Advanced Precision Technologies - Ticker: APREE
www.aprint.com
Shares OS = 35 million
Shares in free trading float = just under 3 million
About 2 months ago I went to San Francisco and spent the better part of the day with Bruce Pastorius, CEO of Advanced Precision Technologies: APT
Bruce founded this company in 1993 along with Dr. Joseph S. Barbanell, Ph.D.
Highlights:
The company is in the fingerprinting business: Holographic fingerprint identity verification devices. It is without question, the future of how we will be identified.
How does is work? Well you just put your finger on this little gizmo about the size of a pack of cigarettes and it captures a "forensic" quality image. This digitized image is then saved to a database.
Let me give you a couple of examples of how it works:
#1 A cop pulls you over. Instead of showing you license [anybody can buy a fake one for 50 bucks] you put your finger on this device. The print is captured and sent to the squad car and uplinked to a satellite and within minutes they know if you're one of the "bad boys".
#2 Have you seen a smart card? Well...the device will capture your fingerprint and put it on a smart card. Then when you put a smart card in something like an ATM ... instead of entering a pin...you just touch your finger to the glass and you are matched.
What is the intended market? The FBI - and just about every other govt. agency...esp. law enforcement. Every gun shop and every pawn shop in the country. Every daycare center and every school. Every bank and any form of commerce that requires positive identification, including e-commerce, because this device attaches to your computer and I believe this form of identification could become the industry standard for secure e-commerce, replacing passwords with a much more positive and secure form of identification
The industry is just emerging and the company?s main competitor is IDX.
Take a look at IDX -- the company has earned a penny a share and is trading in the 8 to 12 dollar range -- gives it a PE of about 1000. The market is giving the high PE because this an emerging growth industry.
The product that APREE has is superior to that of IDX, according to Bruce, in that the Holographic print has more identifiers than that of the competition. Furthermore, APT?s device has been designed so that anybody who has an IDX device can simply unplug it and plug in an APT device in its place.
The company has been in contact with the FBI ? who is very interested in bringing front-end readers on line. The FBI has been spending hundreds of millions of dollars to have there data base of 10 prints digitized. [see front page article of USA Today August 10, 1999]
Bruce Pastorius is absolutely sold out on making it all come together. After sitting and talking with him for several hours I was impressed by how upbeat the guy is in the face of many setbacks. He has been working hard at this for 6 years and has no intention of giving up.
The company has some heavyweight board members:
James Homer --- Mgr, Western Region Channel Operations for IBM 17 years
Eugene Waite --- Director of finance for 5 years for the City of Rio Rancho
and 2 years director of Contracts Managment with Honeywell Avionics
Goerge O'Keefe, CPA ABM- Asia --- VP of operations in China for 2 years
and 2 years with Poloroid as mgr of SE Asia.
and FIVE other well qualified individuals.
Oh -- and BTW - Bruce was with SDI USA, Inc as the director of marketing for 15 years and he has the product line down....everything from the upper end device which is the equivalent of the Maglite down to the small plastic commodity version.
The company just moved its office from San Francisco to Livermore in anticipation of going into production soon. The new office has more warehouse space and the rent is considerably less.
The new phone number is: 925-477-6900 [fax: 6901]
The stock held over a buck for a couple of years while in R & D --
bigcharts.com
The company has not met projections and as a result some investors have lost confidence. Add to that a little insider selling: biz.yahoo.com
And the fact that the company will be going to the pinks and it is no mystery as to why the share price is depressed.
Furthermore it is no secret that the company is cash strapped. Finding the right partner or partners for ongoing financing is not easy. Recently a group that indicated that they would fund the company backed out. I believe this has also contributed to the recent softness in the stock price bringing it to its current 52 week low.
This stock is not for the faint hearted. The company is not the odds on favorite. I view this as the long shot that would not have to come in first ? if it just gets out of the gate it could do well.
Bruce is scheduling a trip back East to meet present APT's product solution to the FBI. The current date given me is Sept 10th . Then he says he will have a booth at a trade show called "DEFENDING CYBERSPACE."
Keep an eye on this one. If /when positive developments occur it is certain to be reflected in the stock price.
Lazarus
Disclaimer: I am not a broker or registered investment advisor.
Nothing written shall constitute a solicitation or an offer
to buy or sell any security mentioned herein. All investment decisions
should be reviewed by a qualified professional. All statements made are my express opinion only and should be treated as such. See full
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