David Fingold Inficon IFCN-SW PAST TOP PICK Mar 27, 2017

Manufactures vacuum metrology equipment. This is gas chromatography and mass spectrometers used for analytical purposes. Their largest single market is semiconductor equipment. They are also the biggest producer globally of leak detection for manufacturing refrigeration equipment, and air conditioners. They also have a business that does real time environmental monitoring. Dividend yield of 3.41%.

(A Top Pick Sept 19/16. Down 6.09%.) This has 3 businesses. Vacuum metrology, literally finding out what vacuum pressures are. Leak detection for refrigeration and air-conditioning. Specialty gas chromatography and gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Their largest client is the defence Department. They have a product that is not selling right now. It does real time analysis of frac fluid for the oil/gas industry.

The company is doing well, and thinks it is going to do better. They have new products for frac fluid analysis in oil and gas, which are not generating any sales right now, but certainly can generate sales. It is a product they didn’t have 3 or 4 years ago, so they are very innovative. Another new product that is in the process of launching is a device that allows dairies to find out if there is inert gas left in a bag of shredded cheese. (Analysts’ price target is 366.40 CHF.)

(A Top Pick Nov 23/16. Up 41%.) They’ve had strong sales in semiconductors. In particular, they’ve got a decent amount of content for LED production. They’ve been waiting for orders from the defence Department for their Hapsite product, a portable product which the Army and Homeland Defence use to detect weapons of mass destruction.

(A Top Pick Nov 23/16. Up 74%.) Their largest line of business is leak detectors. There is a 50% probability that whoever services your air conditioner, uses their leak detector. Has a very significant segment in process control for vacuum processes, where semiconductors would be the largest application. Have a smaller segment in environmental systems, which are products for detecting things like gas leaks. Their largest customer in their business is the US Department of Defense for a product called Hapsite, which is used to detect chemical weapons.

Vacuum metrology, where they and one other company have most of the market. Demand increases as we move to increasingly smaller semiconductor nodes. Increase in OLED screens is a positive. They are one of two global players in leak detection, a space that's growing, especially in batteries. A significant position for him.