Reviews of Kent Moors Micro Energy Traders Ewi Investors Package

This article was originally published in February, 2019, and has been lightly updated a couple times when new versions of the ad take been pushed by Money Map Printing.

I've been getting buckets of questions about the latest pitch from Dr. Kent Moors for his Micro Energy Trader ($iii,500/year, limited "performance guarantee" refunds possible), so that's what we'll dig into today.

The pitch is typical of Moors' stuff, in that he conjures up this idea of an earth-changing new engineering that is the province of "one petty company" and will brand you rich, with fifty,000%+ returns… in the past, that's ever been a wild exaggeration (to be generous), merely we'll starting time out with an open listen. Hither's how the ad begins:

"ELECTRO-Moving ridge INVERSION

"It could create two.vii 1000000 American jobs…

"Save 610,000 lives from mortiferous diseases…

"And unleash $3.9 trillion to the U.S. economy…

"Delivering early on investors the turn a profit opportunity of a lifetime"

So what is this "electro-wave inversion?" The spiel is that it's a new and advanced imaging technology of some kind that can see through the walls of Fort Knox…

"Practically Zippo's ever been able to breach Fort Knox.

"Until now…

"You lot are looking at one of the well-nigh of import innovations in mod history.

"So important, it just received special clearances…

"From both the U.S. Section of the Interior and the White House.

"And it could deploy any day at present."

More info?

"This specific EWI device is around the size of a quarter in bore.

"And it'due south just almost an inch or then tall.

"Yet this tiny miracle has the ability to unlock $three.9 trillion in new wealth…"

Laying it on thick, correct?

What else?

"12 global Fortune 500 corporations…

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"With collective market place caps clearing $2.one trillion…

"Are lining up to cut $l million checks to a tiny $viii-per-share tech company…

"Simply for the rights to 'beta exam' this engineering…"

OK, so it's $eight a share. That'southward 1 clue. And it'southward a minor sensor of some kind. Other details?

"There's only one way to draw these devices…

"It's like having an MRI car that tin see 10 miles deep into the Earth's chaff.

"All while fitting in the palm of your manus."

OK. And apparently it's got other uses besides across those Fortune 500 corporations…

"For the U.S. Navy, it tin can exist 100 times more than authentic at spotting enemy submarines than the best military-grade sonar.

"The United States Geological Survey could use i to detect volcanic eruptions in Krakatoa, Indonesia… ii days before it even takes place.

"And Barrick, the $15 billion gold miner, could use i to find 92 times more gilded in a unmarried year… than has e'er been found throughout all of history."

And, of class, the big hope:

"Ahead, I'one thousand going to show you how a pocket-sized $1,000 pale in this tiny firm at the centre of these EWIs could abound into a $557,560 jackpot.

"But first, it'south disquisitional that you're aware this could all happen in a flash…

"Considering this tiny company has already turned the global $1.four trillion energy industry on its ear."

OK. So what'due south the blitz? Apparently there's some kind of plan to "greenlight" this engineering right abroad… dorsum in Feb, this is the wording used:

"I'chiliad going to examine what could be a authorities-mandated, nationwide rollout of this engineering science on April ane.

"And most chiefly, I'm going to reveal the one tiny company that is perfectly positioned for an consequence of this magnitude.

"It has been awarded 107 patents for this technology.

"And could presently brainstorm collecting cheque after check from some of the largest U.Southward. energy companies."

Now that's been updated to say that…

"Executive Club 13795 goes into effect on Baronial 21"

And…

"… on August 21, peak executives from some of the earth'due south biggest companies – including Exxon and BP – will be attending a private meeting in New Orleans… just to bid for the exclusive rights to use this technology.

"I've been asked to take part in this meeting. And I tin tell you this is going to exist one hell of a behest war.

"These companies are set up to throw tens of millions to get their hands on this applied science.

"And information technology all happens on August 21."

Though the latest version of the emails provide a new (and it seems to me, fabricated upward just for marketing urgency) deadline of October 1….

"Later on October 1, a bulk of this money could be completely off the table. According to the federal documents I'g looking at, a programme drafted by the Bureau of Bounding main Energy Management could go into issue then – and it would launch a nationwide rollout of this technology."

And, in a bit more item:

"EWI devices are expected to receive federal approval to analyze 269 MILLION acres of unexplored underwater terrain on the Outer Continental Shelf!

"The starting time phase could start Oct 1.

"That's when we could see the government open up this littoral property.

"It spans 420,312 square miles.

"That's about the size of Texas and California combined.

"It's a historic moment for U.Southward. energy.

"And it could make early investors in this EWI engineering filthy rich."

Other clues?

"… this company is manufacturing ane of these devices every four seconds…

"Just to meet the overwhelming need."

And it'south still quite small, merely has some big backers…

"Its market cap is just $114 million…

"Pecker Gates has personally invested $60 million into this.

"Hedge fund billionaire James Simons'southward firm, Renaissance Technologies, has over $8 million riding on this $8 stock.

"And over eighteen multibillion-dollar institutions have backed them as well."

OK. Pretty much every publicly traded visitor has "multibillion-dollar institutions" bankroll it, and Renaissance Technologies means essentially zippo when it's on the holdings listing of a company (yes, James Simon's house is arguably the most astounding money manager in history, just their reward is quantitative analysis and rapid trading, knowing what they owned last quarter is not generally very useful).

So what is this sensor? It's something to practise with "infrasound," which is lower-frequency audio than humans can generally hear….

"Infrasound tin can be over

"10,000 times LOWER than ultrasound."

And, no surprise since this is Kent Moors we're talking virtually, this is really an oil and gas story…

"While this technology is attracting the eyes of the U.S. Army, Navy, and NASA…

"To completely replace satellite, GPS, radar…

"And even some medical equipment…

"In that location'due south a reason this $114 million marketplace-cap visitor…

"Decision-making ALL of their 107 EWI patents…

"Is foregoing like shooting fish in a barrel U.S. Government cash…

"Just to disrupt a MUCH more lucrative segment."

OK, and then who is it that makes these trivial sensors and is going later on a big United states market? The only other clue of notation was that the stock is listed on the NYSE… so, Thinkolator sez he must be teasing united states of america about ION Geophysical (IO), the seismic services provider that has ridden the offshore oil and gas smash up and down several times in its xx+ years as a public company… generally recently "downwards" in a big mode since the 2014 collapse in oil prices.

ION Geophysical was at a $114 million market cap back in mid-January (when it was indeed at $8 a share, so that'due south a good match), though it had a good kickoff to the year and reached $200 million and $14 or so at the peak (it's at present below $100 million and $7/share).

The insider mentions were roughly authentic equally of earlier this year, Rensaissance Technologies and Gates Capital Direction were large shareholders of IO, and are withal, though it looks similar the copywriter screwed upward — Gates Capital Management is an asset manager run by Jeffrey Gates, with a few billion dollars under management, and has nothing to practice with Microsoft's Beak Gates. Gates Capital owns most a million shares at roughly $7 million in value, so maybe someone also mixed up their decimal points — if anyone had invested $60 meg in this company anytime in the past couple years, they would own roughly half the company… which doesn't typically happen with small-scale caps in the public markets. And no, there oasis't been any substantial oil or seismic information investment fabricated by Bill Gates, at least in public companies in recent years (his holdings are generally listed under Cascade Investments or, more recently, the Pecker and Melinda Gates Foundation).

It's not a perfect match, though — Ion claims "approximately 500" patents, and then I don't know where the "107 patents" bit comes from. They are indeed a manufacturer of geophones, through their Sensor subsidiary… and, aye, they produce a new one every four seconds at their factories. The images in the ad announced to be of the SM-24 rotating coil geophone, which is their core product — you can read all about it in their brochure here.

Ion is much more than a maker of geophones, thankfully, because sales volume has been pretty light in that surface area — they reported half dozen months ago that only nigh $8 million of their $75 million in acquirement came from devices, and that's been a fairly consequent percentage… it's a lilliputian lower now than it has been in the past, mostly because there isn't as much seismic data collection going on at the moment, so in that location isn't as much need for the large towed sensor arrays that are dragged behind ships to collect subsea images for oil companies.

No, ION these days is mostly a services company — they provide analysis of seismic data, and sell admission to the data they've collected in the past (their "information library"). This can be a actually good business if you lot become the right data, by and large because creating and processing a adept seismic "map" of an important exploration expanse tin can return your investment fairly rapidly if you go a couple primal customers to subscribe to the data right away, and then you own the data in perpetuity and odds are pretty skilful that some of it will be useful to some other customer in the future.

And ION has as well been on the short end of a very long legal stick for almost a decade, having been sued past WesternGeco and ordered to pay amercement in a patent instance that went to the Supreme Courtroom — and is now dorsum in the Circuit Court of Appeals to determine whether ION owes further back profits from foreign use of WesterGeco'southward patents. That determination seems to exist the primary reason for the stock'south run earlier this twelvemonth, since the announcement came on January 11 — ION is not out of the wood, from what I can tell just from reading their press release, but things are looking up, partly because some of the patents in question are themselves questionable.

The stock toll seems to have ridden this legal case to some degree, which is understandable since it's a small-scale stock and the initial award of $100 meg or so was more than the market cap in 2017. And ION was a billion+ dollar visitor before the 2014 collapse in oil prices actually gutted the value of offshore seismic fleets and seismic data libraries (if oil is below $fifty, the enthusiasm to do very expensive offshore exploration and development, at least in deep water, is severely diminished). I haven't looked into the lawsuit developments since February, then information technology might be worth post-obit upwards if you're interested in that aspect.

How else does this lucifer? Well, the tease points out that this "Electro-Moving ridge Inversion" was critical in finding a big new shallow-water oil discovery in Mexico in 2017… and that this hole-and-corner visitor was integral to that discovery. Which is true, but it had nothing to do with new "infrasound" data or quantum sensor engineering, it was because of ION Geophysical's reprocessing and imaging services — their analysis of old information, non the collection of new information with some magical new technology. And yep, most seismic information is collected on "infrasound" frequencies.

In fact, the near basic engineering that the tease refers to has been around for more than a century — the big quotes nigh how this is "ane of the greatest scientific achievements of all time" (European Periodical of Physics) seem to be references to the very concept of electromagnetic induction, discovered nearly 200 years ago by James Faraday (and maybe nearly simultaneously past Joseph Henry). That is obviously a foundational part of the modernistic understanding of electricity and physics, and led to nearly of the designs for electric motors and generators, equally well as being a key to developing these sensors which detect minute movements of magnets along their coils (I'm sure that's a gross oversimplification).

And there are other clues bated from the "107 patents" that don't quite fit — in that location'due south a flake almost how this company is working with ExxonMobil for the offset time…

"ExxonMobil has entered its first agreement with this pocket-size tech firm.

"They're deploying EWI devices to a projection in Africa."

And it's true that concluding year, ExxonMobil was responsible for more than ten% of ION Geophysical's revenue (every bit was Petrobras), and perhaps that higher level of sales to ExxonMobil was related to their oil work offshore Ghana, where ION has participated in a few m kilometers of data collection in partnership with GeoEx to support Ghana's first licensing round, but ExxonMobil has also been a customer of ION'due south in the past.

Though in that location are likewise some proficient specific matches — like the word that Shlumberger "turned to this pocket-sized company to clarify an 80,000-foursquare-kilometer site," which jibes with Shlumberger's work with ION Geophysical offshore Mexico starting back in 2016.

The "US authorities" stuff that was attached to the "April 1" borderline in the first version of this ad is all nigh offshore US oil exploration — as you're probably enlightened, the Trump Administration has pushed forward to exercise more offshore oil exploration, particularly in the Atlantic, and that will showtime require a lot of seismic information collection (in that location's been no real data collection or exploration offshore the east coast of the US for probably 30+ years, and not much before then).

That would probably create more business organisation for ION and the other seismic providers, and the assistants has provided the outset level of blessing for the seismic information collection (needed mostly because of the potential that seismic air guns, which create the sound that echos off the layers of earth underground, have the potential to at least harass marine mammals… which requires government permission), though in my inexpert stance it'south not likely to dramatically change ION's business concern overnight (and it will probably exist slow, in whatsoever instance, since some states will object, Congress sometimes thinks about banning offshore oil exploration outside the Gulf of Mexico, and the plan is non really even in place nonetheless). ION does non even really mention the possibility of Atlantic seismic drove as a nearly-term business driver in any of their investor info, they are much more than focused on areas where exploration is already well advanced like offshore Brazil and Africa and in the Gulf of United mexican states.

And bluntly, heading into an election yr, and with lots of other stuff to fight about and (arguably) a glut of oil already available to US consumers, I can't imagine major oil exploration being approved off of the East Coast of Florida or the Carolinas… those are primal states whose Republican representatives have historically responded poorly to the idea of oil exploration messing upwardly their beach tourism industries.

That was the original version of the ad, though — Apr 1 passed with no real impact for any seismic companies (as expected), they moved on to a new invented deadline of August 21 and promised that….

"These companies are prepare to throw tens of millions to get their hands on this technology.

"And it all happens on August 21."

Yes, August 21 was an of import date for offshore oil — though it's not necessarily going to bring any huge changes correct away for ION or any other oil service firms, all of whom accept seen falling share prices lately (IO is down past nigh 40% since the first version of this ad ran late in Feb, and past more than 50% since that offset "April 1" deadline… April Fools!). Baronial 21 is the 24-hour interval that the Federal Government put more than offshore oil leases in the Gulf of United mexican states up for bid as office of President Trump'due south plan to open up more than US waters to oil exploration (the April i date was about East Coast exploration, which is much earlier stage), and those who desire to buy those leases will have to explore them, almost certainly using seismic equipment. The lease sale did happen, with no particular impact on IO shares.

And Oct 1? I have no idea whether Us regulators will finally open upwards the Atlantic shelf to seismic exploration on that date… just that's been something they've been planning off and on for years, with Congress often resisting or blocking them to protect other coastal interests or ecology causes (specially marine mammals, when it comes to the fight over seismic exploration offshore), and, as I said, it's hard to imagine that being something that happens without a lot more of a fight, particularly in a contentious election bicycle.

How near that other stuff they hint at, how this could as well salvage lives? Here'southward a flake of tease…

"Physics Today reports EWIs could have life-saving medical applications.

"Primarily, preventing cardiovascular disease.

"That'southward right…

"By detecting infrasound, EWIs could find slight irregularities in heartbeat and blood menstruation.

"These are DEADLY precursors that pb to heart disease….

"Professionals are blown away by the results.

"Molecular biologist Nigel Flynn noted "[this] technology will dramatically impact mortality rates of the globe'south leading cause of expiry and extend man lifespan."

"It could save 610,000 lives in the U.S. alone!"

So that's pretty much only hooey. Not that the technology doesn't exist, information technology does — it merely doesn't mean anything for IO, or anyone else in the well-nigh term. And it's not "a professional person" who thinks it will "dramatically impact mortality rates," it'southward the Chairman and President of the visitor that's trying to develop a commercial sensor that uses this kind of "passive listening" technology. They're called Infrasonix, and they're currently trying to develop a paradigm of what they call an "Infrascope," which essentially just collects sound at depression frequencies and can therefore listen to things like the blood flowing through the body.

Simply the "hooey" is that this doesn't take anything to practise with ION Geophysical, or with any other manufacturer of infrasound detectors or sensors. They oasis't even designed a product yet, allow lonely try to source the parts, and there are at least dozens of manufacturers of sensors that can discover infrasonic frequencies, none of whom would have their financial picture changed meaningfully by this in the near term (no, in case you're curious, Infrasonix is not public — this is a crowd-funded startup that volition probably enhance more money to accept their next steps fairly shortly. I'm sure they'd similar to get involved with a large medical device or wearables company to commercialize a product, but there are also tons of other researchers working in this expanse. Infrasonix licensed their technology from NASA, for whatever that'due south worth, and, again (and perhaps obviously), has nil to practice with ION or whatever of the other major seismic sensor companies… it seems to only be a story that makes ION's sensor business sound more of import than information technology is.

So yes, seismic data and infrasound sensors are a existent thing. And they have made a huge difference in oil and gas exploration, and the technology does proceed to improve in an iterative way each year… though it'southward non actually controlled by a single company or owned entirely by, in this case, ION Geophysical (there are several decent-sized seismic information companies, including some fast-growing Chinese competitors). Moors' copywriter seems to be using a fairly typical trick, explaining the incredible value and importance of seismic data for oil exploration… simply then skipping a bunch of steps and implying that this whole engineering science is somehow new or owned by "i petty company."

ION itself might be interesting if y'all're patient… they'll need another surge of involvement in offshore oil in society to actually go assisting once more, but those surges have tended to come almost every now and then as oil prices surge, and some reasonable people are predicting that we're on the cusp of some other offshore oil boom if global need continues to increase. They've also delevered quite a bit, and they recall they'll exist able to repay their upcoming 2021 debt when information technology matures, then that provides some condolement. They've continued to say that they expect 2019 to be amend than 2018, discipline to exploration budgets, which isn't saying a lot because 2018 was terrible… but improve is, well, better than worse, and IO has seen revenue rebound a scrap this year (not plenty to become them dorsum to profitability, and analysts don't think they'll be profitable side by side year, either… but they're losing less).

By and large, what matters is oil prices — higher oil prices and the expectation of higher future prices are what determine investment by the large energy companies, and if they invest more than than they buy more seismic data, and spend more money building new seismic arrays or vessels and upgrading to the latest technologies. Here's the chart for the last 10 years that shows WTI rough oil prices (bluish), ION Geophysical revenue (crimson) and the IO share price (orange). It looks pretty clear to me that the 2014 collapse in oil prices dramatically impacted ION'south revenue, and it has never recovered… which has not given the share toll much room to recover.

The share price does respond to bumps up in oil prices (like nosotros saw last year), at least temporarily, but since the oil price came back down later those recent highs it didn't translate into more than exploration spending and more revenue for IO… and the contempo Iran/Saudi surge in oil hasn't had much impact on IO's share price, either. Maybe it will in the future if oil prices recover further or at to the lowest degree stay to a higher place $50 and big companies are encouraged to spend a lot more on exploration and seismic information, but oil prices are in many ways just a guessing game that has a lot to practice with global demand and GDP growth, with a side of war and Heart East brinksmanship thrown in.

And that'southward about all I tin tell you. Interested in ION Geophysical? Think you've got a better lucifer for those clues? Allow u.s. know with a comment beneath. Nosotros've left the original comments from the February version of this advertizing and article beneath to get you started.

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