’s not like the company even needs such a huge project, as even a cursory glance at this year’s news reveals a spate of sizable contracts. Contracts range from an Easi-Span Building used in Illinois as a township’s water supply aerator, to a set of two massive Virginia DOT road projects, which will utilize a whopping 300,000 square feet of the company’s proprietary SoftSound™ sound absorptive composite panels. In the last decade of official data alone, we have added some 6.5 percent more paved roadway to the U.S. nationwide, bringing the total number of miles of paved roads up to well over 2.744 million. Demand for outdoor noise barriers, primarily associated with stopping traffic noise from reaching residential communities, is slated to rise 3.7 percent per year through 2019 in the U.S. alone, according to a recent study by Freedonia (http://nnw.fm/N9mfF). That same study sees the overall U.S. market as growing to $191 million over the same interval, as a good chunk of that $305 billion highway infrastructure package looks like it could go directly toward state DOTs putting up more noise barriers alongside highways.

Smith-Midland is the portrait of an under bought niche leader and remains quite accessible to the average retail investor at around three bucks a share, especially when compared to other sector players such as CRH plc (NYSE: CRH), and that is despite SMID trading very near to its 52-week high. With many, many takers for its cutting-edge precast solutions, a perfect storm of potentials exists for the company. Smith-Midland also just so happens to have the unquestionable experience and leadership needed to truly capitalize on this storm of potentials for its shareholders.

For more information, visit www.SmithMidland.com

Earlier today, Monaker Group, Inc. (OTCQB: MKGI) announced the launch of its new Premium Service for owners of alternative lodging listings, which is designed to even the playing field between homeowners and travel industry suppliers. According to the news release, major travel industry suppliers – including airlines, hotels and car rental companies – employ cutting-edge tools that allow them to actively manage their rates on a minute-by-minute basis in order to react to competitive pricing, utilization and other market conditions. As a result, these suppliers are able to efficiently maximize revenues. Using Monaker’s Premium Service, individual property owners can enjoy many of the same benefits. Key elements of the service include:

• Active management of the homeowner’s calendar, opening the door for real-time booking capability
• Comprehensive management of guest communications ranging from booking to checkout, including inquiries, booking requests and 24/7 emergency assistance, offering the potential to save multiple hours each week that are normally required to manage listings
• International distribution across global booking platforms with native language conversions and pricing available in all major currencies
• Customized revenue and pricing management tools that update property pricing on a daily basis to better reflect real-time market conditions

For Monaker, the launch of its Premium Service is a win-win. According to the company’s pilot marketing efforts, Premium Service clients can expect to see an increase of 50 percent or greater in year-over-year booking revenue while enjoying a substantial reduction of about 10 hours per week to the time required to manage listings. By offering these industry-leading perks, Monaker expects to enjoy added success in attracting more individual and unique properties to its rapidly-expanding alternative lodging inventory. In a shareholder update issued in June, the company reported approximately 1.1 million alternative lodging rental units under contract with its NextTrip Resorts platform, with plans to add more than 200,000 additional timeshare or resort units by the end of the year.

“The Premium Service leverages our deep expertise in inventory acquisition, reservations services, technology and distribution,” Bill Kerby, chairman and chief executive officer of Monaker, stated in a news release. “We see this as a win-win scenario, ultimately delivering more real-time bookable inventory to the market, and greater choice in inventory to travel consumers.”

According to a report from Research and Markets, the global vacation rental market is expected to reach $169.7 billion by 2019. Additional insights reveal that roughly 24 percent of leisure travelers have stayed in a vacation home rental during the past two years, while about 47 percent are interested in staying in an alternative lodging rental during the next two years. All told, the alternative lodging market “is known to be one of the fastest growing segments in the Travel space,” as alluded to by Kerby in the news release.

For more information, visit www.MonakerGroup.com

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Late last year, when Star Mountain Resources (OTC: SMRS) acquired the Balmat zinc mine near Gouverneur in St. Lawrence County, New York, its president, Mark Osterberg, spoke to North Country Public Radio. At the time, according to the news report, zinc was selling ‘for just pennies on the pound’. Prospects for the metal looked grim. Yet the Star Mountain management team was casting a perspicacious eye to the future. Osterberg, noting that his company was well aware of the economic climate, said at the time:

“The mining cycle is down, which means that assets like Balmat are available at bargain prices. So we think we bought the property at a very good price and we believe the commodity prices are going to come back up.”

His crystal ball has not let him down, as current market conditions indicate. Zinc prices are climbing, and so are Star Mountain’s fortunes.

At the start of this year, zinc prices were hovering around $0.65 per pound. Now they are closer to $1.02 per pound, appreciating by an astonishing 57 percent in a little over seven months. The consensus attributes this buoyant market to tightening supplies. A Reuters story warns that ‘Zinc deficit looms, prices up, but output restarts unlikely’ (http://nnw.fm/z8GmU). A Bloomberg piece declares a ‘Zinc Supply Crunch as China-Owned Miner Seeks Peru Deposits’ (http://nnw.fm/S7G9m). Peru has the world’s third-largest reserves of zinc, with an estimated 25 million tonnes (metric tons), after Australia, with 63 million tonnes, and China, with 38 million tonnes, according to Statista. The ‘China-owned miner’ in that Bloomberg report was MMG Limited (OTC: MMLTF), an Australian-Chinese mining giant.

Last year, MMG Limited, in a report (http://nnw.fm/m8LPU) on its website, announced it had shuttered its mining operations at Century in Australia. The Century mine was said to be the world’s third largest. In 2014, it produced 465,696 tonnes and accounted for around 3.5 percent of global zinc output in that year. Its 2015 production has been estimated at 350,000 tonnes. Supply anxieties have been further exacerbated after Vedanta Zinc International (NYSE: VEDL) closed its Irish Lisheen mine in October 2015. Lisheen was Europe’s second-largest zinc mine with a capacity of around 175,000 tonnes, according to a HardAssetsInvestor story (http://nnw.fm/J2wFh). Quoting Bloomberg Intelligence, the story said Lisheen’s closure would reduce global supplies by another 1.3 percent. Adding to the supply slump news is a Bloomberg Business report (http://nnw.fm/Pf0Nu) stating that Glencore plc (OTC: GLNCY) would cut output from mines in Australia, Peru and Kazakhstan totaling around 500,000 metric tonnes, which would amount to about four percent of global production. Taken together, these closures will have reduced global supplies by between 7-10 percent.

At a recent conference call, the CEO of MMG Limited said:

“There is so little zinc around. Those people who are in zinc are also bullish about the zinc market so they don’t want to sell. That’s why we keep coming back to the focus we’ve got on finding zinc.”

All of this proves how sagacious the management team at Star Mountain Resources has been. Heading the team is CEO Joseph Marchal, who previously served as chief executive officer for the Asia-Pacific Region of Chi-X Global Inc., a subsidiary of Instinet, the equity-trading arm of the Nomura Group. President and COO Mark Osterberg, PhD has worked for major gold and base metal mining companies and has over 30 years’ experience in the mining business. The CFO is Wayne Rich, who was previously the chief financial officer of Northern Zinc. Star Mountain acquired a 100 percent interest in Northern Zinc, which, in turn, acquired all the issued and outstanding common stock of Balmat Holding Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiary, St. Lawrence Zinc Company, LLC, which owns the Balmat Zinc Mine.

Thomas Bidgood, PhD is VP technical services. He has over thirty years’ experience in the operations and exploration sides of the mining business and, from 2001 to 2011, was professor and chairman of the natural sciences and math departments of the Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, CO. The operations manager is John Heinzig, who was previously director of private equity funds at Summit Capital USA. Ryan Schermerhorn is site manager. He was previously site manager of St. Lawrence Zinc Company’s Balmat Mine and Mill from 2009 through 2015.

For more information, visit www.starmountainresources.com

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If Ralph Waldo Emerson’s theorem, paraphrased as ‘build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door’, is valid, OurPet’s Company (OTCQX: OPCO) is following ‘a broad hard-beaten road’ to success. OurPet’s Company got into the pet care industry precisely to make the aphoristic mousetrap better. It’s doing that and making new mousetraps too. Writing in 1855, Emerson was expressing his belief that ‘common fame’, what we would now call a good reputation, would eventually make itself known, which is true for OurPet’s Company, a company with a reputation for innovation. It is a company that aimed to revolutionize and disrupt the rather staid pet care industry and has already been doing so for over 20 years. The rewards from this creative approach have been showing up in both the top and bottom lines.

Net revenues have increased steadily over the past five years, rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.86 percent. This is well above the industry CAGR of 4.44 percent. OurPet’s Company’s sales in 2010 were $17.1M. The latest 10-K filing reports sales in 2015 were $23.8M. Gross profit has been improving, as well; and so has the gross profit margin, which has climbed from 23.6 percent in 2011 to 31.7 percent in 2015. Particularly encouraging for shareholders has been the moderate increase in outstanding shares, which went up by a little over 10 percent during the last five years. In addition, net income per share has risen by 600 percent from a paltry $0.01 in 2011 to $0.07 in 2015. Taken together with the increase in income available to shareholders, this shows modest dilution risk.

OurPet’s Company has been serving the pet care market since 1995. It started with just one product: the Big Dog Feeder®. Since then its product line has exploded. The company has approximately 1,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) available to customers over a diversified range of product solutions. Added to the current product offerings is a broad pipeline of now-developing and soon-to-be-developed products and line extensions based on OurPet’s Company’s 160 patents issued and pending.

OurPet’s Company’s strategy is to focus on high-growth categories in the pet care market, which overall is expected to reach $62.75 billion in 2016. The company is in the feeding and storage systems segment, which is estimated at $100M annually, with novel products such as the Barking Bistro®, the High Rise Diner® and its OurPets® Tilt-A-Bowls. It has a foothold in the $250M a year feline waste and odor control category with its SmartScoop® Intelligent Litter Box, Kitty Potty™ No Touch Litter Box System and the OurPets® Switchgrass Natural Cat Litter with BioChar.

It’s also blazing a trail in the toys and accessories segment, which is estimated at $1.0 billion annually, with the amazing OurPets® Catty Whack® and the Intelligent Pet Care® line of products. The Intelligent Pet Care® line applies Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technologies to keep us in closer touch with our pets by signaling changes in their behavior through digital applications. OurPet’s Company’s mission statement is ‘to exceed pet and pet parent expectations with innovative solutions’. They might have added investor expectations to that declaration.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ourpets.com

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Before the opening bell, Monaker Group, Inc. (OTCQB: MKGI) announced a new agreement with Trisept Solutions, a division of The Mark Travel Corporation. Through this partnership, Trisept will both power Monaker’s flagship NextTrip.com brand with its Synapse travel merchandising platform and distribute its alternative lodging inventory through VAX VacationAccess, Trisept’s premier travel agent portal. This agreement is expected to fuel NextTrip’s forward growth by enabling expanded product offerings and distribution in the months to come.

“Trisept has the most advanced technology available for leisure vacation packaging today,” Bill Kerby, chairman and chief executive officer of Monaker, stated in this morning’s news release. “Expanding NextTrip’s capabilities and access to agents and consumers will accelerate our growth and differentiate us from our competition.”

By integrating NextTrip’s product offerings into Trisept’s VAX platform, Monaker’s sizable inventory of vacation home rentals, resort residences, rooms and unused timeshares will be available to a network of over 70,000 travel agents. NextTrip’s inventory will give these agents an easy, commissionable option for selling vacation rentals to clients. Integration of NextTrip into both Synapse and VAX is expected to take place over the next several months, with the companies setting a target completion date of the end of this year.

Monaker’s newly-announced distribution agreement with Trisept continues to build on the development strategy the company’s management team outlined in its June shareholder update. In addition to searching out new channel partners in order to broaden distribution of NextTrip’s more than 600,000 properties, Monaker has remained focused on structuring new relationships with established travel clubs, operators and distribution groups. In the June update, the company’s management team highlighted new relationships with the Recruiter.com Travel Club and 20,000 travel agents via International Travel Organization, and its newest agreement with Trisept is expected to play a key role in continuing to expand the distribution capabilities of the NextTrip platform.

Moving forward, Monaker will look to build on the number of alternative lodging rental units available on its NextTrip Resorts platform. The company boasted an impressive 125,000 available units following the beta launch of its platform in February, and it reported roughly 1.1 million total units under contract in early June. This sizable inventory, combined with the distribution capabilities of Trisept’s VAX portal, could set the stage for considerable market growth as Monaker continues to bolster its foothold in the growing travel industry.

“Integrating NextTrip’s product offerings into our VAX platform will give agents for the first time instant confirmation and an easy, commissionable way to sell vacation rentals,” John Ische, president and chief executive officer of Trisept, concluded in an August 15 news release.

For more information, visit www.monakergroup.com

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Last year The Washington Post published an article with the captivating title ‘The most important thing you can do with your kids? Eat dinner with them.’ It was penned by Anne Fishel, a professor at Harvard Medical School, who is a founder of The Family Dinner Project and author of “Home for Dinner”. It’s a piece that every parent should read, pointing as it does to often unexploited opportunities for childhood development at mealtimes. Two parents who know of these fortuities are Joey and Dorsa Parsi, who founded Giggles N’ Hugs (OTCQB: GIGL) in 2007.

A feature in Bloomberg Businessweek tells their story. On Valentine’s Day 2007, Joey took his wife out for the first time since the birth of their second child six months earlier. Their first child, an exuberant three-year-old with the delightful name of Yasmine, collided with a fellow diner’s table, spilling his water, whereupon the aggrieved patron glared at Joey, condemnation evident in his looks. As Joey said to Dorsa later:

“Shame on us for taking kids to a restaurant where we have to turn to our 3-year-old and say, ‘Be something other than a child.’”

However, out of evil came good. That adverse incident gave the L.A. couple the idea to create a kid-friendly restaurant concept which they christened Giggles N’ Hugs, a play on the name of the hugely successful Australian children’s music group, The Wiggles. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.

Attitudes to children have changed since the fifteenth century when, in a collection of homilies (Mirk’s Festial) written by English clergyman John Mirk, the saying ‘a child should be seen, but not heard’ appeared in its original form. Modern parents want to spend time with their children, but, all too often, other time demands make this difficult. Consequently, mealtime presents a unique opportunity for bonding.

Dr. Fishel writes that ‘researchers found that for young children, dinnertime conversation boosts vocabulary even more than being read aloud to… Young kids learned 1,000 rare words (those not among the 3,000 most common) at the dinner table, compared to only 143 from parents reading storybooks aloud.’ Vocabulary, naturally, is crucial to the acquisition of knowledge. The child can only learn if he or she understands.

Research has also shown that ‘for school-age youngsters, regular mealtime is an even more powerful predictor of high achievement scores than time spent in school, doing homework, playing sports or doing art’. In addition, ‘family dinners have been found to be a more powerful deterrent against high-risk teen behaviors than church attendance or good grades’.

Giggles N’ Hugs is not only an upscale fast casual that offers a menu created from the finest organic ingredients; it’s a fine-dining institution offering the solution to a social problem. Social mores have changed since the fifteenth century, but, in many cases, institutions have remained the same. A Giggles N’ Hugs outlet is a restaurant and play space combo where parents can relax and dine while kids frolic under supervision. Currently, the company operates two upscale locations in high-profile Los Angeles malls. There’s one at Westfield Topanga Shopping Center in Woodland Hills, Canoga Park; and a second at the Glendale Galleria.

There are encouraging indications that these are choice locations. In the area served by Westfield Topanga Shopping Center, 38 percent of households have at least one child and 30 percent of households have incomes in excess of $100,000. In the area served by Glendale Galleria, 47 percent of households include children and 23 percent have incomes above $100,000.

Giggles N’ Hugs is aiming to have 12 restaurants up and running by the end of 2017. This is eminently possible since mall owners believe having Giggles N’ Hugs as a tenant will burnish the family image brand of a mall. In addition, such a tenant will create glamour and buzz and increase foot traffic to the mall. Giggles N’ Hugs has been offered rent discounts of up to 75 percent and upfront cash to cover setup costs. At present, discussions are underway with Westfield to open restaurants in major airports throughout America, including Los Angeles International (LAX), Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark, O’Hare, Boston and Logan.

Learn more by visiting www.gigglesnhugs.com

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According to a recent Nasdaq article (http://nnw.fm/kBav6), retail store earnings have not been moving much in the past few months. The research showed a shift in consumers habits whereby Americans are spending more on experiences such as travel and entertainment rather than clothing, accessories, and electronics. Services are now making up a large majority of consumer expenditures.

Healthcare and travel are at the forefront of spending, with healthcare making up 20% of total consumption, a number that’s up from just 5% in the 60’s. And information from First Data Corp. shows a rise in spending on travel of 8.6% since last year. On the flip side, sport shops, restaurants, cafes, and bars have seen a considerable drop.

As a result in this seismic shift in consumer spending, hotels and various other accommodation types have had to adapt their facilities and offerings to a broader clientele. The once inconceivable thought of staying in someone else’s home instead of a hotel has now become a growing trend. Still, there is not enough supply to fulfill the demand in terms of accommodation, and so hotels and hosts are pressured to be more tactful in the way they provide for their consumers.

Over the last decade, hotels and inns have expanded their facilities with sub-brands that suit a variety of consumers. These include luxury resorts, hotels, and other forms of unique accommodations. This shift is not only because of the lack of supply, but also the growing need for consumers to have an experience that is not alien to the place they are visiting. People increasingly seek a traditional experience associated with locale, and the accommodation is seen as part of that.

Technology-driven travel company Monaker Group, Inc. (OTCQB: MKGI) has provided consumers from around the world with the chance to search through and book a variety of accommodation types in order to meet the growing needs of the 21st century consumer. The website features a range of alternative lodging options that include not only hotel rooms, but resorts, villas, unused timeshares, apartments, and creative niche style accommodations that uniquely reflect individual locations.

In addition to the above, the company’s flagship NextTrip.com enables customers to book everything they need to organize the perfect holiday. MKGI works with a range of key partners and travel brands, enabling them to reach a large audience and tailor experiences accordingly. Monaker Group aims to continue expanding its portfolio in order to become the ‘one stop’ vacation center.

For more information, visit www.monakergroup.com

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Google Wallet, the peer-to-peer payments service developed by Google (NASDAQ: GOOG; GOOGL), was first released in the United States in September 2011. From the beginning, Google Pay allowed its users to make point-of-sale purchases with their mobile devices using near-field communication (NFC) technology. Four years later, the multinational tech giant shifted its NFC payments to Android Pay, limiting contactless payments to users of its Android mobile operating system. This move made sense, as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Google’s primary competitor in the mobile operating system space, released its proprietary Apple Pay platform months earlier in October 2014. Both Apple and Google boast expansive availability in the U.S. According to a 2015 report by The Verge (http://nnw.fm/fBBC6), Android Pay is available on more than 70 percent of available Android devices and accepted across a network of more than 700,000 merchants.

With these statistics in mind, the rising tide surrounding contactless mobile payments remains under the radar. In December 2014, CMO.com reported (http://nnw.fm/3Oxjh) that U.S. proximity payment transaction values doubled from 2012 to 2013, and eMarketer projections call for continued growth in the years to come as consumers warm to the idea of paying with their phones. Research firm Forrester shares this vision. In a 2014 report, Forrester predicted that mobile-based payments in the U.S. will reach $142 billion in volume by 2019, up from just $50 billion at the time of the study.

The maturation of the mobile wallet market will create opportunities for tech giants like Google and Apple, to be sure; and other household names, such as PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL), Visa (NYSE: V), Chase (NYSE: JPM) and AT&T (NYSE: T), have already thrown their hats into the ring as well. Just two years ago, the market leader in mobile payment apps, according to the CMO.com report, was Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), with an impressive 29 percent of all U.S. smartphone owners who had used mobile payment apps to make a purchase having done so with the coffee chain’s proprietary wallet app. While this peculiar statistic demonstrates the relatively low barriers of entry that currently exist in the mobile wallet space, it also highlights the difficulty companies are having in getting consumers to take advantage of the convenience of contactless payments. A 2015 study by Accenture (http://nnw.fm/a9kMl) found that while 52 percent of North Americans are “extremely aware” of the availability of mobile payments, only 18 percent use them on a regular basis.

In an April 2015 poll by Statista (http://nnw.fm/OkO38), PayPal landed in the top three mobile wallet services in the U.S. in terms of user satisfaction, and this favorability has resulted in steady expansion of payment volumes. In the second quarter of 2016, PayPal’s net payment volume totaled $86.2 billion, up 28 percent year-over-year. This growth is telling of the value proposition offered by PayPal to its consumers, which extends across both Android and iOS, as well as integrating within merchant-oriented payment platforms to combine convenient payment options with targeted coupons for frequent shoppers and other services. Throw in Venmo, the mobile payment service acquired by PayPal in 2013 for $800 million, and its active user base of more than 1.5 million, and you’ve got the makings of a serious competitor for both Apple Pay and Android Pay.

Of course, the U.S. is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the expected proliferation of digital wallets in the coming years. In September 2015, a MasterCard (NYSE: MA) study found that digital wallets were the primary topic of discussion regarding payment innovation in a number of the world’s largest emerging markets, including India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria and the UAE (http://nnw.fm/x8edQ). The study went on to find that these markets are particularly ripe for innovation, with people pointing toward security as their primary concern in adopting electronic payment methods. As a result, MasterCard is looking into the integration of facial recognition software and biometrics in order to make payments both easier and more secure.

PayStar is a less-known play in the digital wallet space that’s targeting the needs of emerging markets. Founded in 2006, the company provides financial institutions with a complete solution enabling remittance services, merchant services, mobile payments and payroll services for their customers. In addition to its operations across North America, PayStar offers flexible services that meet the unique needs of markets in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa. The company is currently in the process of expanding its mobile payroll and remittance services throughout the Middle East, beginning with Qatar, the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Through partnerships with local financial institutions, PayStar is positioned to market its services to more than 15 million migrant workers in Qatar and Oman alone.

For the investment community, PayStar’s established and growing position on the global mobile payments stage is particularly intriguing following the recent announcement that Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE), a provider of global payment technology solutions and value-added transactional services, has entered into a binding letter of intent to acquire a majority interest in the company. Subject to closing, Net Element intends to create one or more entities that will house the combined assets of PayStar and Nexcharge, a proprietary payment processing, fraud management and merchant management platform. Net Element will own a 51 percent interest in these newly-formed entities and maintain an exclusive option to acquire the remaining 49 percent interest for 12 months following the closing of the transaction.

With the planned acquisition of interests in PayStar and Nexcharge, Net Element will look to bolster what is already a sizable presence in the global payments industry. Just last month, the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, PayOnline, was ranked as a leading payment gateway by independent market analytics agency Tagline.ru. Building on this position, PayOnline recently introduced a new adaptable, multi-channel payment interface to more than 10 million online shoppers in over 3,000 international e-commerce markets. Combining this commitment to innovation from within with an aggressive M&A strategy has Net Element prepared to expand its presence in emerging markets, as discussed by CEO Oleg Firer in a recent news release.

“These acquisitions will allow Net Element to present transactions for processing directly to Visa, MasterCard, American Express and other networks, as well as expand our presence in GCC region and other selected markets,” he stated. “These acquisitions will add to the growth of our business and increase market share internationally.”

With the persistent focus on the domestic mobile payment scene, it’s easy to overlook the immense opportunities currently being presented by emerging markets. Adults in markets across Africa, Asia and Latin America still lack access to formal financial institutions, as noted by EY (http://nnw.fm/0Ocg1). As a result, mobile commerce options such as digital wallets already outpace traditional bank accounts in several emerging countries. While newcomers in the domestic market are forced to go head-to-head with the likes of Google and Apple, Net Element, through the acquisition of interests in PayStar and Nexcharge, is set to quietly expand its already sizable presence on the global stage by continuing to meet the unique needs of consumers in emerging markets.

For more information, visit www.NetElement.com

According to PewResearchCenter (http://nnw.fm/gg2Sh), 84% of American adults use the Internet, a number that has grown from 52% in 2000, and access is now part of most people’s daily routines. It’s a phenomenon that has changed the way U.S. consumers live, and businesses have had to adapt to this still expanding trend. Much like any other sector, the real estate industry has seen a considerable shift toward related technologies in order to advance communication capabilities, both for consumers and agents, and better serve a constantly changing real estate market. According to ‘Home Buyer & Sellers, Generational Trends 2016 Highlights’ (http://nnw.fm/81Jyj), published by the National Association of Realtors, millennials, heavy Internet users, now make up 35% of all home buyers in the U.S.

This is where eXp World Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: EXPI) subsidiary eXp Realty comes in. This relatively new real estate brokerage was created to address a significant gap in the market by developing a unique agent-owned cloud brokerage offering full real estate service to home buyers in 43 states and the District of Columbia, as well as Alberta, Canada. As stated on the company’s website: “Advances in Internet technology and the proliferation to the masses of information and imagery concerning residential properties… has created a real estate consumer who is armed with more knowledge, context and understanding than ever before.” The company offers a one-of-a-kind, virtual-based training service to its agents with the end goal of helping consumers make more relevant searches online while guiding them through the emotional process of buying a home.

The growth of the Internet and the online real estate industry has shown significant advantages for eXp World Holdings. According to Google Trends (http://nnw.fm/ZI7gI), searches for “exp realty” peaked to 100 (the highest popularity score possible for the term). Not only this, Google Adwords has shown significant growth in keyword researches relevant to eXp World Holdings. Since July 2015, the monthly search on Google for “eXp realty” has more than doubled from 2,400 searches a month to 5,400.

For more information, visit the company’s website at http://investors.exprealty.com

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Before the opening bell, Laguna Blends, Inc. (CSE: LAG) (OTC: LAGBF) (FRANKFURT: LB6A.F) offered investors an update on the success of its pro athlete branding strategy for Pro369, the company’s hemp protein-based functional beverage product. In addition to announcing the renewal of Emmanual Arceneaux, a player in the Canadian Football League, as a brand ambassador for a second year, Laguna announced that it is currently in ongoing negotiations with a number of other professional athletes across North America who enjoy the health benefits offered by Laguna’s products.

In June, Laguna reported its results from the first 11 weeks of sales following the launch of both Pro369 and Caffe, an instant hot coffee beverage infused with whey and hemp protein. The unaudited $105,000 in sales exceeded the company’s internal projections and set the stage for exponential growth as Laguna’s affiliate base continues to expand moving forward. In the June update, Ray Grimm Jr., president of Laguna, spoke to the “geometric growth” that can occur under a network marketing business model, offering “a multiplication effect, month over month” that can lead to sustainable financial growth. Grimm maintained this positive outlook in this morning’s news release while highlighting the successes of the company’s breakthrough products and offering an indication of some exciting opportunities that could be on the horizon for Laguna’s affiliates.

“Pro369 was a strategic product introduction to our affiliates. Pro369 is a world-class product that contains hemp, omegas and ginseng. Pro369 has put Laguna in a league of its own for a quality hemp protein product that includes efficacious ingredients. There has been positive feedback from affiliates on the quality, taste and solubility of the product,” he stated. “Over the next several of months Laguna will be evaluating the next order size for Pro369. Laguna will also be considering the introduction of Pro369 tubs for its affiliates in addition to the single serving packages.”

The success of Laguna’s functional beverage products represents only a portion of the company’s forward strategy. On Tuesday, Laguna announced its entry into an exclusive agreement to market, promote and distribute seven cannabidiol (CBD) skin care products produced by CannaCeuticals of California, USA (“Canna”). Canna’s products have achieved strong results in lab studies, with its CBD face serum offering a 100 percent improvement to the appearance of test subjects’ skin within two weeks. For Laguna, these results provide a solid foundation upon which to make its entry into the $121 billion global skin care industry, and the company’s early feedback from affiliates regarding the quality of Canna’s skin care line has been “overwhelmingly positive,” according to Grimm.

For more information, visit www.lagunablends.com

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