Did INTF delay too long?
I sold some of my shares between $39 and $68 and made a healthy profit. But, I retain shares that are now worth less than $10 with no bottom in sight and I am concerned as to how INTF does things.
David gave this company a tremendous boost and the company paid him back by doing nothing to support him. I find that to be very nasty since David is a great guy and a very serious investor who cares about his clients.
The company (or people) kept hinting at things like a stock split over and over. At some point, I stop believing rumors that never happen. They should have rapidly split as soon as we went beyond $50, or even as we dropped back. They did not, and they did not find ways to put out many other kinds of PR. They seemed to rely on David to do some of this out of the goodness of his heart. Or, they relied on other companies mentioning them in passing.
This convinced me to sell and lock in my gains. We had gone up on very little. I sold very gradually and did not really knock down the price. But, I have friends that did not sell at all until perhaps $20, and only when they had to because of margin problems. This probably helped fuel the frenzy to really knock the stock down.
I do believe 9 7/8 is a ridiculous price, even with the earnings report. The market does not. I have no interest on selling my remaining shares, for a third of what I paid for them. What I want to see is the company take a hint and begin doing what it should have done all along. Publicise what it is doing and why it is a compelling value.
If it needed cash, I bet it could have been raised easily when the stock price was up, perhaps with a secondary offering. It may be harder now. And, it can not really be blamed on the market crash since INTF did so much worse than most stocks, including small cap tech stocks. My guess is that the 52-week low is one reason some folks thought that a price this low made any sense.
So, what will the company do? Not what will the investors, or Concentric do? What will this brilliant management do to address the concerns of the street and to make investors feel their patience in this stock will be justified? What will make me want to buy any more shares, even at these prices?
I feel bad for investors that held on, especially for David. His belief in the sector, or the technology of this company is probably justified. But, his belief in management doing what is needed may have been misplaced. And, his luck in doing this just before a market crash was not good!
I do wish him well. |
