Toby Smith Stock Review

[MLD38]

LSGP: Microcap LED Stocks Shining Bright
Cyberlux, Inc. (OTC:BB:CYBL), Lighting Science Group, Inc. (OTC:BB:LSGP) ; etc
Tuesday, October 02, 2007; Posted: 12:20 PM
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/663599


A couple of microcaps in the solid-state lighting, or light-emitting diode LED sector have caught the attention of investors recently -Cyberlux Corporation (OTC:BB:CYBL) and Lighting Science Group (OTC:BB:LSGP).

The LED sector has been heating up on rumors that General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) may buy Cree, Inc.(NASDAQ:CREE), an LED chip maker to compete with Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG) who just closed an acquisition of Color Kinetics, another leader in LED design and marketing. Philips has already closed a string of LED acquisitions in order to prepare for the lighting revolution.

LEDs are the future of the lighting market because of superior energy efficiency and longevity vis a'vis incandescent lighting which currently dominates the market. Incandescent lighting is on its way out - On February 20, 2007, Australia announced that by 2010, incandescent light bulbs would be banned. It is estimated greenhouse gas emissions will be cut by 800,000 tonnes (Australia's current emission total is 564.7 million tonnes). The European Union has proposed a ban on incandescent light bulbs, planned to come into effect in the near future, but this will not affect existing incandescent bulbs, only the production of new bulbs. However, the proposal has yet to be approved by all member states or the European Parliament. In January of 2007, California State Assembly member Lloyd E. Levine (D-Van Nuys) announced that he would introduce the "How Many Legislators does it take to Change a Light Bulb Act" which would ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs in California starting in 2012. Levine's bill is now dead, but a new bill by California State Assembly member Jared Huffman (D-Santa Rosa) is still active.

Currently, CFL (compact fluorescent light) is frequently used as a replacement for incandescent lighting, but there are complaints about the quality of lighting. LED bulbs are expensive, but they last 15 times as long as an incandescent bulb, use 85% to 90% less energy and are brighter. LED bulbs also last 4 to 6 times longer compared to CFL and use about half of the energy. Eventually, economies of scale of LED production will be reached and the prices will drop, especially now that we have well capitalized companies like GE and Phillips acquiring small cutting-edge LED companies.

Instead of a lighting element that glows in a gaseous enclosure, electrons flow across a semi conductor junction and emit light. It is very bright light, takes very little energy.

LEDs are used in various illumination applications, automotive headlamps, traffic signals, mobile phones, electronic billboards, digital cameras, PDAs, and as backlights for LCD monitors and TV screens. There are even toilets with LEDs, and I'm sure they are saving marriages around the world as husbands make their middle-of-the-night trips to the restroom without "guessing" where to aim. We won't see much of an LED presence in home lighting for a while(maybe in 5 years or so), but there are plenty of other applications as we can see to keep investors interested.

Strategy Analytics states,"Solid State Lighting Market 2006-2011," projects 21 percent market growth for solid-state LED lighting through 2011. The bulk of demand, however, will be generated from niche lighting applications including architectural, task lighting, medical and off-grid lighting applications rather than the residential lighting market.

According to Navigant Consultanting, "Today, lighting product sales in the U.S. are worth approximately $11.9 billion annually. Of this, approximately $2.65 billion is associated with lamps while the remaining sales are divided between fixtures, components (including ballasts and controls) and associated services such as design and maintenance. High-brightness (HB) LEDs, a popular product thought by many to be the nearest general illumination solution to SSL, is a $3.5 billion business globally with a compound annual growth rate of over 46% since 1995. Of these HB LED revenues, approximately 6%, or $271 million is attributable to illumination applications.

The Players

Nichia Corporation (Private)

Nichia (Anan, Japan) is the world's largest provider of GaN-based LED products and is credited as the inventing company of both blue and white LEDs. In 1993 the company developed and commercialized the first super high brightness blue LED and following that, has become a world-wide provider of a full spectral range of LEDs in different sizes and brightness levels.

Osram Opto semiconductor (Private)

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors is one of the largest manufacturers of optical semiconductors in the world of illumination, visualization and sensing sectors. The company has more than thirty years of experience in the development and manufacture of light-emitting diode (LED) and optical semiconductor components. OSRAM offers a broad portfolio of LED products, many of which can be applied to backlighting a cell phone or PDA, to channel letters or a stop light, to a jumbotron in a stadium or on a freeway.

About Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE)(Currently $32.44/share, +.37)

Cree, Inc. is a market-leading innovator and manufacturer of semiconductors that enhance the value of LED solid-state lighting, power and communications products by significantly increasing their energy performance.

Key to Cree's market advantage is unrivaled materials expertise in silicon carbide (SiC) with gallium nitride (GaN) to deliver chips and packaged devices that can handle more power in a smaller space while producing less heat than other available technologies, materials and products.

Cree drives increased Return on Energy (ROE) solutions into multiple applications including exciting alternatives in brighter and more tunable LED light for general illumination, backlighting for more vivid displays, optimized power management for high-current switch-mode power supplies and variable speed motors, and more effective wireless infrastructure for data and voice communications. Cree customers range from innovative lighting fixtures makers to defense-related federal agencies.

Cree's product families include blue and green LED chips, lighting LEDs, LED backlighting solutions, power switching devices and radio frequency devices. The company is also currently developing near-ultraviolet lasers. ( re near-ultraviolet lasers see http://www.cree.com/about/overview.htm )

On September 28 2007, Arrow Asia Pac Ltd., a business unit of Arrow Electronics, Inc. announced that it is launching a series of lighting solutions seminars in China with Cree, Inc.

Lumileds (acquired by Philips)

Lumileds is a world's leading manufacturer of high-power LEDs and a pioneer in the use of solid-state lighting solutions for everyday purposes including automotive lighting, displays, televisions, traffic signaling and general lighting. The company's patented Luxeon Power Light Sources are the first to combine the brightness of conventional lighting with the small footprint, long life and other advantages of LEDs. The company also supplies core LED material and LED packaging, manufacturing billions of LEDs annually, and ranks as the producer of the world's brightest red, amber, blue, green and white LEDs. Lumileds is headquartered in San Jose, California, with operations in the Netherlands, Japan and Malaysia

Cyberlux (OTC:BB:CYBL)(currently .0295/share, -.0049)

Cyberlux has created breakthrough LED lighting technology that provides the most energy efficient and cost effective lighting solutions available today for consumer, commercial and military uses. The Military and Homeland Security products deliver unique, covert, and advanced visible lighting capability for threat detection, force and asset protection. Cyberlux uses solid-state semiconductors, trademarked as its diodal(tm) lighting elements, which consume 75% less energy than incandescent lighting elements and perform for over 20 years in contrast to 750 hours for conventional bulbs.

On September 26, 2007, the Company announced that the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Battlelab (AMB) successfully completed the BrightEye Portable Illumination System evaluation period at both Fort Huachuca, AZ and Fort Dix, NJ. We are particularly interested in this Company's military products and will be watching this stock very closely.

Lighting Science Group Corporation (OTC:BB:LSGP) (currently .43/share, +.005)

Lighting Science Group Corporation designs and sells energy efficient and environmentally friendly lighting solutions based on its proprietary Optimized Digital Lighting(R) (ODL(R)) technology. The Company's patented and patent-pending designs and manufacturing processes enable affordable, efficient and long lasting LED-based lighting systems to be quickly deployed in existing lighting applications and produce immediate cost savings and environmental benefits. Products include low bay fixtures for parking garages and industrial facilities, MR-16, R30, R25, G11, G25, candelabra and flame tip bulbs.

On August 29, 2007, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, a world leader in light-emitting diode (LED) technology, and Lighting Science Group Corporation announced that OSRAM Opto Semiconductors' Golden DRAGON(R) lighting product will be utilized in low bay fixtures from Lighting Science for a special lighting project for the City of Raleigh, North Carolina.