Versant Partners Tom Liston: My 2011 Cantech Letter Awards Picks

This past May, Mood Media, led by CEO Lorne Abony, completed the acquisition of Muzak Holdings LLC for $345 million.

Just when you thought the Wi-LAN-Mosaid saga made one or both of those Ottawa firms a lock for the 2011 Cantech Letter Awards, along comes an analyst that throws a monkey-wrench in that seemingly inevitable script.

Instead Tom Liston, Director of Research for Versant Partners, was in a different mood. Mood Media (TSX:MM), that is. In May, Mood Media completed the $345 million acquisition of Muzak (yes, that Muzak), forming an entity that has $400 million in revenue in what is now being referred to as the sensory branding space, a term for marketing tactics now being used by giants such as Nissan, Pizza Hut and Starbucks.

Shares of Mood Media, which closed 2010 at $1.90, raced as high as $3.26 on April 29th of this year before retracing slightly to current levels. In the Executive of the Year category, Liston thinks a repeat is in order, placing the good work that CEO Mark Thierer has done above all others, while noting the input of his right hand man, CFO Jeff Park.

Here is the full list of Tom Liston’s picks for the 2011 Cantech Letter Awards:

Tom Liston of Versant Partners, 2011 Canadian Tech Stock of the Year:

1. Mood Media (TSX:MM)
2. SXC Health (TSX:SXC)
3. Absolute Software (TSX:ABT)
4. Open Text (TSX:OTC)
5. Descartes Systems (TSX:DSG)

Tom Liston of Versant Partners, 2011 Canadian Tech Stock Executive of the Year:

1. Mark Theirer, CEO / Jeff Park, CFO, SXC Health (TSX:SXC)
2. Art Mesher, Descartes (TSX:DSG)
3. Mark Leonard, Constellation Software (TSX:CSU)
4. Lorne Abony, Mood Media (TSX:MM)
5. Al Hildebrandt, QHR Technologies (TSX:QHR)

Interested in what the other judges are saying? On Monday, Tom Astle and Byron Berry of Byron Capital revealed their picks, and yesterday Barry Richards of Paradigm Capital listed his.