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Microcap & Penny Stocks : BAAT - world records for electric vehicles with zinc-air -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Amir Feinsilber who wrote (5473)	12/11/1998 2:08:00 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 6464

The investment community calls them "story stocks," the kind that promise almost instant riches and send the momentum investors into fits of salivation. The companies are usually small and from the out-of-nowhere regions. But they all offer some can't-miss product with virtually unlimited potential. For the most part, these companies don't appear on the mainstream investment community's radar until, like a Comparator Systems, they explode: first up, then down. Amidst the Wall Street cognoscenti, story stocks are of interest mainly to that pack of short-sellers keen on finding suckers ripe for some bloodletting. These stocks also interest those well-placed pundits who are always looking for a good excuse to pontificate about the stupidity of individual investors going it on their own. Of course, there's a reason these "stories" so often end badly: the story is all there is. When a company has lots of news releases but little cash, too much debt, too many shares outstanding, no sales, maybe even no product, the odds are pretty good that when the final curtain falls, the stage will be strewn with corpses. It's relatively rare for the story to end with happy investors trotting down the aisle committed to a blissful long-term relationship with the company.

To: Amir Feinsilber who wrote (5473)	12/11/1998 2:17:00 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 6464

OGDEN -- Weber County is having second thoughts about plugging into anti-pollution technology after two battery-powered vehicles they bought last year failed to meet expectations. The County Commission thought it made a wise move when it bought the modified pickup trucks called BATs, for Battery Automated Transportation. The vehicles were to be used by air-quality workers responsible for overseeing the county's auto-emissions testing program. Commissioners also hoped the purchase would lure BAT Inc., the company that makes the vehicles, to move its operation from Salt Lake City to Defense Depot Ogden, which is scheduled for closure. Instead, the county has ended up with two vehicles that have not been used in six months, and BAT Inc. moved its operations to Burbank, Calif. The county is not the first government office to have problems with BAT vehicles. BAT loaned a battery-powered GEO Metro to Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini for a week in August 1992. Immediately after the news conference announcing the vehicle loan, the mayor was enroute to the airport and the vehicle broke down, stranding her along Interstate 80, according to her press secretary, Thom Dillon. Former Weber County Commissioner Randy Williford came up with the idea for the trucks, which cost $50,000. Commissioners Spencer Stokes and Joan Hellstrom agreed. Stokes now says the vehicles are unsafe, unreliable and may spark a lawsuit between the county and BAT Inc. The hybrid vehicles are 1994 Ford Ranger pickup trucks minus their internal-combustion engines. Instead, they are powered by 22 extra-strength, lead-acid batteries that cost $75 a piece. The batteries were suppose to be good for 90 miles on a charge. New Commissioner Joe Ritchie says his enthusiasm evaporated when the trucks participated in a 15-mile North Ogden parade. By the time the trucks returned to the county lot ''the gizmo on the instrument panel indicated we had better head right for the recharger,'' says Ritchie. Dee Veneble, superintendent of Weber County's maintenance shop, says 15 miles was typical. ''They've sat here for six months and I've test-driven them enough to know why,'' says Veneble. ''I wouldn't take one out on the highway for anything.'' Russ Hansen, who heads the county's air-quality program, says the BATs have been trouble from the start. ''We could travel maybe 30 miles at best if we stuck to the flatlands and went slow,'' Hansen says. ''It was scary trying to merge into fast traffic because the BATs have poor acceleration.'' He also says some batteries have burned up during the recharging process and they emit a strong odor of sulphuric acid that is embarrassing to Hansen whose job is to fight pollution. Joe LaStella, president of BAT Inc. and the inventor of the vehicles, says dozens of the vehicles have been sold all over the country and ''are performing beyond everyone's expectations.'' LaStella says part of the problem in Weber County is that the company technician who is suppose to service the vehicles was badly injured and has not been able to work for several months. He also chided the county's maintenance people for not keeping the batteries filled with water. ''Dry batteries are dead batteries. Why can't [Weber County] understand that?'' LaStella asks. But Curtis Christensen, director of the county's Public Works Department, says the BATs' water levels were kept full. LaStella says the batteries are designed to improve with use, reaching their maximum efficiency after they are recharged at least 100 times. He insists the 90-mile range was never promised. ''Our literature tells them that 90 miles is an absolute optimum achieved only under perfect conditions and would never be reached in ordinary use,'' he says. In order to keep the county happy, the company is planning to send a service representative to Weber County this week with improved technology to upgrade the vehicles to BAT's 1996 standards, says LaStella, adding, ''Watch them accelerate then.'' ==================== What a amazing story. Accusing the publics works of not filling the batteries with water. Notice Joe said 90 miles a hour under perfect conditions. The gall, to say batteries are not operating under full capacity and had to charge for 100 times to work. The eveready battery bunny would keel over laughiung at this one. floyd

To: Amir Feinsilber who wrote (5473)	12/11/1998 2:25:00 PM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6464

list of warning signs: 1. Unrealistic projections of future earnings and sales, far beyond anything the company has done in the past. 2. Scant financial information about past earnings and sales. 3. Lack of a track record in the field of the projected business. 4. Failure to discuss business risks in press releases and company information 5. Outdated financial information and failure to post quarterly results. 6. Similarity of name to that of a substantial company in the same field (There is a Carnegie Technologies that seems to be substantial) 7. Stock is being praised by little known "organizations", with names sounding authoritative. A gold mining stock (BCMD) was being hyped by a "research" firm called Cambridge Research. Turns out that Cambridge Research could not even afford an office but was using an answering service. It was not possible to even talk to them. 8. Very large short term fluctuations in stock price. 9. Sudden shifts from one type of business to another, or the claim that the company has numerous techologies, any one of which would be good enough to make millions. 10. Frequent press releases. A solid company will avoid hype and depend on demonstrated past results rather than hopes for the future. 11. Background of Chief Executive does not match the business of the company. An ice cream man does not necessarily know how to run a telecommunications company or a credit card company. 12. Plenty of Internet hype with posts ending in "Go _______". 13. Claims of agreements with well known companies, which upon close examination are not as substantial as alleged.