Do you have security concerns? If so, I have a small cap stock for you. But first, a little backstory.
Most of the time, the world is a wonderful place. But sometimes it’s not.
Like in the French city of Nice on Bastille Day in July 2016, when a terrorist drove a truck through the celebration, killing over 80 people.
And in the U.S. southeast last weekend, when winter tornadoes ripped through Georgia and Mississippi ripping houses off their foundations and tearing apart communities.
Or on April 15, 2013, when two bombs went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
Thankfully, nothing major happened at last Friday’s U.S. Presidential inauguration. But it seems like these types of events happen all the time. And when they do, the ability to quickly communicate life-saving and damage-mitigating information to large groups of people is essential. Especially since critical events are often random and complex, and response times aren’t immediate.
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I recently read that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says the average duration of an active shooter event at a school is 12.5 minutes. But the average police response time is 18 minutes. That’s not great news. And it shows what we all know to be the case: that people are often going to be fending for themselves when critical events occur.
While getting the word out to as many people as possible as quickly as possible won’t always stop the event from happening, it can change the outcome for the better.
When Disaster Strikes, Spread the Word
Fortunately, it’s becoming easier to get the word out in the digital age. Most people have a connected device near them at all hours of the day (and night). It’s not like the old days when you’d need to huddle around the radio or TV, or call a hotline from your landline, to catch breaking news.
Today, technology commonly known as the Internet-of-Things (IoT) and machine-to-machine networking (M2M) exists to support intelligent information blasts through voice calls, video, text, email and social media in a matter of seconds.
Two-way communication is possible, so that people can respond with their locations and conditions, and weigh in with helpful information regarding unfolding events. It’s also possible for connected technologies to address situations that aren’t as far-reaching as extreme weather events or terrorist attacks. Examples include missing person alerts, heavy machinery malfunctions and public notices regarding high-profile sporting and entertainment events, like the inauguration.
The power and reliability of modern connected technologies has given rise to what are now called critical communications platforms. These range from the very basic to the very sophisticated. The best ones can quickly and reliably broadcast information out to a wide variety of devices, and in multiple languages.
When public safety threats are present, these platforms collect, organize, analyze and disseminate information to the relevant people. This can save lives, protect property, and help the authorities deal with the situation faster.
An Emerging Internet of Things Technology
How does a typical critical communications system work?
The best ones use cloud-based software that quickly collects, aggregates and analyzes data to help authorities assess the level of the threat, locate people at risk, deploy resources to help and execute pre-defined communications processes. These platforms can deliver contextual messages via voice, text and email to millions of recipients in multiple languages on a wide variety of devices in many countries, all at the same time. And they can receive return information on a person or device’s status so that organizations can respond properly.
In some cases, the software can prompt receivers to use short, simple responses to questions like “Are you safe?” or “Do you need medical help?” That type of information is of obvious value when authorities and families are trying to get in touch with people who are in the danger zone.
There is a huge market need for this type of technology. But it’s still early days for this specialized area of the broader IoT market, which research firm IDC predicts will grow from $656 million in 2014 to $1.7 trillion in 2020.
The emerging critical communications industry appears to have a global market of around $15.6 billion today, and growing at around 20% per year. Future growth will fluctuate depending on the trend of threats, which, to be quite honest, is a little depressing.
Munich RE, a German-based reinsurer, says natural disaster loss events are up 17% (to 1,060) from 2012 to 2015. The Global Terrorism Database said global fatalities and injuries related to terrorist acts doubled to 82,400 from 2014 to 2015. And AV-Test says the global number of malware programs increased five-times between 2012 and 2015, from 95 million to 475 million. I suspect that when data from 2016 comes out, it will show a continuation of the trend.
That data is alarming. But you don’t need to crunch the numbers. I think it’s obvious that severe weather events, terrorist attacks, active shooter events and cyber threats aren’t going away. Real-time, accurate information is one of the best tools to help deal with them, while lowering both the human and economic costs.
This Small Cap Stock Offers the Best Protection
Last Friday, Washington DC hosted the swearing in of the 45th President of the United States. The weather was crummy, traffic was congested, and both Trump supporters and protestors were present. Like most big gatherings—the Super Bowl, First Night, The New York City Marathon, etc. – there was potential for a lot to go wrong. But by and large, things went off without a hitch.
Part of that is because authorities implemented a critical communications platform from an emerging small cap company that’s still flying under the radar. This company’s technology was also present during the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and the Chelsea/New York City pipe bombings in 2016. In that last one, it helped authorities apprehend a suspect within just few hours.
The company is in the business of protecting people and property. It has helped protect millions from hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and active shooter situations. When a child goes missing, it’s there to help. When an armed suspect is running free in the streets, the community can use its solutions to help law enforcement make the arrest.
Protection is a lucrative business, evidenced by the company’s annual revenue growth north of 30%. As it expands its product mix to help protect more individuals and assets around the world, I expect this small cap stock will become as well known to the investment community as it is to Chief Security Officers and public safety officials. The name of the company isn’t all that hard to figure out. But getting all the information on why it could be one of the best investments you’ll make in 2017 is.
Fortunately for Cabot Small-Cap Confidential subscribers, I’ve already done all that work for them. I featured this small cap stock a few weeks ago, and already subscribers are sitting on a nice profit. I think there’s much more room for the stock to run. If you’re interested in getting all the details on this stock, as well as all the others I cover, you should immediately jump on a subscription to Cabot Small-Cap Confidential. Ten of our 12 small cap stock positions are in the black, and on average, each position is outperforming the small cap stock index by 10%.
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