Life Technologies business with SUNY Albany

Today I was finally able to speak to someone on campus about the molecular and academic research being done and whether or not UAlbany was purchasing products from Life Tech. I first spoke to James A. Large, senior assistant to the Chairpserson for Facilities and Fiscal Management for the Department of Biological Sciences. He knew that they did buy products from Life Tech but not specifically any monetary amounts. He referred me to Bernie O'Connor in the chem building. I spoke to Mr. O'Connor and he is the purchaser of all of the supplies that academic researchers need as well as faculty needs for classes.

What Mr. O'Connor told me was that a few times a year they would purchase supplies from Life Tech specifically Applied Biosystems. Each purchase was for very small materials, he showed me maybe half the size of his index finger that sold for over $1200 a pop, so this again paints the gross margins that Life Tech is able to achieve. One recent order was placed for $4200. These purchases he showed me were just in the last 6 months, and if you multiply this by the 90% of academic research facilities in the US that Life Technologies sells to you can understand the amount of money they are making, just alone from academic research customers in the US. He also told me that their websites were absolutely phenomenal, never had any problems with ordering products online and that they had overnight shipping. Furthermore, he mentioned that they basically had a monopoly on the forensics industry, because he really knew of no other company providing those forensic systems.

To conclude, I just want to reiterate that Life Technologies is a very profitable company and remains a very good investment. I maintain that a 12 month price target of $57.00 is a conservative one, and I will be adjusting the model for a potentially higher price target after 2010 Q1 earnings are released.

-------Michael Arias