I have been away for awhile and I have been accused of being a P&Der? Please. I am now at 200,000 shares thanks to the .077 ask price last week. I have many other daytrading activities going on to always keep in touch here. I very rarely hold stocks for more than a few months, but I am with this one. If you read the March 25th filing (the whole thing - not just the item #6 that was sent out as a PR) you would get a pretty good feel for where this is now going.
Here's the way I see it:
If you read back in the Dec '98 REGST filed in EDGAR you would have seen it clearly spelled out that their intention was to sell stock to raise money once they were to move from a "developement stage company" to production. They have been raising revenue over that last some year and a half from payments on that contract for the two units of $1.7 mill. If you read the complete 10q you would see that the entire contract is almost now complete. Their own estimate was to be completed and have units installed by the end of this month - March 31, 1999. Les Robins told me over that phone last week that they won't meet that only because of the patent filings - but that they are 'on track for 99'.
But the latest 10k shows that they have sold shares to the public to raise money - which is exactly what they said they were needing to do when and only when they were to need the money for new equipment and upping the payrol for sales people for production. They could of sold those shares anytime in the last 2 years if they were scam artists like some have proclaimed - only with the intention of lining their own pockets. However, just the opposite. Look at the pathetic salaries these guys are willing to take in order to grow this company.
I have heard it said here, "why don't they just go to a bank instead of dumping shares?" Because a loan needs to be paid back - typically in monthly payments. That puts a burden on cash flow. Forget about the tax deduction.
Here are the highlights:
1)This company now has over $200,000 in the bank.
2)Of the 20 mill outstanding shares, 10 of it is owned by management personally. Look:
ITEM 11. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENIFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT
The following table sets forth certain information regarding the beneficial
ownership of the Company's Common Stock as of December 31, 1998 by (i) each
person or entity known to the Company to own beneficially five percent or more
of the Company's Common Stock, (ii) each of the Company's directors, (iii) the
Named Executive Officers, and (iv) all directors and executive officers of the
Company as a group.
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Name and Addresses (1) Number of Shares Percent Beneficially
Beneficially Owned Owned
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Leslie S. Robins 3,421,546 (2) 16.41%
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Grupo Nueve Ltd. 1,199,300 (3) 5.75%
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Francisco Urrea Jr. 400,000 (3) 1.92%
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Y. L. Hirsch 1,448,052 (4) 6.94%
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Harold Herman 200,000 (5) .96%
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Michael Pete 40,000 (6) (7) .19%
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All Directors and Officers 3,661,546 17.56% as a group
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TOTAL SHARES OUTSTANDING 20,854,287 100%
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But all the numbers aside, this is why I bought into ADOT and am excited to hold on to it: (READ THE WHOLE THING!)
Products
Advanced Optics Electronics, Inc. management has concentrated its efforts in
developing its proprietary Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) flat panel display at
the Company's facilities.
The SLM light valve works the same as a water valve controlling the water flow
in a water pipe. Here the valve is controlled electronically; the valve will
respond to an electrical input and will modulate the light passing through the
valve. By reducing the valve size (.001 inch square) and placing them in a
matrix, an SLM is formed.
The major advantages of the SLM flat panel displays are viewing quality,
affordability, customer system integrity, and remote change in seconds to reduce
advertising site maintenance.
The primary initial product, which will be marketed to users of Outdoor
Advertising Billboards, is a large-scale electronic flat panel display. The
development of AOE's product represents the first time that such display
technology is available for Outdoor Advertising Billboards.
The Company's product has benefits over traditional billboards of providing
dynamic, eye-catching ads and rapid change of image to provide for multiple
advertisers during a 24-hour period. The ability to change images from a remote
location will provide advertisers with immediate access to billboard markets.
The AOE billboard display will provide an image 13' X 36' which is approximately
the same size as existing billboards.
2
The major advantages of the Advanced Optics Electronics, Inc. flat panel
displays are better viewing quality, affordability, customer system integrity,
and remote change in seconds to reduce advertising site maintenance. They are
also inexpensive to produce relative to alternative systems.
In addition, none of these technologies can be scaled (driven larger or smaller)
as well as can the Advanced Optics Electronics, Inc. solution. Marketing
After researching various markets including laptop computers, HDTV flat screen
industries, and Outdoor Advertising/Billboards, management has decided to
concentrate its full efforts and attention on marketing to the Electronic
Outdoor Advertising/Billboards industry.
Management believes that, due to the Highway Beautification Act, the number of
billboards nationwide will not increase dramatically but should remain stable.
Advertisers will place increased focus on securing and developing prime
billboard locations. The customer base for billboards is diversifying as more
advertisers are attracted to this media. Management's market penetration
analysis is based on capturing existing sites in a stable market.
It is anticipated that the company's product and marketing strategy will create
a new segment of the outdoor advertising market while leveraging the underlying
growth and excellent fundamentals of the existing market.
Revenues will be derived from a combination of direct sales, owned and operated
billboards, leasing, licensing, and partnerships. Experienced professionals in
finance, marketing, and research are leading management. Customers
Over the past ten years, there has been considerable consolidation in Outdoor
Advertising. The four leaders in the industry currently account for
approximately 48% of the billboard market. Media companies have been buying
billboard owners in order to offer packages of TV, radio and newly acquired
outdoor space to advertisers.
Initial customer contact will be through the company by directly communicating
with potential customers. Management is developing a marketing department to
follow through on each transaction and coordinate with manufacturing.
Competition
Advanced Optics Electronics, Inc. will compete against established forms of
electronic display technology. Management believes that its planned products
will be superior to these established products. To management's knowledge, no
other company is currently working on like products. Management nevertheless
believes that its products and technologies will be subject to substantial
competition as the market and technologies evolve.
CRT's and passive and active LCD's currently dominate the electronic display
market. Primarily large multi-national companies manufacture them. However,
these current industry leaders have hit
3
very difficult technical hurdles in extending the performance of their displays
using current methods.
The Company will compete with the existing Billboard display techniques of hand
painted or printed and pasted signs. Recently, the trend has been toward
creating the art digitally, but these images are still printed on large sheets
and pasted up in the same manner as before World War I. Management believes
these forms of billboard presentations will only be viable in low density/low
traffic areas.
Approximately 65% of billboards were booked on 12-month contracts last year.
Long term contracts could potentially limit the access to desirable sites during
the start-up period. Management believes however, that the trend is to go to
shorter-term contracts with significant turnover.
Sources and availability of raw materials
The Company's major raw material PLZT. PLZT is ceramic material with
electro-optic properties. PLZT is readily available from several sources
including PRAXAIR and AURA. Patents
The company's latest Patent Pending #9247157 relates to an Electro-Optic Light
Valve Array. This invention describes a high-density, high-resolution array of
light valves that can be selectively activated by low induced voltages to alter
a light beam passing through the array.
The present invention also relates to a process for manufacturing such a
high-density light valve array using semiconductor-type processing equipment and
techniques. This constitutes a significant improvement over prior techniques by
the use of semiconductor processing technology to further increase pixel density
and reduce activation voltage. It further offers the advantage of increased
light transmission (brightness) by a reduction in surface area. |
