Is Microvision a LiDAR company?
Microvision’s revenue has actually declined since 2018, so it’s very hard to understand why it is popular in the new stock market. It’s latest PR catalyst is about long-range LiDAR progress, but this isn’t a LiDAR company. This isn’t a company in the same category as $VLDR or $LAZR.
Sumit Sharma does not seem like a genuine innovation leader, as the company was founded in 1993 and has since done almost nothing but contribute to the Holo Lens 2, a Microsoft product that has limited consumer or enterprise appeal.
At the Last Futurist we obviously do not short stocks, but we still fail to understand the popularity of this stock with its own dedicated subreddit full of apparently striking evidence of why this is a great company?
Who cares? It’s not profitable. Microvision claims to be a pioneering company in MEMS based laser beam scanning technology that integrates MEMS, lasers, optics, hardware, algorithms and machine learning software into its proprietary technology to address existing and emerging markets.
If this was the case, why do they not have significant revenue, big partnerships or why wasn’t the IP and talent acquired years ago? It just doesn’t add up.
So is Microvision’s “ultra miniature” sensing and projection display technology even useful? In 2021, it’s very debatable. They are certainly not a LiDAR company in any traditional sense of the meaning. With the PR they are up 35% this morning to $19 and they could cross $20 this morning.
The problem? After being pumped up by so many diamond hands on Reddit their valuation is $2 Billion which is outside the realm of reality and certainly won’t make them an acquisition target any time soon.
An Unprofitable Failure Since 1993
Here is a startup that was mediocre in 2019 and will continue to be so in the 2020s. When you are founded in 1993 and haven’t achieved industry maturity in your sector, in doesn’t matter the lingo you use or the marketing tactics you employ, you just aren’t going to be competitive in your field moving forwards.
Blackberry or $FRSX have a bigger chance of contribution to the AV sector than does this lowly company, so it’s very hard to understand how they will ever make money.
There are dedicated blogs, a legion of HODLers, but no significant business model to speak of. In 2021 the company is worse than a corporate husk, it’s a bull-market fraud no matter how you look at it. It’s difficult to know who would want to acquire them for their patents, IP and talent when the company is so ridiculously over-valued.
While it is a company that develops laser scanning technology for projection, 3D sensing, and image capture, to consider this a LiDAR company is simply outrageously ignorant and is a marketing scam. There’s no way this startups can compete with an emerging AV sector full of bigger players and startups that have been doing LiDAR for nearly a decade or more.
Diamond Squeeze for those Willing to make Shadow Marketing Campaigns
When your sales are just $7.4 million and you have over 30 employees, how is your company worth $2 Billion? The short float is at 15% and the option trading around the stock are very suspicious. The stock is up nearly %2,200 for no good reason the last twelve months.
The weakening of the institutional short is causing a lot of alarming anomalies in the micro cap sector. As Microvision crosses the $20 price mark you have to wonder and how a tribe and smoke and mirror marketing can in 2021 mean your company is literally faking it till you make it. This is a whole different fake it till you make it level, haha.
Conveniently this stock is a beneficiary of the GameStop reddit rebellion. Without shorts daring to venture into the crossroads of this pump it might as well have a “diamond squeeze”, a bit like $SNDL had this week. The rapid rise in share prices for a company that doesn’t produce any significant revenues caused short-sellers to take notice, but no more. The fraud is in full-swing.