This is my first posting on SI, and of all places, here it is on the PRWT thread. I really took a bath on this stock, getting in at 0.018 (!) and selling today at 0.006.
I've been a lurker on many threads, in particular, this PRWT one. I've read every post here at least once and I've gotten a lot of value out of the insights and opinions that have been posted. I thought I'd take a few moments and tell why I sold all my shares today.
First of all, let me say that I hope I'm wrong. For the sake of all of you who are still in, I hope there's an announcement tomorrow that says, "Yes, we are rolling out the video phones--soon your PRWT shares will be VISUAL shares, etc." If that happens, I will be the happiest wrong man alive. But here's the research I did over the past few days that made me know to myself that the heavenly announcement was too unlikely and that I could not stay on the train anymore.
As we all know by now, "Visual Interactive Phone Concepts" (or "VIPC Global," as they answer the phone) has no web presence. But did you know that they also do not have a phone book presence? What I mean is that I called information for New York (1-212-555-1212) and asked for the address of Visual Interactive Phone Concepts. No listing. I also called information for Mr. John Davidsohn's home phone number (we know his address is 7 S. Hollow Rd., Dix Hills, NY 11746 from the patent listing). Information had no listing for a John Davidsohn. On an upbeat note, they did have a listing for Anthony Cinotti at 410 Hillside Ave., Mahwah, NJ 07430, however, the phone company was under instructions to not give the number out.
In spite of investing so much of my capital in PRWT, I called their main number (212-859-3531) only today. I thought I'd be clever and not throw them the expected, "Is PRWT going to merge with VISUAL?". Instead I asked for their street address. The woman said that someone would have to return my call. I asked her if she was with an agency that accepted calls for several companies (another theory I was considering). She chuckled a little and said no.
So I left my name and number and asked when I could expect a call back. She said "Sometime today". (I was a little surprised at this since people here have posted that they did not get a call back. My gut reaction was that the woman was brushing me off. By the time I left work today, there was no call.)
Anyway, about an hour after the call I got to thinking how odd it was that someone had to call me back to tell me their street address. I called again and a different woman answered. I tried the same street address question, and the woman put me on hold. A new woman came on the phone (the first one I spoke with, I think) and informed me that they do not give out their street address, that they are a private company.
Originally, I bought PRWT believing that 29 millions shares traded can't be wrong. Somebody must know something, I figured, and the moment the official announcement is made, my 0.018/share stock is going to be headed toward 0.10/share in short order.
Today, however, my mind got to thinking this way: If--and I mean IF--the announcement came today, you'd have a company that would be so far behind the public relations curve, that it would wreak of mismanagement. That thought got coupled with another observation, which is that VISUAL doesn't seem to like investors. Perhaps I'm missing something, but it strikes me as highly stand-offish to not return an investor's phone call, which is what I've inferred from others who have posted here and, by not posting again, are basically saying that their calls were not returned.
Human nature being what it is, I formed my own opinion about the people who answered the phone, and to say the least I did not get a sense that this was a dynamic, powerful gem of a company that was on the brink of unveiling a great Wow product of the information age. No, the sense I got was that it'd be fine with them if I didn't call again. I would not say that anyone was rude, just painfully indifferent. All in all, the phone conversations were a good experience for me.
I sold my shares around 10:30 am, and while this is a highly unscientific observation, I must say that I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Like I said, I took a big bath on PRWT, but for someone in his first year of investing, I can only imagine that such disasters are to be expected. Gee, here's an idea: Do my research first, and then consider buying! Duh.
So friends, feel free to correct me where you see faults. You're even invited to try and talk me back in to having some PRWT stock. After all, I really love the concept of this stock--where one announcement basically translates to a several hundred percent profit. In the final analysis, however, I just couldn't come up with enough arguments to continue my Wait for Godot.
If you are holding PRWT, my best to you. I hope it all works out.
--Chris |
