SUSTA is a Great New Sweetener and Maybe a Great Stock Too
March 11th, 2010 by Skip McGrath
I was doing some investment research recently looking for good low-priced stocks that would make a long-term investment. I really like small company stocks, as they have the potential for explosive gains. Sure I have IBM and Exxon in my long-term retirement portfolio and they have the potential to grow, 5, 10 or even 15% per year. But small companies can explode where they gain 100% per year –or even in a few months. Yes – the risk is higher, but that’s why I keep them to a very small percentage of my portfolio.
I first heard about NXT Nutritionals (symbol: NXTH) from A Charles Payne newsletter. NXT Nutritionals makes a product called SUSTA in the sweetener market to compete with products like Sweet & Low and Splenda, my current favorite sweetener until I found SUSTA.
As part of my research I decided to buy the product and try it. Its not yet sold here on the West Coast, so I ordered it from their web site. Wow –I was hooked within a couple of days. It tastes better than Splenda and its much better for you. Originally designed as a sweetener for diabetics, it has crossed over into the consumer market. This is a cutting-edge, natural sweetening system that is starting to capture a significant share of the alternative sweetener market.
Here is a link to the SUSTA website where you can read all the product details.
Not only does SUSTA sweeten the taste of food without the side effects of sugar or chemicals, it also contains healthy probiotics; vital dietary fiber; antioxidants and key cellular nutrients that can lead to increased metabolism. SUSTA simultaneously supports the health of the bones, heart and immune system. This is a great product for all of us Geezers who need to watch their weight or blood sugar.
SUSTA is currently being sold as a stand-alone sweetener in a 50-packet box and as a yogurt smoothie under the Healthy Dairy brand name. I can’t get these here in the West, but I was back East a few weeks ago and found them in a Kroger store. I am not a huge yogurt fan, but these were really great tasting and seemed to give me a slight energy lift.
SUSTA also announced the launch of a baking version of the sweetener called SUSTA Bowl. That product is currently available for pre-order on their e-commerce site, www.sustastore.com. The company says that pre-orders have been coming in robustly. They hope to have the product packaging ready soon for retail distribution.
The 50-packet boxes of SUSTA are now available in more than 1,900 supermarkets in the Northeast region, Kroger markets in Columbus, OH and Albertson’s Stores in Texas, Arizona and Florida. In New York City, we recently added such premier chains as Gristedes and D’Agostinos.
So if you are a diabetic or just like to use sweeteners instead of sugar, give SUSTA a try. I think you will love the product.
I don’t recommend specific stocks to others, but if you like to invest in small company stocks, take a look at NXTH –but do your own research. The stock recently fell due to the company issuing more stock to raise capital for expansion and is now selling for around $0.70. That means you can buy 100 shares for around $70.00.
Small stocks like this are thinly traded and they can really bounce around. It has already swung twice as high as $3.00. My sell point is $5.00 and I am willing to hold it for a couple of years for a gain like that, so if you do decide to invest, take the long term view so you don’t get whipsawed.
Full Disclosure: I did decide to invest in NXTH so I own the stock.
Skip, thanks for this piece on Susta. I noticed from past financial newsletters that financial guru Charles Payne recommended this last fall (2009) in a marketing piece for his financial newsletter. He recommended a buy at $1.00 on 7/16/09, and it was at $2.00 on 10/28/09 when the sales letter was printed (I presume). As you know, it was at 52 cents on 4/1; 22 cents on 7/1, and 22 cents on 9/3. What doesn’t make sense (to me, anyway), is that Food Lion and Publix have both picked it up in the past two months. Are you still bullish on it…is there something I don’t know about them?
Thanks,
David
Hi David – the short answer to your question is that yes I am still bullish on Susta. I did sell some of my stock at $2.86 but kept 5000 hares and rode it down. Then when it got down around 30 cents I started buying more and now have 70,000 shares –and yes I am sitting on a loss. But what happened is some professional pump and dump guys ran up the stock and then dumped millions of shares on folks like you and me. Unfortunately that happens with stocks like this. I wish they would do a reverse 5:1 split. That would reduce the number of shares outstanding and raise the price so it would not be attractive to operators and instead make it attractive to buy and hold investors.
Unfortunately Diabetes is still on the rise in the US and that makes a great market for Susta. Combined with too may people being overweight and I think you have a good long term market. The other thing I like is the management of the company. They have a lot of experience in the area of food and beverage distribution. I think at some point they will seek some more investment capital with a private placement and at that point they will really grow distribution and start advertising. And I heard from a friend who has Diabetes that Susta is getting a lot of viral action on message boards and Facebook posts.
Like I said I am not a professional investor, but at the current price around 20 cents I am thinking of taking my shares all the way up to 100,000.
Skip
I know – but a while ago it went up to $3.00 where I sold most of mine. I still have 1000 shares and think I may get in again at this level. These types of stocks are very long term plays for an investor but traders go in and out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it run up and down a couple more times before it goes into a long term trend. The rumors now are that the company is in discussions with Pepsi to use Susta as a sweetener for a drink aimed at diabetics. If those are true (and who knows?) the stock would rocket.
Skip