Easter blessing to all!
May this season bring joy, hope and renewal.
The Associates at
Crystal Equity Research
Find more beautiful spring images at FineArtAmerica.com
Small Cap Strategist is published by Crystal Equity Research an independent research resource on small capitalization stocks. Follow along as we discuss the most recent trends in the small-cap sector, investigate interesting companies and pan a few not-so-promising stocks.
Easter blessing to all!
May this season bring joy, hope and renewal.
The Associates at
Crystal Equity Research
Find more beautiful spring images at FineArtAmerica.com
PRIME SERIES
The real estate
industry is staging for a recovery this year as inflation subsides and interest
rates stabilize. The Mortgage Bankers Association estimates the
industry could experience 19% increase in the dollar value of all real estate loan
volume in 2024 over 2023. Commercial and
multifamily mortgage loans are expected to lead the industry with 29%
year-over-year increase in loan value.
The turnaround
is not likely there will be a complete U-turn to how things were in real estate
lending before the coronavirus pandemic with the attendant inflation and higher
interest rates. Demand for office space
has been profoundly altered, shifting plans and strategies for real estate
projects. Perhaps more importantly, real estate professionals are looking for
change in how they go about their business.
Decision makers of all stripes have grown accustomed to the immediacy and convenience of digital applications. The analog practices of the past are just not good enough for the present-day real estate sector. Technology based on artificial intelligence (AI) is well-suited to industry that requires participants to wade through vast amounts of data. Programs enhanced with AI can efficiently sift through the bits and bytes to streamline property search and analysis, deepen due diligence, fine tune project design or match compatible counterparties.
PRIME SERIES
Clearmind Medicine
(CMND) is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company with the promising CMND-100
candidate at the front end of its pipeline. CMND-100 is based on the psychoactive compound
MEAI, shorthand for the synthetic molecule 5-MEthoxy-2-AminoIndine. The Company purchased the compound in 2021,
and has since completed several pre-clinical studies in animals to establish safety
and metabolic profiles.
One of the pre-clinical
studies tested MEAI as a curb for alcohol cravings in ‘binge drinking’ mice. The MEAI compound interacts with central nervous
system elements, specifically serotonergic receptors 5-HT1A and 5-HT2B as well
as adrenergic receptors α2A, α2B and α2C. The receptor 5-HT1A is particularly important
in alcohol dependence, so agonists of this receptor could help in reducing
alcohol intake. Importantly, MEAI may
have application for other binge-like diseases such as cocaine abuse and overeating.
Results for
early tests have been promising, prompting the Company to make plans for human
clinical trials. In early 2023, an Investigational
New Drug (IND) application was submitted to the U.S. Federal Drug
Administration (FDA) for the first human clinical trials of MEAI as CMND-100
aimed at patients with Alcohol Abuse Disorder or AUD.
The U.S. trials will be conducted at the Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. A similar application has been submitted to Israel’s Pharmaceutical Division of the Ministry of Health, which regulates the drug registration process in that country.
On the Anniversary of January 6, 2021 Storming of the U.S. Capital: a look back at how Donald Trump won the 2106 election from a financial analyst’s perspective.
The following commentary was originally posted
on January 24, 2017, following Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. Electoral College in the 2016
Election. Trump was sworn in as president
of the United States despite Hillary Clinton prevailing by a significant margin
in the popular vote. Donald Trump had been
so clever to stoke fervor in those states with an inordinate representation in
the Electoral College. This author’s
home state of South Dakota is just one such jurisdiction. Despite a low population, South Dakota punches
above its weight with three Electoral College votes. Trump’s surprise win inspired a closer look
at demographics, economics and social trends on a state-by-state basis.
The analysis uncovered hate groups and tendencies to solve problems with
violence. When the post was first
published, some readers thought it nonsense. Fast forward to today, few would deny the
popularity of Donald Trump among members of hate groups. Videos of the U.S. Capital Building under siege
on January 6, 2021, make it clear that the Trump team solves problems with
violence. Donald Trump, with his tough
talk of revenge and dictatorship, continues to stoke the fire burning in the
bellies of hate groups. As a consequence, in November 2024 as it was in November 2016, it is all about HATE.
The 2016 presidential election was two months ago and one might think it should be treated like so much water under the bridge. Yet last week just one day after Trump took the oath of office, over a half million people swarmed into Washington DC to remind the new president that his campaign to ‘make America great again’ would not be allowed to roll over social and economic progress made over the last few decades. Mostly women, they came wearing pink hats and carrying signs against racism, sexism and hate. Over 400 marches of the same sort were simultaneously held in communities around the country.