Topic: How To Invest

Pat: What are your thoughts on Ten Peaks Coffee, TPK-T? This small-cap stock might have growth ahead considering its Swiss Water decaffeination process. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

A: Ten Peaks Coffee Co. Inc., $7.01, symbol TPK on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 9.0 million; Market cap: $63.5 million; www.tenpeakscoffee.ca), owns the Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company, a Burnaby, B.C.-based firm that removes caffeine from coffee beans. Ten Peaks also owns and operates Seaforth Supply Chain Solutions, a coffee-handling and storage business in Vancouver. The company’s exclusive Swiss Water Process is a chemical-free way to remove caffeine from green (unroasted) coffee beans. That’s in contrast to most other methods, which use methylene chloride and ethyl acetate. For a fee, Swiss Water decaffeinates the coffee beans of its customers—coffee retailers, importers and commercial roasters. It also purchases raw coffee beans from countries in Central and South America, Africa and Asia, decaffeinates them and then markets them to the coffee trade for roasting. The company’s sales fell from $60.7 million in 2011 to $59.7 million in 2012. Sales rebounded to $66.2 million in 2014,…