American Heritage Intl (OTCCB:AHII) engages in the electronic cigarette business. One of our GeoTeam followers provided us with research that may help shape the landscape of many development stage e-cigarette companies whose shares have soared on the expectations that they would become serious players in a multi-billion dollar industry. What investors may not realize is that once the regulatory environment in the e-cigarrette industry becomes clearer, blue chip tobacco companies may enter the industry making it challenging for start-up competitors to gain market share. Here are a few excerpts from the aforementioned research note:
“…online electronic cigarette companies facing significant competitive pressure are starting to sell out to big tobacco to expand their retail presence, as well as to arm themselves against potential government measures that could effectively cause their businesses to go up in smoke, said several industry sources.”
We are particularly interested in monitoring the action of AHII, a company with no revenue, which has received several pump campaigns in the last few weeks.
In our 12/13/2013 email we mentioned:
“…we would begin tracking AHII when the stock was trading at $0.55 and mentioned the stock has already pumped significantly since the reverse merger in August 2013.”
In our 3/21/2014 email we mentioned:
“…it seems promotional activity has begun to increase and the recent run in many marijuana stocks has also lifted shares of AHII to new levels. Yesterday, AHII closed at a new high of $1.60.”
We are now short American Heritage Intl (OTCCB:AHII). We came across another article this morning in the New York Times that also infers that smaller e-cigarrette players will get pushed out of the market.