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Release – Onconova Therapeutics to Present at the H.C. Wainwright 24th Annual Global Investment Conference

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Onconova Therapeutics to Present at the H.C. Wainwright 24th Annual Global Investment Conference

News and Market Data on Onconova Therapeutics

NEWTOWN, Pa., Sept. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ONTX), (“Onconova”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel products for patients with cancer, today announced that the Company will be participating virtually in the H.C. Wainwright 24th Annual Global Investment Conference, which is taking place in a hybrid format at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel.

A corporate overview presented by Steven Fruchtman, M.D., President & CEO of Onconova, will be available on-demand beginning on Monday, September 12, 2022, at 7:00 a.m. ET. The presentation can be viewed here or on the “Corporate Events and
Presentations” section of the Onconova website and will be archived for 90 days. Dr. Fruchtman and other members of the Onconova management team will also be available for virtual one-on-one meetings through the conference from September 12 – 16, 2022. Those interested in requesting a meeting should contact their H.C. Wainwright representative. 

About
Onconova Therapeutics, Inc.

Onconova Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel products for patients with cancer. The Company has proprietary targeted anti-cancer agents designed to disrupt specific cellular pathways that are important for cancer cell proliferation.

Onconova’s novel, proprietary multi-kinase inhibitor narazaciclib (formerly ON 123300) is being evaluated in two separate and complementary Phase 1 dose-escalation and expansion studies. These trials are currently underway in the United States and China.

Onconova’s product candidate rigosertib is being studied in an investigator-sponsored study program, including in a dose-escalation and expansion Phase 1/2a investigator-sponsored study with oral rigosertib in combination with nivolumab for patients with KRAS+ non-small cell lung cancer.

For more information, please visit www.onconova.com.

Company
Contact:
Mark Guerin
Onconova Therapeutics, Inc.
267-759-3680

ir@onconova.us
https://www.onconova.com/contact/

Investor
Contact:
Bruce Mackle
LifeSci Advisors, LLC
646-889-1200

bmackle@lifesciadvisors.com

 


Release – Ocugen Appoints Robert J. Hopkins, MD, MPH & TM, FACP, FIDSA, as Chief Medical Officer and Promotes Arun Upadhyay, PhD, to Chief Scientific Officer

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Ocugen Appoints Robert J. Hopkins, MD, MPH & TM, FACP, FIDSA, as Chief Medical Officer and Promotes Arun Upadhyay, PhD, to Chief Scientific Officer

Research, News, and Market Data on Ocugen

September 1, 2022

MALVERN, Pa., Sept. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ocugen, Inc. (Ocugen or the Company) (NASDAQ: OCGN), a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel gene and cell therapies and vaccines, today announced the appointment of Robert J. Hopkins, MD, MPH & TM, FACP, FIDSA, as Chief Medical Officer. Arun Upadhyay, PhD, previously Senior Vice President, Research & Development, will now serve as the Company’s Chief Scientific Officer, overseeing the development and manufacturing of Ocugen’s clinical and commercial product portfolio and evaluating new technologies.

“We are extremely pleased to have Dr. Hopkins driving our clinical programs as his expertise across the industry along with his work at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority will provide us with tremendous insights in bringing innovative solutions to patients,” said Dr. Shankar Musunuri, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder of Ocugen.

“Dr. Upadhyay has been invaluable in establishing Ocugen’s unique modifier gene delivery platform and collaborating with our partner Bharat Biotech in the development of COVAXIN™,” said Dr. Musunuri. “It’s truly been a pleasure working alongside him for the past several years, and we look to his scientific leadership to deliver new breakthroughs in medicine.”

Dr. Hopkins has more than 25 years’ experience as a physician and clinical researcher. In addition to his work in government organizations, he has held senior level positions at Merck Research Labs, DynPort Vaccine Company, Emergent BioSolutions, and Aeras. He has developed and commercialized multiple vaccine and therapeutic products, Phases 1 through 4. Prior to joining Ocugen, he was the Chief Medical Officer at Adaptive Phage Therapeutics where he oversaw regulatory affairs, clinical development, and clinical operations.

“I look forward to bringing my vaccines and therapeutics experience to Ocugen,” said Dr. Hopkins. “It’s imperative that we provide additional options in the fight against COVID-19, as well as deliver new gene and cell therapies to address unmet medical need.”

Dr. Upadhyay has spent more than 20 years in discovery research and innovation developing novel therapeutic modalities and drug-delivery technologies. He has been leading nonclinical, early-to-late-stage global product development and manufacturing, bioanalyses, and clinical trial supply management. Dr. Upadhyay has led multiple successful regulatory submissions in the U.S. He has worked extensively in drug development—ranging from small molecules to biologics, and advanced cell and gene therapy modalities. Prior to joining Ocugen, he led ophthalmic drug development and delivery research at the University of Colorado Denver in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. There, Dr. Upadhyay was instrumental in developing novel approaches for sustained and targeted drug delivery of peptides, proteins, RNA, and DNA to cells and tissues. Dr. Upadhyay also led engineering of polymeric micro and nano carriers’ system of vaccine antigens to enhance immunogenicity and protective immunity.

“I’m excited to expand my role at Ocugen and lead our R&D and manufacturing teams to advance our product pipeline and evolve the Company in gene therapy and regenerative medicine,” said Dr. Upadhyay.

Dr. Hopkins and Dr. Upadhyay are part of Ocugen’s leadership team, reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer.

About Ocugen, Inc.
Ocugen, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel gene and cell therapies and vaccines that improve health and offer hope for patients across the globe. We are making an impact on patient’s lives through courageous innovation—forging new scientific paths that harness our unique intellectual and human capital. Our breakthrough modifier gene therapy platform has the potential to treat multiple retinal diseases with a single product, and we are advancing research in infectious diseases to support public health and orthopedic diseases to address unmet medical needs.

Discover more at www.ocugen.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are subject to
risks and uncertainties. We may, in some cases, use terms such as “predicts,”
“believes,” “potential,” “proposed,” “continue,” “estimates,” “anticipates,”
“expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “may,” “could,” “might,” “will,” “should,” or
other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify
these forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to numerous
important factors, risks, and uncertainties that may cause actual events or
results to differ materially from our current expectations. These and other
risks and uncertainties are more fully described in our periodic filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the risk factors
described in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the quarterly and annual
reports that we file with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements that we make
in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Except
as required by law, we assume no obligation to update forward-looking
statements contained in this press release whether as a result of new
information, future events, or otherwise, after the date of this press release.

Contact:
Tiffany Hamilton
Head of Communications
IR@ocugen.com

 

 


Release – 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. Reports Revenue Growth of 4.0 Percent To $2.21 Billion for its Fiscal 2022 Full Year

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1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. Reports Revenue Growth of 4.0 Percent To $2.21 Billion for its Fiscal 2022 Full Year

Research, News, and Market Data on 1-800-FLOWERS.COM

Sep 01, 2022

Full Year Highlights:

  • Total Net Revenues
    increased 4.0 percent to a record $2.21
    billion    , compared with $2.12
    billion     in the prior year.
  • Net Income was $29.6
    million    , or $0.45 per
    diluted share, compared with Net Income of $118.7
    million    , or $1.78 per
    diluted share, in the prior year period. Adjusted Net Income    1 was $32.9
    million    , or $0.50 per
    diluted share, compared with $122.6
    million    , or $1.84 per
    diluted share, in the prior year.
  • Adjusted EBITDA1 was $99.0
    million    , compared with $213.1
    million     in the prior year, primarily reflecting significantly
    higher year-over-year cost increases in labor, shipping, commodities, and
    digital marketing.

Fourth Quarter Highlights:

  • Total Net Revenues were $485.9
    million    , compared with $487.0
    million     in the prior year period.
  • Net Loss was $22.3
    million    , or ($0.34)
    per share, compared with net income of $13.3
    million    , or $0.20 per
    diluted share, in the prior year period. Adjusted Net Loss    1 was $21.8
    million    , or ($0.34)
    per share, compared with Adjusted Net Income    1 of $13.3
    million    , or $0.20 per
    diluted share in the prior year period.
  • Adjusted EBITDA1 loss was $16.8
    million    , compared with Adjusted EBITDA    1 of $30.2
    million     in the prior year period, primarily reflecting
    significantly higher year-over-year cost increases in labor, shipping,
    commodities, and digital marketing.

(1 Refer to “Definitions of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and
the tables attached at the end of this press release for reconciliation of
Non-GAAP (“Adjusted”) results to applicable GAAP results.)

JERICHO, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLWS), a leading provider of gifts designed to help inspire customers to give more, connect more, and build more and better relationships, today reported results for its fiscal 2022 fourth quarter and full year ended July 3, 2022.

Chris McCann, CEO of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc., said, “We finished our fiscal year 2022 with revenues essentially flat in our fourth quarter and full year revenues up 4.0 percent compared with the prior year, and up more than 75 percent compared with our fiscal 2019, prior to the pandemic. Our growth for the year illustrates our ability to retain and build on the gains we achieved over the past two years despite macroeconomic uncertainty and changes in consumer behavior. This reflects the healthy growth we have seen in our customer file combined with our expanded product offering and our ever-increasing focus on engaging with our customers through a combination of highly relevant content and unique experiences.

“Inflationary cost increases continued to pose challenges for us in both the fourth quarter and full year. The unprecedented, rapid rise in costs impacted our gross margins and operating expenses – including labor, shipping, commodities, and digital marketing. As a result, our bottom-line results for both the fourth quarter and the full year came in below our expectations.”

McCann said that the Company is focused on addressing those cost issues that are within its control by leveraging its balance sheet to invest in its operating platform, including ongoing investments to automate warehouse and distribution facilities, optimize outbound shipping operations and buy and build inventory early. “We anticipate that the combination of our investments, along with strategic pricing programs and moderation in cost inputs, will enable us to gradually improve our gross margins and our bottom-line results during the latter half of our current fiscal year.”

McCann noted that, during the fourth quarter and throughout the fiscal year, the Company continued to execute on its initiatives to “build a community with our customers. Our expanding range of communication channels feature relevant content, like our weekly Celebrations Pulse Newsletter, and interactive engagement opportunities, like our Alice’s Table® events. Taken together with our expanded product offerings, these initiatives helped us attract more than 1.5 million new customers during the fourth quarter and more than 5.0 million for the year. In addition, membership in our Celebrations Passport® loyalty program continued to grow at a double-digit rate for the year. We believe the significant size and robust growth of our customer file and our Celebrations Passport loyalty program over the past several years, along with our expanded product offerings, positions us well to help inspire customers to give more, connect more, and build more and better relationships and continue to grow our business over the long term.”

Fiscal 2022 Fourth Quarter
Results:
For the fourth quarter of 2022, total net revenues were 
$485.9 million
, down 0.2 percent compared with 
$487.0 million
 in the prior year period. Excluding contributions from Vital Choice®, which the Company acquired in October of 2021, total revenue for the quarter was down 1.5 percent, compared with the prior year period. Revenues for the quarter increased 87.3 percent compared with total revenues of 
$259.4 million
 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019, prior to the pandemic.

Gross profit margin for the quarter was 33.7 percent, down 700 basis points, compared with 40.7 percent in the prior year period, primarily reflecting significantly increased costs for labor, shipping, and commodities as well as write downs of perishable inventory. Operating expenses as a percent of total revenues was 39.2 percent, representing an increase of 170 basis points, compared with 37.5 percent in the prior year period. This primarily reflects higher digital marketing spend as well as higher depreciation, offset in part by lower incentive compensation and the performance of our non-qualified deferred compensation plan, compared with the prior year period.

As a result, Adjusted EBITDA1 loss was 
$16.8 million
, compared with Adjusted EBITDA1 of 
$30.2 million
 in the prior year period, primarily reflecting significantly higher year-over-year costs for labor, shipping, commodities, and digital marketing. Net Loss was 
$22.3 million
, or (
$0.34) per share, compared with net income of 
$13.3 million
, or 
$0.20 per diluted share, in the prior year period. Adjusted Net Loss1 was 
$21.8 million, or (
$0.34) per share, compared with Adjusted Net Income1 of 
$13.3, or 
$0.20 per diluted share in the prior year period.

Fiscal 2022 Full Year Results:
Total net revenues for the full year increased 4.0 percent to 
$2.21 billion
, compared with 
$2.12 billion
 in the prior year. This increase reflected growth across the Company’s three business segments, and includes the contributions from Vital Choice and Personalization Mall®, which were acquired in October 2021 and August 2020, respectively. On a pro-forma basis, total net revenues grew 2.5 percent compared with the prior year. Total net revenues grew 76.8 percent compared with total net revenues of 
$1.25 billion
 in fiscal 2019, prior to the pandemic.

Gross profit margin for the year was 37.2 percent, down 500 basis points, compared with 42.2 percent in the prior year. This primarily reflected significantly increased costs for labor, shipping, commodities and the write down of perishable inventories. Operating expense as a percent of total revenues was 35.3 percent, representing an increase of 10 basis points, compared with 35.2 percent in the prior year. As a result, Adjusted EBITDA1 was 
$99.0 million
, compared with 
$213.1 million
 in the prior year. Net Income was 
$29.6 million
, or 
$0.45 per diluted share, compared with Net Income of 
$118.7 million
, or 
$1.78 per diluted share, in the prior year period. Adjusted Net Income1 was 
$32.9 million
, or 
$0.50 per diluted share, compared with 
$122.6 million
, or 
$1.84 per diluted share, in the prior year.

SEGMENT RESULTS:
The Company provides fiscal 2022 fourth quarter and full year selected financial results for its Gourmet Foods and Gift Baskets, Consumer Floral and Gifts, and BloomNet® segments in the tables attached to this release and as follows:

  • Gourmet Foods and Gift Baskets: Revenue for the quarter was 
    $148.4 million
    , down 2.4 percent compared with 
    $152.2 million
     in the prior year period. Excluding Vital Choice®, which the Company acquired in October 2021, revenue for the quarter was 
    $142.7 million
    . Revenue for the quarter was up 104.9 percent compared to the same period in the Company’s fiscal 2019 fourth quarter. Gross profit margin was 23.2 percent, compared with 38.9 percent in the prior year period. Segment contribution margin1 loss was 
    $23.7 million
    , compared with segment contribution margin of 
    $4.2 million
     in the prior year period. This primarily reflected higher labor, shipping, commodity costs and perishable inventory write downs, as well as higher year-over-year marketing rates. For the year, revenue in this segment increased 5.1 percent to 
    $1.0 billion
    , compared with 
    $955.6 million
     in the prior year. Revenue increased 54.9 percent, compared with revenue in the Company’s fiscal year 2019, prior to the pandemic. Gross profit margin for the year was 34.2 percent, compared with 42.9 percent in the prior year. Adjusted segment contribution margin1 for the year was 
    $64.9 million, compared with 
    $148.9 million in the prior year.
  • Consumer Floral &
    Gifts    : Revenue for the quarter increased 0.4 percent to 
    $299.0 million
    , compared with 
    $297.7 million
     in the prior year period. Revenues for the quarter increased 87.2 percent compared with the same period in the Company’s fiscal 2019 fourth quarter. Gross profit margin was 38.0 percent, compared with 41.1 percent in the prior year period, primarily reflecting increased labor and shipping costs. Segment contribution margin1 was 
    $26.4 million
    , compared with 
    $41.2 million
     in the prior year period. This primarily reflected the lower gross margin combined with higher, year-over-year digital marketing rates. For the year, revenues increased 3.4 percent to 
    $1.06 billion
    , compared with 
    $1.03 billion
     in the prior year. Revenues increased 112.9 percent, compared with the Company’s fiscal year 2019. Gross margin was 39.3 percent, compared with 41.1 percent in the prior year. Segment contribution margin1 was 
    $104.3 million
    , compared with 
    $128.6 million
     in the prior year.
  • BloomNet: Revenue for the quarter increased 3.2 percent to 
    $38.5 million
    , compared with 
    $37.3 million
     in the prior year period. Revenue for the quarter was up 41.2 percent compared to the same period in the Company’s fiscal 2019 fourth quarter. Gross profit margin was 39.6 percent, compared with 43.2 percent in the prior year period, primarily reflecting higher shipping costs as well as product mix. Segment contribution margin1 was 
    $10.0 million
    , compared with 
    $11.3 million
     in the prior year period. For the year, revenue increased 1.9 percent to 
    $145.7 million
    , compared with 
    $142.9 million
     in the prior year. Revenue increased 41.6 percent, compared with the Company’s fiscal year 2019. Gross profit margin was 42.3 percent, compared with 45.5 percent in the prior year. Segment contribution margin1 for the year was 
    $42.5 million
    , compared with 
    $45.9 million
     in the prior year.

COMPANY GUIDANCE

  • Based on the highly unpredictable nature of the current macro economy, the Company has decided to provide guidance on a quarter-by-quarter basis, including current business trends to date at the time of its regular quarterly results releases.
  • Through the first two months of the Company’s current fiscal first quarter, we have seen continued cautious consumer spending behavior reflecting the impact of price inflation, particularly in food and gasoline. As a result, the Company anticipates that its fiscal first quarter revenues will be down in a range of 3.0-to-6.0 percent, compared with the prior year period.
  • In terms of cost inputs, the Company anticipates that year-over-year costs for labor, shipping, commodities, and digital marketing will remain high through the first quarter, compared with the prior year period.
  • As a result, the Company anticipates that its Adjusted EBITDA loss1 for the current fiscal first quarter will be in a range of 
    $28.0 million
    -to-
    $33.0 million.
  • Looking ahead, the Company anticipates that the combination of the investments it has made – and continues to make – in its business platform, along with strategic pricing programs and moderation of cost inputs, will enable it to gradually achieve improved gross margins and bottom-line results during the latter half of the current fiscal year.
  • For the full year, the Company anticipates reduced capital expenditures as well as lower working capital needs compared with the prior year. As a result, the Company expects to generate substantial positive year-over-year free cash flow.

Definitions of non-GAAP
Financial Measures:
We sometimes use financial measures derived from consolidated financial information, but not presented in our financial statements prepared in accordance with 
U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). Certain of these are considered “non-GAAP financial measures” under the 
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules. Non-GAAP financial measures referred to in this document are either labeled as “non-GAAP” or designated as such with a “1”. See below for definitions and the reasons why we use these non-GAAP financial measures. Where applicable, see the Selected Financial Information below for reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations for forward-looking figures would require unreasonable efforts at this time because of the uncertainty and variability of the nature and amount of certain components of various necessary GAAP components, including, for example, those related to compensation, tax items, amortization or others that may arise during the year, and the Company’s management believes such reconciliations would imply a degree of precision that would be confusing or misleading to investors. For the same reasons, the Company is unable to address the probable significance of the unavailable information. The lack of such reconciling information should be considered when assessing the impact of such disclosures.

EBITDA
and Adjusted EBITDA
We define EBITDA as net income (loss) before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA adjusted for the impact of stock-based compensation, Non-Qualified Plan Investment appreciation/depreciation, and for certain items affecting period-to-period comparability. See Selected Financial Information for details on how EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA were calculated for each period presented. The Company presents EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA because it considers such information meaningful supplemental measures of its performance and believes such information is frequently used by the investment community in the evaluation of similarly situated companies. The Company uses EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA as factors to determine the total amount of incentive compensation available to be awarded to executive officers and other employees. The Company’s credit agreement uses EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to determine its interest rate and to measure compliance with certain covenants. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are also used by the Company to evaluate and price potential acquisition candidates. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the Company’s results as reported under GAAP. Some of the limitations are: (a) EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA do not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, the Company’s working capital needs; (b) EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA do not reflect the significant interest expense, or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments, on the Company’s debts; and (c) although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized may have to be replaced in the future and EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for such capital expenditures. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA should only be used on a supplemental basis combined with GAAP results when evaluating the Company’s performance.

Segment
Contribution Margin and Adjusted Segment Contribution Margin
We define Segment Contribution Margin as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, before the allocation of corporate overhead expenses. Adjusted Contribution Margin is defined as Contribution Margin adjusted for certain items affecting period-to-period comparability. See Selected Financial Information for details on how Segment Contribution Margin and Adjusted Segment Contribution Margin were calculated for each period presented. When viewed together with our GAAP results, we believe Segment Contribution Margin and Adjusted Segment Contribution Margin provide management and users of the financial statements meaningful information about the performance of our business segments. Segment Contribution Margin and Adjusted Segment Contribution Margin are used in addition to and in conjunction with results presented in accordance with GAAP and should not be relied upon to the exclusion of GAAP financial measures. The material limitation associated with the use of Segment Contribution Margin and Adjusted Segment Contribution Margin is that they are an incomplete measure of profitability as they do not include all operating expenses or non-operating income and expenses. Management compensates for these limitations when using this measure by looking at other GAAP measures, such as Operating Income and Net Income.

Adjusted
Net Income (Loss) and Adjusted or Comparable Net Income (Loss) Per Common Share:
We define Adjusted Net Income (Loss) and Adjusted or Comparable Net Income (Loss) Per Common Share as Net Income (Loss) and Net Income (Loss) Per Common Share adjusted for certain items affecting period-to-period comparability. See Selected Financial Information below for details on how Adjusted Net Income (Loss) Per Common Share and Adjusted or Comparable Net Income (Loss) Per Common Share were calculated for each period presented. We believe that Adjusted Net Income (Loss) and Adjusted or Comparable Net Income (Loss) Per Common Share are meaningful measures because they increase the comparability of period-to-period results. Since these are not measures of performance calculated in accordance with GAAP, they should not be considered in isolation of, or as a substitute for, GAAP Net Income (Loss) and Net Income (Loss) Per Common share, as indicators of operating performance and they may not be comparable to similarly titled measures employed by other companies.

Free
Cash Flow:
We define Free Cash Flow as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures. The Company considers Free Cash Flow to be a liquidity measure that provides useful information to management and investors about the amount of cash generated by the business after the purchases of fixed assets, which can then be used to, among other things, invest in the Company’s business, make strategic acquisitions, strengthen the balance sheet, and repurchase stock or retire debt. Free Cash Flow is a liquidity measure that is frequently used by the investment community in the evaluation of similarly situated companies. Since Free Cash Flow is not a measure of performance calculated in accordance with GAAP, it should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the Company’s results as reported under GAAP. A limitation of the utility of free cash flow as a measure of financial performance is that it does not represent the total increase or decrease in the Company’s cash balance for the period.

About 1-800-FLOWERS.COM,
Inc.
1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. is a leading provider of gifts designed to help inspire customers to give more, connect more, and build more and better relationships. The Company’s e-commerce business platform features an all-star family of brands, including: 1-800-Flowers.com®, 1-800-Baskets.com®, Cheryl’s Cookies®, Harry & David®, PersonalizationMall.com®, Shari’s Berries®, FruitBouquets.com®, Moose Munch®, The Popcorn Factory®, Wolferman’s Bakery®, Vital Choice®, Stock Yards® and Simply Chocolate®. Through the Celebrations Passport® loyalty program, which provides members with free standard shipping and no service charge across our portfolio of brands, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. strives to deepen relationships with customers. The Company also operates BloomNet®, an international floral and gift industry service provider offering a broad-range of products and services designed to help members grow their businesses profitably; Napco?, a resource for floral gifts and seasonal décor; DesignPac Gifts, LLC, a manufacturer of gift baskets and towers; and Alice’s Table®, a lifestyle business offering fully digital livestreaming floral, culinary and other experiences to guests across the country. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. was recognized among the top 5 on the National Retail Federation’s 2021 Hot 25 Retailers list, which ranks the nation’s fastest-growing retail companies, and was named to the Fortune 1000 list in 2022. Shares in 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. are traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, ticker symbol: FLWS. For more information, visit 1800flowersinc.com or follow @1800FLOWERSInc on Twitter.

FLWS-COMP
FLWS-FN

Special Note Regarding Forward
Looking Statements:
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements represent the Company’s current expectations or beliefs concerning future events and can generally be identified using statements that include words such as “estimate,” “expects,” “project,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “foresee,” “forecast,” “likely,” “will,” “target” or similar words or phrases. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are outside of the Company’s control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the Company’s ability to achieve its guidance for the fiscal year 2023 first quarter, the latter half of the current fiscal year and the full fiscal year; the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Company; its ability to leverage its operating platform and reduce operating expense ratio; its ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses and assets; its ability to successfully execute its strategic initiatives; its ability to cost effectively acquire and retain customers; the outcome of contingencies, including legal proceedings in the normal course of business; its ability to compete against existing and new competitors; its ability to manage expenses associated with sales and marketing and necessary general and administrative and technology investments; its ability to reduce promotional activities and achieve more efficient marketing programs; and general consumer sentiment and industry and economic conditions that may affect levels of discretionary customer purchases of the Company’s products. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any of the forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, made in this release or in any of its SEC filings. Consequently, you should not consider any such list to be a complete set of all potential risks and uncertainties. For a more detailed description of these and other risk factors, refer to the Company’s SEC filings, including the Company’s Annual Reports on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

Conference Call:
The Company will conduct a conference call to discuss the above details and attached financial results today, Thursday, September 1, at 8:00 a.m. (ET). The conference call will be webcast from the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at www.1800flowersinc.com. A recording of the call will be posted on the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website within two hours of the call’s completion. A telephonic replay of the call can be accessed beginning at 2:00 p.m. (ET) today, through September 8, 2022, at: (US) 1-877-344-7529; (
Canada) 855-669-9658; (International) 1-412-317-0088; enter conference ID #: 4688547. If you have any questions regarding the above information, please contact the Investor Relations office at invest@1800flowers.com.

 

Note: The following tables are an integral
part of this press release without which the information presented in this
press release should be considered incomplete.

 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220901005099/en/

Investor Contact:

Joseph D. Pititto

(516) 237-6131

invest@1800flowers.com

Media Contact:

Kathleen Waugh

(516) 237-6028

kwaugh@1800flowers.com

Source: 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc.

 


Vera Bradley (VRA) – Challenging 2Q23; but Signs of Better Times to Come

Posted on by Admin

Thursday, September 01, 2022

Vera Bradley (VRA)
Challenging 2Q23; but Signs of Better Times to Come

Joe Gomes, Senior Research Analyst, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Joshua Zoepfel, Research Associate, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Refer to the full report for the price target, fundamental analysis, and rating.

2QFY23 Results. Net revenues totaled $130.4 million compared to $147.0 million in the prior year second quarter ended July 31, 2021. Vera Bradley reported a consolidated net loss of $29.8 million, or a loss of $0.95 per share versus net income of $9.1 million, or $0.26 per diluted share, last year. Non-GAAP net income was $2.4 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, compared to $9.5 million, or $0.28 per diluted share in 2Q22.

Bifurcation Continues. Vera Bradley continued to see a bifurcation of its customer base, with higher household incomes remaining engaged and continuing to spend, while inflationary pressures, especially higher gas prices, continued to negatively affect the purchases of customers with lower household incomes, as well as traffic and spending….

This Company Sponsored Research is provided by Noble Capital Markets, Inc., a FINRA and S.E.C. registered broker-dealer (B/D).

*Analyst certification and important disclosures included in the full report. NOTE: investment decisions should not be based upon the content of this research summary. Proper due diligence is required before making any investment decision. 

Permex Petroleum (OILCF) – Well Completions Demonstrate Two-Pronged Approach to Growth

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Thursday, September 01, 2022

Permex Petroleum (OILCF)
Well Completions Demonstrate Two-Pronged Approach to Growth

Michael Heim, CFA, Senior Research Analyst, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Refer to the full report for the price target, fundamental analysis, and rating.

 Permex announced positive results for five well recompletions of previously shut-in wells. The wells came on line at an initial rate of 50 BOE/d and stabilized at 35 BOE/d. By comparison, the company just reported production of 8,946 BOE for the fiscal nine months ended June 30, 2022 which equates to 32.8 BBL/d. Production from these five well essentially doubles production to a reported level of 71 BOE/d. Assuming net revenues double to a level near $300,000/qtr. and G&A returns to a historical level of $250,000/qtr. (last quarter was $1 million due to one-time legal, accounting, and marketing costs) then the company should be close to cash flow neutral.

Well recompletion and stimulation provide a good balance to in-fill drilling. While we are clearly focused on new drilling in the Breedlove Field in Martin County, it is worth remembering that Permex has ample opportunity to perform lower cost, lower risk, well completions and stimulation. The company has an additional 62 shut-in oil, gas, and salt water disposal wells in each of its properties remaining to be brought online. Recompletions have a high return on investment and should help fund in-fill drilling. As a reminder, we expect the company to drill one vertical and one horizontal well before yearend. The company reported $5.4 million in cash as of June 30, 2022, which should fund one if not both of the wells….

This Company Sponsored Research is provided by Noble Capital Markets, Inc., a FINRA and S.E.C. registered broker-dealer (B/D).

*Analyst certification and important disclosures included in the full report. NOTE: investment decisions should not be based upon the content of this research summary. Proper due diligence is required before making any investment decision. 

Orion Group Holdings (ORN) – A New CFO

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Thursday, September 01, 2022

Orion Group Holdings (ORN)
A New CFO

Joe Gomes, Senior Research Analyst, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Joshua Zoepfel, Research Associate, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Refer to the full report for the price target, fundamental analysis, and rating.

Filling in a Position. Yesterday, Orion fulfilled the other promise in the second quarter earning’s call with the announcement of  the vacant CFO position being fulfilled with Scott Thanisch. Mr. Thanisch is scheduled to assume his new duties on September 12, 2022.

Who is Scott Thanisch? In the press release, it states that Mr. Thanisch was CFO at a Texas commercial construction services company and a transport services, maintenance, and repair company before joining Orion. Mr. Thanisch is an operationally focused executive with broad experience in global corporate finance and proven results in corporate value creation….

This Company Sponsored Research is provided by Noble Capital Markets, Inc., a FINRA and S.E.C. registered broker-dealer (B/D).

*Analyst certification and important disclosures included in the full report. NOTE: investment decisions should not be based upon the content of this research summary. Proper due diligence is required before making any investment decision. 

Entravision Communications (EVC) – A Positive Message

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Thursday, September 01, 2022

Entravision Communications (EVC)
A Positive Message

Entravision Communications Corporation is a diversified Spanish-language media company utilizing a combination of television and radio operations to reach Hispanic consumers across the United States, as well as the border markets of Mexico. Entravision owns and/or operates 53 primary television stations and is the largest affiliate group of both the top-ranked Univision television network and Univision’s TeleFutura network, with television stations in 20 of the nation’s top 50 Hispanic markets. The Company also operates one of the nation’s largest groups of primarily Spanish-language radio stations, consisting of 48 owned and operated radio stations.

Michael Kupinski, Director of Research, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Patrick McCann, Research Associate, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Refer to the full report for the price target, fundamental analysis, and rating.

Non-deal road show highlights: Last week, EVC hosted meetings for investors in Kansas City. Chris Young, CFO, highlighted the company’s strong growth prospects, which have resulted from the company’s transition to a digitally based business. 

Expanding key Facebook relationship in LatinAm: Through its subsidiary, Cisneros, the company is the exclusive ad rep for Facebook in certain countries in Latin America. Notably, the company has expanded its Facebook relationship to include Honduras AND El Salvador, and will continue to seek opportunities to expand its valuable Facebook relationship.

…

This Company Sponsored Research is provided by Noble Capital Markets, Inc., a FINRA and S.E.C. registered broker-dealer (B/D).

*Analyst certification and important disclosures included in the full report. NOTE: investment decisions should not be based upon the content of this research summary. Proper due diligence is required before making any investment decision. 

Comstock Inc. (LODE) – Major Milestone Achieved with Receipt of Operating Permit

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Thursday, September 01, 2022

Comstock Inc. (LODE)
Major Milestone Achieved with Receipt of Operating Permit

Comstock (NYSE: LODE) innovates technologies that contribute to global decarbonization and circularity by efficiently converting under-utilized natural resources into renewable fuels and electrification products that contribute to balancing global uses and emissions of carbon. The Company intends to achieve exponential growth and extraordinary financial, natural, and social gains by building, owning, and operating a fleet of advanced carbon neutral extraction and refining facilities, by selling an array of complimentary process solutions and related services, and by licensing selected technologies to qualified strategic partners. To learn more, please visit www.comstock.inc.

Mark Reichman, Senior Research Analyst, Natural Resources, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Refer to the full report for the price target, fundamental analysis, and rating.

Ahead of expectations. LiNiCo Corporation, of which Comstock owns 90%, was issued an operating permit by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. The permit authorizes LiNiCo to conduct lithium-ion battery (LIB) recycling and related operations at its 137,000 square foot battery metal recycling facility in the Tahoe Reno Industrial (TRI) Center in Nevada. Previously, management anticipated receipt of the operating permit during the fourth quarter of 2022 and still expects to complete filings for modified air quality permits in the third quarter with approval expected during the second quarter of 2023.

Battery grade lithium production expected in the third quarter 2023. The operating permit is based on the first phase of LiNiCo’s advanced new LIB recycling technologies, including crushing, separating, lithium extraction, and precursor cathode active products. LiNiCo is building a commercial scale pilot facility for installation at the TRI facility with commencement of operations expected in mid-2023. Lithium extraction is planned for the third quarter of 2023.…

This Company Sponsored Research is provided by Noble Capital Markets, Inc., a FINRA and S.E.C. registered broker-dealer (B/D).

*Analyst certification and important disclosures included in the full report. NOTE: investment decisions should not be based upon the content of this research summary. Proper due diligence is required before making any investment decision. 

Release – Kelly to Participate in the 15th Annual Barrington Research Virtual Fall Conference

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Kelly to Participate in the 15th Annual Barrington Research Virtual Fall Conference

Research, News, and Market Data on Kelly

August 31, 2022

TROY, Mich., 
Aug. 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — 
Kelly (Nasdaq: KELYA, KELYB), a leading specialty talent solutions provider, today announced it will participate in the 15th Annual 
Barrington Research Virtual Fall Conference on 
Thursday, September 8, 2022.

Peter Quigley , president and CEO,  Olivier Thirot , executive vice president and chief financial officer, and  James Polehna , chief investor relations officer and corporate secretary, will participate in virtual one-on-one meetings. A copy of Kelly’s investor presentation is also available at kellyservices.com.

About Kelly®

Kelly Services, Inc.
 (Nasdaq: KELYA, KELYB) connects talented people to companies in need of their skills in areas including Science, Engineering, Education, Office, Contact Center, 
Light Industrial
, and more. We’re always thinking about what’s next in the evolving world of work, and we help people ditch the script on old ways of thinking and embrace the value of all workstyles in the workplace. We directly employ more than 350,000 people around the world, and we connect thousands more with work through our global network of talent suppliers and partners in our outsourcing and consulting practice. Revenue in 2021 was 
$4.9 billion. Visit 
kellyservices.com and let us help with what’s next for you.

KLYA-FIN

ANALYST & MEDIA CONTACT:
James Polehna
(248) 244-4586
james.polehna@kellyservices.com

 


Two-Thirds Through 2022 and Markets Still Dropping

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Image Credit: Brecht Bug (Flickr)


Worst Year for Stocks and Bonds Just Four Months to Recover

At two-thirds of the way through 2022, both stocks and bonds individually are having their worst performance in decades. For investors that have followed conventional wisdom and diversified with a 60/40 portfolio, the downside hasn’t really been offset by the asset mix. Equities and fixed income have never both been down this much, together, this late in the year. While real estate levels are still up, the most popular market index levels, often chosen for retirement savings, are making up for many good years in a row where they both climbed.

 

2022 Has Been a Bear

When interest rates rise, and you own a bond with lower interest rate payments or an entire fund of bonds during declining interest rates, those holdings are now not as valuable. Potential investors decide what they will pay for bonds, and this is the price that allows them to earn current rates (present value), not yesterday’s rates. And that provides a discounted or lower price for buyer and seller.

Obviously, this is very similar for stocks and stock funds; the current market price is the most you can get for your holdings, without regard to how much you paid. And since the first opening bell in 2022, rates have risen with a high reached on June 14, but with a renewed promise of what Chairman Powell called “pain” going forward in the bond market. Since his August address, where he used the “P” word twice, bond prices have resumed their orderly march downward. Year-to-date, the U.S. Treasury index is down 10.56%, and a high-grade corporate bond index (LQD) is down 15.79%.


Source: Koyfin


Stocks have gone in the same downward direction this year. They tend to be faster and more volatile than bonds on the way up, and if you consider that, market interest rates have a theoretical floor of 0.00%, and potential gains for any bond are limited. With this, stocks are underperforming bonds negative returns. The S&P 500 has taken back 16.52% from investors since January, and the Nasdaq 100 is 50% worse than the S&P at a negative 24.45%.

Will this continue? Should investors maintain a 60/40 portfolio (60% stocks, 40% bonds)? Is it foolish to stay invested now?


Answers

As with most other investment forecasts, the true answer is that it can’t be known. But, what is known is the statistics of previous years. And from these stats, probabilities can be ballparked. Previous performance is no guarantee of future performance, but it truly is the best we have to go on. Even the 60/40 “ideal portfolio” was designed by looking backward and doing the math.

Looking back 50 years, there have only been three other years where both U.S. stocks and U.S. bonds (including government and corporate debt) were both in the red through August. The years were 1973, 1974 and 1981. In 2008 and 2015, U.S. Treasuries were green (flight to safety), while investment grade corporates were red with stocks.


Source: Koyfin


According to an analysis by Bespoke Analytics, never have the year-to-date losses been as severe for both bonds and stocks simultaneously going into September. This is uncharted territory – it is thus far the worst year.


Unchartered Waters

There is no history to look back on. Any seasoned investor (or even boater) will advise when in unchartered waters, you navigate slowly and pay attention to the currents and crosscurrents.

One current that promises to continue is fewer and available
dollars
in the system for asset purchases and other investing. This is because the Fed has promised to increase its pace of quantitative
tightening beginning in September. The impact is $billions less direct investment in bonds and less money in the economy. The intent and likely impact of this is to push interest rates up, bonds down, and slow spending so demand more closely matches the supply of goods, services, and labor without pushing up prices.

Crosscurrents related to the Fed reducing money supply are that higher interest rates bring higher costs to businesses that tend to have high borrowing needs. Another crosscurrent is that investors who had moved into stocks because yields were near 1% may begin to find the new higher
yields attractive, even if, after inflation the investors are worse off. This would reduce the amount investors put in the stock market. 


When Might Stocks Trend Upward?

Looking at the 20-year chart above, one might wonder why any investor with the ability to wait would invest any place but in the stock market. Nasdaq 100 is the big loser so far during the past eight months, along with the other stock indices, this year’s fall off is small compared to the growth over a longer time horizon. The probabilities would suggest this growth will continue at some point.

When will it continue upward? When there are more buyers than sellers. This happens when the people that have been holding on waiting for a turnaround finally give up. This could be soon, so much bad news is already known, and the idea of a recession (or continued recession) is already baked into prices. This has been the worst year ever through August for stocks and bonds. Bonds, it has been promised, are likely to continue down; for stocks it may be that the markets have been too negative and that brighter news than forecast is in store.

Paul Hoffman

Managing Editor, Channelchek

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Sources

https://www.bespoke.bm/

https://www.ramseysolutions.com/real-estate/real-estate-trends#:~:text=With%20most%20current%20real%20estate,in%202022%E2%80%94by%207%25

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/2022-has-been-the-worst-year-for-markets-so-far-in-at-least-50-years-11661887865?mod=taxes


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Higher Education Among First to Embrace the Metaverse

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Image Credit: Lilith Von Hexem (Flickr)


Six Benefits that the Metaverse Offers to Colleges and Universities

Even though it’s unclear what exactly the metaverse is and whether it even exists, colleges and universities have jumped onto the metaverse bandwagon. They have augmented in-person and remote video learning with features such as gamified interactive virtual worlds, virtual reality and mixed reality.

In one of the largest efforts thus far, 10 U.S. colleges and universities have teamed up with U.S. technology company Meta and Irish virtual reality platform Engage to create 3D digital versions of their campuses, known as a metaversity. Students will engage in learning wearing immersive virtual reality headsets.

This article was republished  with
permission from   The Conversation, a
news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It represents the
research-based findings and thoughts of  Nir Kshetri,
Professor of Management, University of North Carolina – Greensboro.

In my recent research, I have examined the metaverse and how it affects organizations and societies. I see six benefits that the metaverse offers to colleges.

 

1. Makes educational resources affordable

Colleges are facing budget constraints and lack access to resources necessary for learning. The metaverse can help them overcome such constraints.

For example, Nashville, Tennessee-based Fisk University hasn’t purchased cadavers due to high costs and maintenance challenges. The university is enhancing its pre-med program with virtual reality cadavers, which are a more affordable alternative.

In the virtual reality lab, a human heart can be pulled out from a cadaver’s chest cavity. It creates the sense that students can feel the weight of the heart in their hands and examine it. They can enlarge it. The class sees and touches the ventricle walls. Students can compare different hearts to understand the results of health decisions that humans made when they were alive. They engage in discussion and agree on the correct diagnosis.


Fisk University is using virtual cadavers for its pre-med program. Fisk University

Virtual cadavers don’t degrade and are easy to maintain. Additional features, such as surgical procedures and comparative learning between humans and animals, can be added over time.

 

2. Enhances student performance

Virtual training provides an effective means of visually demonstrating concepts with step-by-step instructions to illustrate tasks. They provide opportunities for learning by doing. Immersion in games can increase  engagement in learning activities.

Atlanta’s Morehouse College has piloted a metaversity that involves courses in world history, biology and chemistry. The college found that virtual reality classes increased student satisfaction, engagement and achievement compared to traditional and online formats and increased students’ academic performance. For instance, the virtual reality world history class had a 10% increase in students’ GPAs compared with the same class taught via Zoom and face-to-face the year before.

 

3. Makes virtual interactions more like real ones

The internet performs well for sending emails, spreadsheets and PDFs from one device to another to be reviewed or modified independently and asynchronously. It wasn’t built for person-to-person type live and interactive experiences, especially with many participants. Likewise, virtual spaces such as Zoom mostly allow a single conversation. In physical events, participants can move fluidly from one conversation to another.

Some universities are using metaverse technologies to overcome limitations of the internet and video meeting tools. Metaverse-related technologies bridge the gap between real-life and virtual interactions by allowing people to interact more naturally.

Professors and students at the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania use virtual meeting space Gather, which mimics features of real-life interactions. Users create avatars and navigate a virtual map that represents the physical environment, such as a building. The proximity chat feature make users feel that they are running into other students and professors in the hall. Users see and hear video and audio feeds of participants close to them. When they move away, the sounds cannot be heard and the video disappears. Unlike on Zoom, users aren’t forced to be in a single conversation. They can move fluidly between conversations as speakers or listeners.

The University of Pennsylvania’s computer and information science department used Gather to recreate Levine Hall, which is home to the department. The virtual building’s layout mimics classrooms, laboratories, elevators,  stairwells and other features of Levine Hall. The student-run hub of technological innovation, Weiss Tech House, has also been recreated virtually.

The Gather space accommodates 200 students and supports multiple conversations simultaneously. There are six virtual spaces that correspond the building’s six floors. Small groups can branch off into subgroups to work on tasks or engage in conversation.

 

4. Enables experimentation with hard-to-create phenomena

In some situations, learning in real-world environments, such as those involving chemical experiments and flying airplanes, is risky. In such cases, special equipment, such as virtual reality headsets, software and special gloves for haptic responses, can create immersive simulations of real environments. Learners feel as though the digital world is real.

These technologies can create scenarios that are impossible or impractical to create in the real world.

In Fisk University’s planned in-person history courses, students visit historically significant locations wearing virtual reality headsets. They include the Montgomery Bus Boycott; the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama; the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee; and the National Mall in Washington.

In chemistry classes, virtual reality allows visualization of how atoms are arranged in a protein. This insight helps pharmaceutical drug research.

 

5. Increases accessibility for remote students

Big gaps exist in higher education between rural and urban areas.

In 2015, 18% of men and 20% of women 25 and older living in rural areas of the U.S. had earned at least a bachelor’s degree compared with 32% and 33%, respectively, in urban areas.

Metaverse technologies can close this gap by making educational resources accessible to remote students. South Dakota State University expects that its metaversity will help reach the state’s rural students.


6. Attracts a young demographic

Children and young adults are the dominant populations in well-known metaverses, which are in the gaming sector.

About half of Roblox players are under 13 and 66% are under 16. Likewise, two-thirds of Fortnite’s players in 2021 were young adults. Compared with older generations, this demographic is more experience-driven and sees interesting and exciting learning opportunities in the metaverse.

Universities are using the metaverse to attract them. Southwestern Oregon Community College’s leaders think that its metaversity will increase enrollment. This is because higher proportions of younger generations, such as Generation Z, grew up with virtual reality technologies.

Younger generations show a higher level of interest and involvement in the metaverse. In a survey conducted in the U.S. in March 2022, 64% of Gen Z respondents were interested in having a digital avatar and 56% were interested in attending a music event in the metaverse. The proportions were 28% and 25% for baby boomers.

Unique experience provided by metaverse technologies, such as virtual reality, is thus appealing to younger generations and can become a key tool to attract them to universities.


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New Battery Concept has a Cost Per Cell of About One-Sixth that of Lithium-Ion

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Image Credit: Rebecca Miller (MIT)


A New Concept for Low-Cost Batteries

David L. Chandler | MIT News Office

As the world builds out ever larger installations of wind and solar power systems, the need is growing fast for economical, large-scale backup systems to provide power when the sun is down and the air is calm. Today’s lithium-ion batteries are still too expensive for most such applications, and other options such as pumped hydro require specific topography that’s not always available.

Now, researchers at MIT and elsewhere have developed a new kind of battery, made entirely from abundant and inexpensive materials, that could help to fill that gap.

The new battery architecture, which uses aluminum and sulfur as its two electrode materials, with a molten salt electrolyte in between, is described today in the journal Nature, in a paper by MIT Professor Donald Sadoway, along with 15 others at MIT and in China, Canada, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

“I wanted to invent something that was better, much better, than lithium-ion batteries for small-scale stationary storage, and ultimately for automotive [uses],” explains Sadoway, who is the John F. Elliott Professor Emeritus of Materials Chemistry.

In addition to being expensive, lithium-ion batteries contain a flammable electrolyte, making them less than ideal for transportation. So, Sadoway started studying the periodic table, looking for cheap, Earth-abundant metals that might be able to substitute for lithium. The commercially dominant metal, iron, doesn’t have the right electrochemical properties for an efficient battery, he says. But the second-most-abundant metal in the marketplace — and actually the most abundant metal on Earth — is aluminum. “So, I said, well, let’s just make that a bookend. It’s gonna be aluminum,” he says.

Then came deciding what to pair the aluminum with for the other electrode, and what kind of electrolyte to put in between to carry ions back and forth during charging and discharging. The cheapest of all the non-metals is sulfur, so that became the second electrode material. As for the electrolyte, “we were not going to use the volatile, flammable organic liquids” that have sometimes led to dangerous fires in cars and other applications of lithium-ion batteries, Sadoway says. They tried some polymers but ended up looking at a variety of molten salts that have relatively low melting points — close to the boiling point of water, as opposed to nearly 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit for many salts. “Once you get down to near body temperature, it becomes practical” to make batteries that don’t require special insulation and anticorrosion measures, he says.

The three ingredients they ended up with are cheap and readily available — aluminum, no different from the foil at the supermarket; sulfur, which is often a waste product from processes such as petroleum refining; and widely available salts. “The ingredients are cheap, and the thing is safe — it cannot burn,” Sadoway says.

In their experiments, the team
showed that the battery cells could endure hundreds of cycles at exceptionally
high charging rates, with a projected cost per cell of about one-sixth that of
comparable lithium-ion cells. They showed that the charging rate was highly dependent on the working temperature, with 110 degrees Celsius (230 degrees Fahrenheit) showing 25 times faster rates than 25 C (77 F).

Surprisingly, the molten salt the team chose as an electrolyte simply because of its low melting point turned out to have a fortuitous advantage. One of the biggest problems in battery reliability is the formation of dendrites, which are narrow spikes of metal that build up on one electrode and eventually grow across to contact the other electrode, causing a short-circuit and hampering efficiency. But this particular salt, it happens, is very good at preventing that malfunction.

The chloro-aluminate salt they chose “essentially retired these runaway dendrites, while also allowing for very rapid charging,” Sadoway says. “We did experiments at very high charging rates, charging in less than a minute, and we never lost cells due to dendrite shorting.”

“It’s funny,” he says, because the whole focus was on finding a salt with the lowest melting point, but the catenated chloro-aluminates they ended up with turned out to be resistant to the shorting problem. “If we had started off with trying to prevent dendritic shorting, I’m not sure I would’ve known how to pursue that,” Sadoway says. “I guess it was serendipity for us.”

What’s more, the battery requires no external heat source to maintain its operating temperature. The heat is naturally produced electrochemically by the charging and discharging of the battery. “As you charge, you generate heat, and that keeps the salt from freezing. And then, when you discharge, it also generates heat,” Sadoway says. In a typical installation used for load-leveling at a solar generation facility, for example, “you’d store electricity when the sun is shining, and then you’d draw electricity after dark, and you’d do this every day. And that charge-idle-discharge-idle is enough to generate enough heat to keep the thing at temperature.”

This new battery formulation, he says, would be ideal for installations of about the size needed to power a single home or small to medium business, producing on the order of a few tens of kilowatt-hours of storage capacity.

For larger installations, up to utility scale of tens to hundreds of megawatt hours, other technologies might be more effective, including the liquid metal batteries Sadoway and his students developed several years ago and which formed the basis for a spinoff company called Ambri, which hopes to deliver its first products within the next year. For that invention, Sadoway was recently awarded this year’s European Inventor Award.

The smaller scale of the aluminum-sulfur batteries would also make them practical for uses such as electric vehicle charging stations, Sadoway says. He points out that when electric vehicles become common enough on the roads that several cars want to charge up at once, as happens today with gasoline fuel pumps, “if you try to do that with batteries and you want rapid charging, the amperages are just so high that we don’t have that amount of amperage in the line that feeds the facility.” So having a battery system such as this to store power and then release it quickly when needed could eliminate the need for installing expensive new power lines to serve these chargers.

The new technology is already the basis for a new spinoff company called Avanti, which has licensed the patents to the system, co-founded by Sadoway and Luis Ortiz ’96 ScD ’00, who was also a co-founder of Ambri. “The first order of business for the company is to demonstrate that it works at scale,” Sadoway says, and then subject it to a series of stress tests, including running through hundreds of charging cycles.

Would a battery based on sulfur run the risk of producing the foul odors associated with some forms of sulfur? Not a chance, Sadoway says. “The rotten-egg smell is in the gas, hydrogen sulfide. This is elemental sulfur, and it’s going to be enclosed inside the cells.” If you were to try to open up a lithium-ion cell in your kitchen, he says (and please don’t try this at home!), “the moisture in the air would react and you’d start generating all sorts of foul gases as well. These are legitimate questions, but the battery is sealed, it’s not an open vessel. So I wouldn’t be concerned about that.”

The research team included members from Peking University, Yunnan University and the Wuhan University of Technology, in China; the University of Louisville, in Kentucky; the University of Waterloo, in Canada; Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in Tennessee; and MIT. The work was supported by the MIT Energy Initiative, the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, and ENN Group.

 

Reprinted with permission from MIT News ( http://news.mit.edu/)

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Crypto Token Instituting its Own Quantitative Tightening is Top Gainer

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Image Credit: iamhenry (Flickr)


Shiba Inu Successfully Demonstrates How Token Burn Works

While the Federal Reserve promises to intensify its quantitative tightening (QT) in September by permanently removing more $US dollars from the economy, Shiba Inu holders are working on something similar with the cryptocurrency.  Token burning, or destroying a percentage of a specific token in circulation, should positively impact the value. This has been working well for SHIB.

When introduced in 2020, Shiba Inu was first characterized as a meme scheme or a satire of Dogecoin (DOGE). It has become the 12th largest token and is taking steps to shore up its worth as a currency. One step it’s taking, which has had a positive impact, is reducing tokens in circulation.


What is Token Burning?

“Burning” a token is the act of permanently removing it from any kind of exchange on the blockchain. It effectively destroys it, causing fewer tokens of the crypto to be available for use. This is done by anyone that sends tokens to a frozen private address, referred to as a burn address. A true burn address or null address is one from which the coins cannot be recovered. The definition demands that to be a burn address, there is no private key. Since a private key is needed to access the coins at an address, there is no access; the coins are no longer able to circulate — fewer tokens of the particular crypto are available.


What’s the Purpose?

Scarcity increases the value of an asset. This simply adjusts one side of the supply-demand dynamics of worth.

The higher the demand for a given asset, generally the higher its value. And similarly, the lower the supply, the higher its value. So, where the supply of a given coin or token is fixed (Bitcoin is a prime example of this, with the underlying smart contract ensuring on 21 million BTC can ever be generated) there is means to impact value by destroying some of the supply.

Basically, it’s used as an attempt to increase token value and/or create stability.  


Has it Helped Shiba Inu?

Crypto’s experienced an across the board boost in mid-August, but Shiba-Inu has outperformed all of the top 20 coins. SHIB, the 12th-largest cryptocurrency, has $8.01 billion in circulation and currently trades at around $0.00001235. The coin continues to have gained the most value on the month as others have since faltered.

SHIB’s upwards price action is considered the result of a spike in the token’s burn rate. Other factors include the launch of Shibarium (a layer-2 blockchain to be launched by Shiba Inu).

Nearly 110 million SHIB tokens have been burned over the past day (August 30), and 40% of the total SHIB supply has been burned to date, using data from Shibburn.


Source: Koyfin

Despite Shiba Inu’s outperformance and momentum in August, it is down over 80% from its all-time high recorded in October 2021. According to Coinglass Over $1.2 million in SHIB trades have been liquidated over the past 24 hours, predominantly from short positions, according to data from Coinglass which provides data and analytics on cryptocurrencies,

Total addresses holding SHIB have increased by 0.023% to just above 1.211 million in the last 24 hours, according to data from Etherscan.


DOGE Follows SHIB

The leading so-called meme coin, Dogecoin, is down on the month but also outperforming its peers and has seen increased trading volume. With a circulation of $9.3 billion, DOGE is the 10th-largest cryptocurrency.

The broader crypto market has leveled off after a recent shellacking.  Bitcoin (BTC) has recently risen and broken the psychological $20,000 mark.


Take Away

Removing some of a currency from circulation has a tendency to lift its value. The Federal Reserve does this by letting purchases mature and not buying more. Cryptocurrencies, although autonomous with no central authority, do this by limiting coins and even burning as Shiba Inu has done.

A stronger and more stable Shiba Inu will cause more people to want to keep it in their crypto wallet. The same is expected a more scarce higher demand crypto, and one of the reasons the dollar has strengthened so much during 2022.

Paul Hoffman

Managing Editor, Channelchek

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Sources

https://ambcrypto.com/why-shiba-inus-400-ascension-ended-in-a-bone-afied-story/

https://decrypt.co/108212/shiba-inu-jumps-9-as-token-burn-intensifies

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/shiba-inu/

https://www.shibburn.com/

https://www.coinglass.com/

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