SuperModels -- Could these 4 stocks soar 10,000% in 10 years? - MSN MoneyCentral
Sensar: distributed broadband over wireless
In January 1997, the shares of a little analytical instruments company in Utah named Sensar (SCII) hit a high around $57. After that it was all downhill, with shares dropping to $1 by the spring of 1999. Following two years of business setbacks, the firm was essentially moribund. It had sold all of its operating units, and was little more than a shell corporation holding about $6 million in cash.
So why did the shares suddenly begin to levitate in April on virtually no news -- quintupling to $5 in April, and then doubling again to $10 in November and reaching as high as $68 by the last week of December -- a fabulous one-year gain of 3,362% that beat virtually every other stock on the planet?
A study of press releases and federal regulatory documents filed in the autumn reveals that Sensar engaged in a reverse merger with two Israeli companies that have patents on intriguing technologies that could turn every cellular phone easily and cheaply into a browser capable of receiving streaming, real-time color video and data on demand from the Internet. Rather than go through the trouble of trying to find a U.S. brokerage that would take them public, the owners of Israel-based ITES Corp. and Net2Wireless simply found a Nasdaq shell to crawl into. The board controlling the former Sensar quietly resigned, and the new managers took over.
The real ramp in the share price came in late December, when it was announced that the former head of ECI Telecom (ECIL), a highly regarded global telecommunications equipment company based in Israel, had joined as the odd little firm's new chief executive. That got the attention of money-management firm SAC Capital in Connecticut, which has since acquired a 7% stake.
Soon, the whole world will find out whether Net2Wireless' technology works because the Israeli affiliate of United Kingdom cellular giant Orange (ORNGY) is launching a pilot starting this month. If all goes well, Sensar very quickly could start to license its intellectual property to cellular providers worldwide, and quickly could zoom to a market cap approaching that of wireless browser licensor Phone.com (PHCM) -- $15 billion. Considering that Sensar today has a market cap of just $173 million, that gets you close to a 10,000% gain without breaking a sweat. (Yes, that's a big if.)
Of course he hasn't factored in the dilution from aquiring the company, divide by 4 or 6-still liveabe |
