My mid-year review of MVIS
INTRO Here's my semi-annual exercise to see if I remember why I own the stocks I own, and so I can check back and see if their stories have changed. I post in case it helps others too.
MicroVision
MVIS (market cap was $0.135B EOY2015 is $0.089B mid2016)
MicroVision is an electronic components manufacturer centered on the use of an oscillating mirror on a chip. Shine properly modulated light on the mirror, and generate a display. Replace the light source with sensors, and capture an image. The concept is simple. The company has an impressive patent portfolio. Other companies (including Microsoft and Apple) have referenced MicroVision's technology in their patents. The potential is literally incredible, as in 'in-' as in not, and 'credible' as in believable. The company and its technology come across as not believable to some investors. That does not, however, mean it can't happen. The technology should enable the adoption and proliferation of embedded projectors as or greater than the proliferation of embedded cameras. Install one in a laptop, and potentially get rid of the expensive, heavy, and fragile screen. Install another one, and project a keyboard, getting rid of the other major size determinant of computers. Install one in a bracelet, ala Cicret, and project a smartphone display on your forearm, radically redefining phones and watches. Install one or two in eyewear, and create a computer display that no one else can read, that is far more capable than things like Google Glass (possibly).
So far, the only products using the projectors have been low powered standalone projectors, which get great reviews, but relatively insignificant sales; and in automobile head up displays, which have also received too few sales; and now a projector embedded in a smartphone, Qualper, which is available in China. Other products like bar code scanners, and hat and helmet mounted displays were immature, though possibly viable again.
The company supposedly has several large OEMs that will announce products later this year. It is quite possibly true; but that has been said for years. Because the company operates under numerous NDAs, and because the company probably doesn't want to over-promise as they've been perceived to do, and because their financial position isn't improving quickly enough to forestall additional financing it is hard to know what is going on inside the company. Like the boy who cried wolf (check your fables if you're unfamiliar with the tale), it is easy to lose credibility. In the fable, a wolf finally does arrive. In the fable, that's a bad thing. For MicroVision, years of claims of significant orders and profits arriving would be a very welcome wolf.
One sign of increased demand, or at least interest, have been the independent and unsolicited inquiries I've received from StockSpotify.com and marketsandmarkets.com. They are interested in the company, the stock, and the industry. While they aren't CNBC or Bloomberg, they are legitimate and comprehensive; and none of the other stocks in my portfolio have elicited the same interest, not even GIG, which achieved GAAP profitability while exhibiting a lower market cap. Stocks rise and fall with supply and demand. Let's see who is interested in the second half of 2016.
DISCLOSURE LTBH since 1999 (though the very first shares are gone), and my patience is gone, yet my perseverance and majority of shares remain. I have more than enough if the company finally succeeds and the stock reaches the heights I think are possible. I may buy and have bought more simply because the stock is so cheap.
(I've also collected links to the other discussion boards and my other stocks over on my blog trimbathcreative.wordpress.com. By chance and habit I have also written extensively about the company and the stock on my blog. trimbathcreative.wordpress.com |
