BTW, my fine research was also confirmed by the local press after my fine report on XYBR;
Xybernaut Promotes Report by Analyst With Conflict
Fairfax, Virginia, March 21 (Bloomberg) -- Xybernaut Corp., a maker of wearable computers, announced last month that an investment research firm issued a 'buy' recommendation predicting its shares would double in six months.
A month later, Xybernaut shares had indeed doubled, reaching 29 31/32 on March 2. The report by Access 1 Financial, based in Santa Monica, California, predicted a rosy future for Xybernaut, with revenue rising from the $3.3 million it posted in 1999 to $8.3 million this year and $26.7 million in 2001.
``In our discussions with management, we were impressed by their fundamental vision of mobile computing as the future of the PC business,' wrote Mark Bergman, president and founder of Access 1 Financial.
Neither Fairfax, Virginia-based Xybernaut nor Access I disclosed that Bergman owns options to buy shares in Xybernaut, where he worked as a sales executive from late 1997 until Sept. 1998. The report did include a standard disclaimer stating Access 1 employees may buy or sell shares of stocks of companies it recommends.
Bergman declined to discuss the extent of his Xybernaut shareholdings.
John Moynahan, Xybernaut's chief financial officer, said in an interview that Bergman's connection to Xybernaut wasn't disclosed because 18 months had passed since he left the company.
Previously, in January 1999, Bergman issued a Xybernaut `buy' recommendation while working at a New York firm called FAB Capital Corp. He then optimistically forecast that Xybernaut revenue would hit $40 million in 1999. That report also failed to say Bergman had worked for Xybernaut, which he'd left four months earlier.
Moynahan, who became Xybernaut's CFO last May, said Bergman's employment record should have been made clear last year.
Xybernaut shares rose 4 1/8, or 24 percent, to 21 5/16 in trading of 10.8 million shares.
Moynahan attributed today's rise to investor excitement about a report scheduled to run on CNBC tonight featuring the company's wearable computer being used at a General Electric Co. turbine manufacturing plant.
Mar/21/2000 17:39
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