Swisher Hygiene Inc SWSH

RE: Show Me The Money

[JoeBaggs]

I don't know, I've had the same problem.  I started following the company just before the COB/SWI merger took place.  From what I understand;

-The COB merger provided SWI with $64 million in cash (I estimate they have spent ~15 million (might be a little low) on acquisitions and franchise buy backs.
-I believe that prior to the merger 2009 number that Swisher was actually losing money (~around $1M/yr) on revenues of approximately $45-48 million.
-You can find more specific details were from the S1 filing (November 17, 2010).
-However, I don't think any of the recent growth revenue that the company has realized would be included in the 2009 financials; for example the signing of contracts with Carnival and Norwegian cruise lines (I believe Swisher currently has contracts for 11 ships); swisher's entrance into the chemical space and warewashing space.
-Since the COB merger they have acquired about a dozen business and/or franchises, some of which were quite profitable.
-According to the presentation at ICR they currently have over 35,000 customers; most of which are billed on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis.
-I would also anticipate that the margins on both the chemical and service front are high margin.

I guess to your point, the hardest part about investing in Swisher is determining a fair value for the stock. 

What I liked about the story was that:

+ the company is currently cashed up;
+ there are only ~110 million shares outstanding; 54 million of which are locked up until SWI report its first year earnings (~March 2012). The majority of the locked up shares belong to Burrard and Huzinga (sorry about the spelling).
+ they have experienced management with a  track record;
+ their business is a play on the economic recovery in the US
+ they have very recently moved their business model from a fragmented hygiene services business to a nation- wide one stop shop for all hygiene needs.
+ I believe there is tremendous potential for growth in the health care field (ie. servicing hospitals, extended care, nursing homes etc).

If you read back through this message board I have found posts from BleuAngel and KoolNed quite informative.

Hope this helps,

*Also please feel free to correct any of the numbers I've posted if you think I'm off at all.  These are just from memory, I didn't actually go back through all the news and financials before writing the post.