| There have been a few discussions in the micro-cap section regarding USHG. Today it closed at $6.00 even after trading as high as $8.00 the previous week.
The reason that this should no longer be discussed in the micro cap section is that after April 29, 2004 AMHG/Ionatron will ver soon no longer be a micro cap stock. It will be changing it's name and stock symbol and seek a listing on the Nasdaq or AMEX.
Here is the link to those discussions:
Message 19966747
Yo Yo is concerned with dilution because of the increase of the float.
I worry too.
But I spoke with investor relations. He said that much of the the new issuance would be restricted. We have to wait and see.
Also if you listen to the March 30th CC, you will hear that this weapon is a high dollar item, between 9 million to 20 million dollars each depending on the configuration.
I think this will take the company into the realm of a Larger Cap stock. I have done some research, and yes, this technology does exist and is real. If we can get a discussion going, I will provide you access to those links that prove this is for real.
Meantime, here is the results of my home work. This is most of everything I could find on the net about Ionatron:
RESEARCH AGREEMENT SIGNED
de.afrl.af.mil
".....the fight against al Qaeda has poured $135 billion into defense-related technology just since 9/11. Some of that cash is nurturing a new crop of startups building innovative intelligence tools, communications gear, and advanced weaponry. [Paul Kaihla, Business 2.0, J/F 04] Four companies mentioned: security consultant Blackbird Technologies (Herndon VA), wireless broadband Rajant (Wayne PA), IatroQuest (Quebec), and Ionatron (Tucson AZ). None of them show on DOD's SBIR list. Ianatron's employee count is classified, it's funded by an angel, has a website with only a Contact Us page, and reportedly has developed a ray gun to disable vehicles. Of course, all that could be a cover for a product that is all viewgraphs. On the other hand, if the product really does do the job, DOD would not go through the painfully slow and limited SBIR to get it. SBIR is for ideas that the agency only wants to dabble in..."
carl-nelson.com
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Website O' the Day
Today's honor goes to the homepage of Ionatron, a private defense contractor rumored to be developing laser weapons for use in the transformation of living, breathing humans into the fleshy equivalents of scorched hot pockets. (Note to self: Add vaporization to the list of ways I can now die.) Paranoid watchers of the government will enjoy their site, which usurps even my own for minimalism.
Past Champions >>
all-text.com
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Decision Point -
Bits & Bytes. . . ah yes, there is some moon-shot behavior (or a preview of coming attractions; you be the sole judge of a sole contractor for some sole devices) going-on in what might be described as a late winter / early spring dynamite small-cap first spotlighted for the first time about a month ago, and yes, it's interesting nearly tripled at these prices. No change in our perspective of the Ionatron action; just pleased our speculative deductions evolving into some sort of 'lightning bolt' kind of technology protocol, finds increasingly curious crowds mulling-about the vertical action in old (still trading as, but no longer) U.S. Home & Garden (USHG). May get volatile both ways.
If you're a new reader, we refer you to the remarks in past comments for background, as well as (more). It's not our purpose to encourage any buying or selling by anyone in anything; that's why we mentioned early players might have wanted to nail-down half (for instance), keeping the rest as no-risk speculation. (More at ingerletter.com). It's coincidental (or analytical; take your pick) we were close to the mark as to what they subsequently announced they are testing (operative word: testing). (reserved)
In our view if an investor/speculator had shares in any such very formative company (either it or Taser) in the early going, it either works-out over time, or it doesn't, or it's just one of many diversifications that either work or don't, or are neutral; we shall see. We do not encourage rank speculation; we don't encourage shorting in a bull market; we do not believe anyone should try for that, because they'll likely get creamed in the process, even if they're right about a transferred focus to a newer-tech speculation as time goes on, and we believe that once a highly-speculative stock is talked-about on a regular basis in the media, it can still go up, but the 'cream' (more for our readers). So, what's perceived isn't always dynamic, as what's already being sold isn't always setting the pace for the future; that's technology. Always been that way; always will be. The toughest part about technology is technology; that's why one can never be complacent with bleeding-edge technology.
Do we think USHG has more potential? You decide (more). Pullback at some point? Sure; why not, lots hoping for it we're suspecting. Name and symbol change later this month or eventually NASDAQ listing? That's what the management suggested likely during the 'cc'. Stay tuned. (And the foregoing, besides not intended to construe buy sell or hold suggesting, also doesn't intend criticizing Taser, as they are very different technologies; Ionatron heavy-duty/militarily oriented; the other more for police work.)
decisionpoint.com
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BOSTON CAPITAL
Business end of the gun
By Steven Syre, Globe Columnist, 4/6/2004
No one can say Robert Howard is slowing down in his 80s.
Howard is best known in these parts as the man behind Presstek Inc., the small New Hampshire printing equipment company whose stock soared in a swirl of speculation and hype about a technology revolution in the mid-1990s, only to come crashing back to earth. Today, Presstek shares trade at about 12 percent of their peak '90s value.
Regulators investigated Presstek and activity surrounding its stock, which had climbed more than 15-fold over a period of about two years, including the wildly boosterish endorsements of the Salem-based Cabot Market Letter. Eventually, Howard paid a fine of $2.7 million to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission charges of causing Presstek to disseminate materially misleading information about sales and business prospects.
Now Howard, 80, is back in the public eye as the chairman of Ionatron Inc. Once again, speculation about revolutionary technology is sending the price of a little stock soaring higher.
The product under development: a gun that uses a laser beam to direct electricity to a target -- enough juice to disable a vehicle. ''It's most easily understood as laser-guided, man-made lightning," company president Tom Dearmin said on an investor conference call last week.
Less than two months ago, Ionatron was a private firm working mostly on hush-hush government projects in Tucson. Its managers included two former Raytheon Co. engineers with backgrounds in so-called ''directed-energy weapons," Joseph Hayden and Stephen McCahon. Then Ionatron executed a reverse merger with the shell of a public company, US Home & Garden Inc., to become a publicly traded entity itself. For now, the company trades on the OTC Bulletin Board as US Home & Garden, but a shareholder meeting is scheduled for April 19 to change the name to Ionatron.
Shares of US Home & Garden, which held about $9 million in cash after the sale of its operations last fall, closed at 85 cents on Feb. 24, the day before the reverse-merger news. Those shares have since climbed to a high of $7.75 and finished yesterday at $6.60. That translates into a stock market capitalization increase of about $400 million.
Talk of directed-energy weapons goes back to early ''Star Wars" defense debates of the 1980s. Big defense contractors have worked on weapons that fit into that category for years.
Ionatron executives have said their technology will be able to disable vehicles and shut down electronics without harming occupants. They said the technology, ''when fully developed," will be able to stun human targets. Dearmin said unidentified government officials think it is ''potentially the gun of the 21st century."
So what does the public market really know about Ionatron? A little, but not much.
The US Air Force disclosed a cooperative research and development agreement with Ionatron in January to establish the viability of technology the company uses. Company executives said they can make their technology work in a lab and plan to deliver their first demonstration model this year. They anticipate full production in late 2005 or 2006.
But Howard, who owns about a third of the company, and Dearmin declined to answer many basic questions on the conference call last week, citing security restrictions.
You're out of luck if you want to learn Ionatron's current revenue, or the size of its research budget, or the rate at which the company burns through cash. How many employees does the company have? Howard couldn't comment.
Investors intrigued by Ionatron should remember some good advice for anyone dealing with guns. Make sure you know which end you're holding onto.
Steven Syre is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at syre@globe.com.
boston.com
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Ridgeland, MS, MAR 24, 2004 (EventX/Knobias.com via COMTEX) -- According to a PRE 14A filed today, a Special Meeting of Stockholders of U.S. Home & Garden Inc. (OTCBB:USHG ) may be held on Monday, April 19, 2004 at 9:00 A.M. local time at the offices of Blank Rome LLP, 405 Lexington Avenue - 24th Floor, New York, New York 10174 for the following purposes:
1. To change the Company's name to Ionatron, Inc.
2. To increase number of authorized shares of the Company's common stock from 75,000,000 to 100,000,000;
3. To classify the Company's Board of Directors into three classes;
4. To approve the Company's 2004 Stock Incentive Plan.
This preliminary information is subject to regulatory approval.
tscn.com
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3/19/04 - Rear Admiral Thomas W. Steffens, USN -Ret- Elected to Board of Directors of the Post-Merger Combination of U.S. Home & Garden and Ionatron |
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