This column may save your Christmas… and maybe even your life.
The holidays are in full swing and aside from the quality family time, boozy holiday parties, and the nervous smiles of children everywhere, there is one thing that most revelers forget about: fire.
It’s obviously not something anyone wants to think about. But this time of the year is perhaps the most important time to think about it.
Christmas is the greatest time of the year to get that fireplace crackling, string a dried-out tree with tangled and frayed lights, and cook a half-dozen bubbling courses on a hot stovetop. Each one of these activities are high-octane fire starters that can easily end in tragedy.
One tragedy I just mentioned
In fact, the Christmas season is the time of year that home fires peak. December through February counts for over one-third of annual home fires and fire deaths.
I’ve witnessed the horror here in Baltimore, where five fire deaths occurred over the last week alone — doubling the total for the year. That included a 90-year-old woman and four young children.
The sad part is most of these tragedies can be easily avoided.
In fact, one tiny company I uncovered could solve almost all of these problems once and for all. They could save thousands of lives, keep hundreds of families intact, and allow older folks to stay in their homes without fear of cooking accidents.
So, while you are protecting your loved ones and your property, you could also make a bundle of money.
Here’s what you need to know…
After hearing the news stories pile up about these tragic accidents and preventable deaths, I decided to dive back into a company I’ve been following for a while now.
Pioneering Technology Corporation (PTE.V)(OTC: PTEFF) is a fire prevention company.
It specializes in devices that shut off before tragedy strikes. I’m talking about common sense approaches like stovetop burners that have alerts that sound when a pot has been sitting too long and microwaves that interrupt power when they detect smoke.
I recently sat in on a company presentation, spoke with management, and was quite impressed with their business structure. I love small, niche companies that have a singular focus that meets an obvious need. Pioneering fits that criteria to a T.
Here are a couple of facts:
- Cooking is the #1 cause of household fires and fire injuries (48%)
- 1 in 8 households will experience a cooking fire every year
- This results in $1 billion in direct property damage
Obviously, this problem needs better solutions. Here are a couple ways that Pioneering Technology Corporation solves them…
RangeMinder 
The RangeMinder is engineered to prevent unattended cooking fires. Unattended cooking fires are the biggest leading cause of house fires — by a large margin. Even leaving your stovetop alone for a few minutes while you go to the bathroom can result in a catastrophic fire.
The RangeMinder has four wireless, touch-sensitive dials that replace the knobs on most gas, electric coil, or glass top ranges. It can recognize when cooking is left unattended for too long and alert you before a fire can start.
It retails for $149, which is a perfectly reasonable price for peace of mind and safety — especially around the holidays. I personally have a terrible habit of cooking at least four things at once while entertaining family, and I’m far from perfect when it comes to carefully watching my culinary creations.
SmartBurner
The SmartBurner is a patented cooking system that can replace those dangerous metal coils that are responsible for most cooking fires. Consumers can install them in their homes themselves with ease.
The burner balances the heat coming from the burner, which not only makes for more even cooking, but also reduces the risk of cooking fires.
It retails for $199 for four burners.
Safe T Sensor
The Safe T Sensor attaches to your microwave and shuts off the power when it detects smoke. 
This is a big deal. Let me give you two quick examples of why…
A few weeks ago, another office in our building set off the fire alarms because — you guessed it — someone hit an extra button on the microwave and turned their lunch into a smoky disaster. The entire building had to evacuate, which not only cost untold thousands of dollars in lost productivity, but took the fire department away from much more serious and pressing emergencies.
A microwave equipped with the Safe T Sensor would have shut the microwave off well before the need for such drastic measures.
Here’s another example that you probably haven’t considered…
In college dorm rooms across the country, drunk students manage to burn more popcorn than Satan working the concession stand at a multiplex. Every time they do, hundreds of students have to be evacuated.
Colleges around the country would be wise to implement Safe T Sensor.
All told, microwaves are involved in over 2,100 home structure fires per year and are responsible for more emergency room injury visits than any other cooking device, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).
It’s a $49 product.
It’s pretty obvious that Pioneering makes valuable products that have only started to be used.
And while I like the products and know that they can save lives and prevent property damage, my major interest here is in the company itself. It could be the prime target of a buyout from a major manufacturer.
All told, Pioneering products have been installed in 150,000 homes across North America — primarily in Canada — without a single fire being reported. That’s a hell of a track record. If it can expand into the U.S. it could really do quite well for itself.
Even a couple deals with large-scale apartment complexes, hotels, and nursing homes could ramp up its stock in the coming year…
The Company
Pioneering Technology Corporation (PTE.V) (OTC: PTEFF) is a micro-cap. It has a market cap of $38.21 million and a 52-week range of $0.11 – $1.09.
It has also just posted its sixth consecutive profitable quarter. Here are a couple highlights from the latest financial results.
- Fiscal 2016 revenue of approximately $6.8M, an increase of 55% versus over 2015. This represents a 70% compound annual growth rate since 2013.
- Record fourth quarter revenue of approximately $2.6M, an increase of 120% over 2015 and up 60% versus Q3 2016 ($1.624M — which was the Company’s previous best reported quarter).
- Fiscal 2016 net income of approximately $1.056M or $0.03 EPS, an increase of 649% versus net income of $141K in 2015. Net income for the fourth quarter is estimated at approximately $640K
Pioneering Technology Corp. is headed in the right direction. If it is able to secure some of the big deals I mentioned before, and manage to get its products into some of the larger American hardware stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s, it could continue that growth in a big way. In fact, they just secured a deal with Pennrose Properties LLC of Philadelphia to include SmartBurner installations for all of its new building and redevelopment projects. The deal covers 16,000 multi-family housing apartment units in 12 states.
These are the types of deals that will lead to continued growth.
The stock has doubled since I first checked in with it, and I expect it to continue to grow.
So, buy yourself a gift this Christmas — pick up some stock on this tiny niche company. It could be the gift that keeps on giving.
And be careful this Christmas! If you’re interested in safeguarding your home, you can browse its safety products right here.
