Sunday, November 20, 2011

PositiveID (PSID) Does Not Have Positive Earnings

This is one of those blog posts where the title tells you all you need to know.  Fortunately for my readers, I go above and beyond the minimum explanation because I'm in love with the sound of my own voice (even when it's typed out in digits). 

PositiveID (PSID) is a penny stock.  It may or may not remain a penny stock depending on the market's eventual reaction to FDA approval for its technology.  With an EPS of -$0.50, it's currently losing more money than the worth of a single share (which was $0.19 as of Friday).  I always laugh when I see a stock like that.  One of my favorite whipping post stocks, YRCW, is in the same boat. 

Look at the current management team. The CEO's background is in security technology, telecommunications, and accounting - not medical devices.  I find it absolutely indispensable for a CEO to have a long operating background in a company's industry. 

The company formerly marketed the VeriChip application before its merger with a corporation called Steel Vault.  That product went absolutely nowhere due to concerns over its lack of security and the possibility that it emitted cancer-causing radiation.  In case you missed it, there's still a VeriMed site with references to that technology, and the address on the contact page is identical to PositiveID's current location in Delray Beach, FL.  PositiveID now offers another implantable product called GlucoChip that does the same thing as VeriChip, with the explanation that it measures blood glucose.  Wait a minute, that competes with their other glucose measurement product called Easy Check.  Why make two devices that do the same thing?

If this story hasn't confused you enough, just relax.  Read the headline one more time. 

Full disclosure:  No position in PSID or any of its predecessor or affiliated companies, ever.  Oh yeah, no position in YRCW either.