I feel like the smart kid giving everyone else the answers during the test but here is some homework I'm willing to share (unlike when i was in school taking boring accounting classes..why should i be the only one that was bored by it).

Today Couch-Tard announced their Q2 results. In their call and M&A they highlighted something interesting as it pertains to iSign / SCG. When asked what the major reason for their dissapointment in gross margins, management cited the fact that "promotions were required in order to PRESERVE foot traffice." This was the piece that suprised all analysts.

As someone who does key messaging for a living for a large financial institution, I can tell you that we "hand pick" stories we wish to discuss in order to drive attention to certain areas of interest. Sure what management is saying has truth to it but most of the time you get to hand pick from a variety of topics to choose from when you have a mix of different small chunks that make up the bigger picture. Remember, Investor Relations and ultimately the CEO always stick to how their strategic moves are proving to be smart ones, and highlighting the progress and emphasizing the need or "justifying" the moves they make is paramount....so why not talk about things that matter most, things that back up your story and vision and prove that you know what you're doing and talking about.

If you think it's a conincedence that they spoke about squeezed margins DON'T. They CHOSE to talk about this mostly because it's true but more importantly because they have chosen a direction to combat this.

So if margins are getting thin because of promotional items being offered to lure people in and "Preserve" foot traffice (as quoted by management) what can be done in order to boost foot traffic without squeezing margins so much (this is the tactic that supermarkets use, give you steak at no margin but nail you for the BBQ sauce, saled, and veggies to go serve at your bbq party).

Enter iSign (which is why Couche-Tard signed an agreement with them and even invested heavily in them. Well, you might think that margins will still need to be squeezed since they still need to offer products through iSign in order to get people in their store right??? Wrong, Couche-Tard will have the power to tell Hershey's/Coke/and the rest of the gang that it's their rules now. Porters 5 forces, power of the supplier 101, you want to sell shi+ in my stores, you flip the bill for any promotions (like Walmart and Costco have mastered) and I'll give you the ad-space on my iSign antenna, what better time to advertise to someone then when they are right in front of your damn product in the store!

What else can increase foot traffic and not squeeze margins....oh ya, what about being a virtual bank by loading those prepaid cards....what's that Selectcore??? I can make a new revenue stream and it won't cost me anything cause I already have the hardware....so no more squeezing margins to "preserve" foot traffic, and this would actually make Couche-Tard "add foot traffic." Sounds pretty f'u(king brilliant to me.

Not to mention that Selectcore will also let Couche-Tard know the fact that they now provide merchant services and fold in the iSign antenna into their terminals (which CT already knows, just making a point).

I'm hoping that Charge National is the company that has been acquired, but if not I'm sure SCG will find away to lure these guys from them, or at the very least sign them up for a private label reloadable prepaid or include them as part of the recash network.

Go long SCG.