WTR Small-Cap Spotlight

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Join Tim Gerdeman, Vice Chair & Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer at WTR, and Linda Bolton Weiser, Senior Consumer Analyst, as they dive into WTR's unique approach to consumer research. Get insights on store check methods and how social media data can be used to gauge brand strength for consumer companies. Learn how WTR's open platform benefits all classes of investors and gives consumer companies broad reach. Discover why some stocks—like AENT, COE, IPAR, SXT, WALD, and WDFC—become "orphans" in the sector and how WTR's research can help them capture investor attention. Learn why numbers of listeners and viewers of WTR's online content far exceed those of other research platforms. Get a glimpse into possible areas for future consumer coverage, including beauty, watches, and cannabis. 

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In this special episode of the WTR Small Cap Spotlight Podcast, originally featured on WTR Healthcare Happenings, Nick Kadysh, Founding CEO and President of PharmAla Biotech Holdings (CSE: MDMA), joins host Tim Gerdeman and WTR Healthcare Analyst Robert Sassoon to discuss the company's positioning as a world-leading supplier of clinical-grade MDMA and its strategy for unlocking pipeline value through smart partnerships. Nick walks through two recently announced transactions: the formation of Restora Neurosciences, a 50/50 SPV to advance APA-01, a non-psychedelic neurology molecule targeting traumatic brain injury and stroke, and a term sheet granting Jupiter Neurosciences (NASDAQ: JUNS) exclusive US rights to lead asset ALA-002, valued at more than $100 million. He also explains why a focused, capital-efficient model matters for a seven-person company supporting 33 clinical trials worldwide. 

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In this episode of the WTR Small Cap Spotlight podcast, Eric Robinson, Senior Vice President of Operations, and Joe Wong, Chief Technology Officer of Arq, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARQ), join Tim Gerdeman (Vice Chair, Co-Founder & CMO, Water Tower Research) and Peter Gastreich (Managing Director, Water Tower Research).

In a technical deep-dive into operations, Eric and Joe shared views on the science and commercial applications of activated carbon, the engineering challenges Arq encountered in scaling granular activated carbon (GAC) production at its Red River facility, the surging demand for GAC in PFAS drinking water treatment, the competitive dynamics and supply-side barriers in the activated carbon market, Arq's path forward on GAC capacity decisions, and the strategic optionality remaining at the idled Corbin facility.

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In this episode of the WTR Small Cap Spotlight podcast, Dr. Wang, Chief Financial Officer of Lotus Technology (Nasdaq: LOT), joins Tim Gerdeman (Vice Chair, Co-Founder & CMO, Water Tower Research) and WTR Analyst Eric Goldstein.

Founded in 1948 and reborn under Geely, Lotus Technology has evolved from a legendary British sports car maker into a global intelligent and luxury mobility company. In FY2025, Lotus deliberately stepped back from low-margin, discounted volume — gross margins more than doubled, the net loss narrowed 58%, and adjusted EBITDA loss improved 63%. Management is now targeting double-digit gross margins in 2026 and luxury-peer profitability by 2028.

Dr. Wang walks through the margin expansion strategy, the global ramp of the 900V super-hybrid lineup (FOR ME in China, Eletre X in Europe), the Focus 2030 strategy under the new Geely-aligned board, the path to North America via Canada, and the key milestones investors should be watching.

Subscribe and visit watertowerresearch.com for open-access small cap research, podcasts, and conference schedules.

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In this episode, join Tim Gerdeman, Vice Chair & Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer at WTR, and Peter Gastreich, Managing Director - Energy Transition and Sustainable Investing, as they dive into WTR's Initiation of Coverage report for ClearSign Technologies (NASDAQ: CLIR). ClearSign is an industrial combustion innovator addressing a non-discretionary regulatory driver: NOx emissions compliance. Discover how ClearSign's burner technology tackles both NOx pathways at a fraction of conventional costs, the regulatory cycle expanding from California to Texas and beyond, its manufacturing partnership with Zeeco, and the growing addressable market across refining and ethylene. Peter also shares WTR's financial forecasts for CLIR, including its path to its first annual net profit and rapid scaling beyond. 

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This is the third and final episode in a three-part WTR Symposium Series podcast on investment opportunities in industrial decarbonization and the circular resource economy. WTR's Shawn Severson and Peter Gastreich are joined by CEOs of Abundia Global Impact Group (AGIG), Ace Green Recycling (anticipated NASDAQ: AGXI); Aduro Clean Technologies (ADUR), Comstock Inc. (LODE) and Northstar Clean Technologies (ROOOF). The podcast explores how five differentiated and high-growth companies are profitably converting waste including plastics, batteries, biomass, solar panels and asphalt shingles into high-value outputs including critical minerals like silver and lithium, circular chemical feedstocks, SAF and construction materials and underpinned by domestic supply chain tailwinds and a double revenue model getting paid for both finished product and waste intake. 

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In this episode of the WTR Small-Cap Spotlight podcast, Chris Zhang, Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy of Maison Solutions Inc. (Nasdaq: MSS) joins host Tim Gerdeman, Vice Chair, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Water Tower Research, and WTR Analyst James Kisner. Maison is a specialty grocery retailer serving Asian-American and other ethnic communities, operating HK Good Fortune stores in Southern California and Lee Lee International Supermarkets in Arizona. Zhang lays out the company's tech-driven transformation across four pillars: store inventory, sales and order operations, customer privacy, and customer loyalty, with AI-powered forecasting and replenishment furthest along and perishables the first problem it tackles. He details the newly announced collaboration framework with SupplyAi and MiniMax aimed at embedding AI in everyday food-retail workflows, the direct-sourcing strategy across Asia including the Guizhou Moutai distribution agreement, and the company's Worldcoin (WLD) treasury position and early proof-of-human exploration. The conversation closes with the operating KPIs and milestones that would signal the AI and solutions strategy is working over the next 12 months.

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In this episode of WTR Small-Cap Spotlight, Shubha Dasgupta, CEO & Co-Founder of Pineapple Financial, joins host Tim Gerdeman, Vice Chair, Co-Founder, and CMO of Water Tower Research, along with Dr. John Roy, WTR’s Senior Equity Research Analyst. The conversation explores the corporate strategy of Pineapple Financial (Nasdaq: PAPL), a Canadian fintech company that provides a cloud-based brokerage network equipping over 700 independent brokers with proprietary AI-driven tools. Since its inception a decade ago, the company has funded over $15 billion in mortgages and currently funds approximately $3 billion annually across Canada.

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In this episode of the WTR Small-Cap Spotlight podcast, Gautam Garg, Vice President of Finance of eGain Corporation (NASDAQ: EGAN), joins host Tim Gerdeman, Vice Chair, Co-Founder, and Chief Marketing Officer of Water Tower Research, and WTR Analyst James Kisner.
eGain is a leader in AI-powered knowledge management, helping Global 2000 enterprises unify siloed content into an AI Knowledge Hub that delivers accurate, compliant answers across customer service and adjacent functions.
Garg explains why trusted knowledge has emerged as core AI infrastructure and why enterprise AI initiatives frequently underperform when built on stale or inconsistent data. He walks through recent product launches including the AI Knowledge Suite for Retail Banking, the IVA voice agent, Evaluator, Agentic Studio, and the developer-focused Composer platform, which supports integrations with Copilot, Claude, Gemini, and Cursor via MCP connectors.
The conversation also covers a surge in RFP activity, a fast-growing partner ecosystem, expansion into HR and field service verticals, and eGain's profitable, debt-free financial profile heading into fiscal year 2027.

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In this episode, Oren Elkayam, CEO of Mobilicom (NASDAQ: MOB), joins host Tim Gerdeman and WTR senior equity research analyst John Roy to discuss how Mobilicom has positioned itself as a one-stop provider of the critical cyber, software, and hardware solutions that connect and secure drones, robotics, and autonomous systems. The conversation covers the company's role in the U.S. Department of Defense drone dominance initiative, its inclusion in the Marine Corps program of record, the strategic importance of Blue UAS and NDAA certification, and a U.S. manufacturing expansion designed to meet Pentagon procurement requirements. Elkayam also walks through the company's supply chain inventory strategy built around anticipated component shortages, and growing demand from NATO countries, Israel, and the Asia Pacific region.