VirTra Inc (VTSI)

[gbb777]

In my opinion, it has never been clear whether every unit will be issued a recoil kit. The only reference I see is John Givens bragging about being ready for mass production. I would already be very happy to see those older 1.0 and 1.1 units, (10,000) having a Virtra recoil kit, for training,  not only for the $$$ , but for seeing Virtra as a confirmed subcontractor.

[fishhunter]

What pr?
If 120,000 recoil kits had even a 20% possibility of happening the stock would be at $20 right now. I sure hope it does happen but would feel far better if Givens staked the future of the company to law enforcement sales rather than military sales. Will they ever hire a salesman?

[czmkid]

120,000 units!

After this pr the stocks gonna go gangbusters again!

Come on 37$

[gbb777]

It would be nice to have some kind of update about the recoil kits prototype.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a62909337/army-augmented-reality-goggles/

Quote:
"Should the final 2025 test go well, the Army could procure over 110,000 IVAS 1.2 systems for close combat units—spanning the service’s light infantry, Stryker and armored brigades. Meanwhile 10,000 older-format IVAS 1.0 and 1.1 systems will be relegated to training, remote-learning, and evaluation missions."

[Fantom19]

Jealous I am! Good on ya Fish. Also, I'm good w $127

[fishhunter]

They are easy to catch this time of year. Just put a 15” live sucker on a hook and let it swim around in a good spot. I caught 3 on Friday, two 40” and one 46”. The challenge is finding a bait shop with suckers cuz they don’t want to get stuck with them at seasons end when ice up happens. They cost about $12 to $15 each. Normally by now musky fishing is done because ice is forming and the water gets too cold and they become dormant all Winter. But this year is warm and no ice yet. Most years the easy musky fishing in Wis is Nov 1st plus/minus one week. It is a blast. They are also at their heaviest now.

[D theG]

OT: Fish! More importantly on a Sunday, how you do with the muskies? Only caught a couple in my life up in Adirondacks, but wow! They were fun!!!

[fishhunter]

No idea, I was musky fishing most of the last 2 days and off grid in N Wis. Most of my posts here these days are tongue in cheek. I do think VTSI is a very good stock to buy between now and year end. Right now it’s being thumped for several reasons, one is tax loss selling. I’ve been very lucky with my timing, sold about 1/3rd of my shares in the 8.40s and will replace them this coming week.
Two other stocks I think are good buys now are PBI and GFGSF.
At least my wife is happy these days, she is heavy into bitcoin and Tesla.

[billpr]

Fish: Any idea whose post was deleted between ours. I would have guessed ardley, he was the one who hatef me the most, but he's propbably sold by now?

[fishhunter]

After reading your post, I went back and redid my analysis. I was simply wrong. The correct target price is $127 per share. At least I got the year right. Cheers!

[The_Gman]

How far have we advanced in simulation-based training for policing and law enforcement? A literature review 2014–24
Pei Jun See, Amanda Davies
Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, Volume 18, 2024
Published: 16 November 2024

VirTra is mentioned 7x. MILO 4x. Didn't see any other competitors. I'll take what I can get!

https://academic.oup.com/policing/article/doi/10.1093/police/paae116/7901701

This literature review aims to contribute to future education and training endeavours for policing and law enforcement, through identifying studies over the past decade that focus on the application of simulation-based learning for police and law enforcement officers. Specifically, the review aims to answer the following questions in the context of policing and law enforcement education and training: (1) What are the different types and platforms used in scenario-based simulation training? and (2) What skills are being trained in simulation-based exercises?

There appears to be an uptake in adopting critical incident simulation for police and law enforcement training in 2024 as five studies (Di Nota et al. 2024; Kleygrewe et al. 2024a, 2024b; Stenshol et al. 2024) have been published in the first half of the year. This figure for the first 6 months of 2024 is higher than the average achieved across a full year in the previous years.

An integral aspect of designing a simulation that reflects reality, whether of live or virtual, must be to mimic the stress that the officer will face in the field (Baldwin et al. 2022). Broadly speaking, there are two types of simulation: live and virtual simulation. Traditionally, live simulation involves role players, where officers, healthcare professionals, and members of the public take on certain roles to simulate the dynamic nature of crises. Over the past decade, the evolvement of technology-enabled simulation has resulted in higher fidelity. Emerging technological developments and platforms such as VR and VirTra systems allow high-fidelity simulations to be created in the virtual space. High-fidelity simulations are critical for skills training and psychological experimentation purposes as they minimise the disjoint between reality and the simulation environment, making them more effective.

[billpr]

Fish: You haven't changed. Just caught up on the posts and yours was one of your most laughable. Matter of fact it rates in your top all-time 5. This company as I have posted for many, many, years will never be more than a 30-40MCo.. It might be somewhat under-valued PPs-wise and could be bought by Axios, among others,but c'mon man, what are you smoking these days?

[weo1998]

This appears to be a flipper's stock now. That's how I am gonna play it going forward. This is trading just like a penny stock. Up one day on the news, sell off the next two days. Looks like we are at about were we closed prior to the 3rd quarter release. It sure looks like a lot of credibility lost here in VTSI. Just my opinion.

[D theG]

Sounds great Fish! I hope your speculation turns out! : )

[fishhunter]

Axon will buy VirTra for $100/share equiv in Axon shares in November, 2027. Axon PS today is 25. Even at $100 it would be accretive to Axon. Sound crazy?……VirTra 2027 revenue should be about 100 - 120mil. VTSI should easily trade at about $60. Slight buyout premium due in part to use of Axin shares and there is our $100. All imo, pure speculation.

[The_Gman]

Department of Justice Awards More than $15 Million for De-Escalation and Crisis Response Training for Law Enforcement

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) today announced that it has awarded more than $15 million in grant funding for law enforcement agencies and stakeholders across the country through its Safer Outcomes: De-Escalation and Crisis Response Training for Law Enforcement grant program. There were 42 awards made to agencies in 23 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico that will use these funds to promote training on de-escalation and crisis response for law enforcement officers, civilian staff, and mental health professionals working with officers on crisis intervention teams.

These funds will go to support areas including de-escalation tactics and alternatives to use of force; safely responding to an individual experiencing a mental or behavioral health or suicidal crisis; safe encounters with individuals with disabilities; successfully participating on a crisis intervention team; and making referrals to community-based services and support.

“Local law enforcement agencies know that de-escalation and crisis response training is critical to ensuring that the community is provided with officers who are skilled in these areas and are always receiving the most up-to-date and cutting-edge training available,” said Hugh T. Clements, Jr., Director of the COPS Office. “Both the community and law enforcement are the beneficiaries of this type of training.”

The full list of all Safer Outcomes award recipients, including funding amounts, can be found here.
https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/2024AwardDocs/saferoutcomes/Award_List.pdf

The COPS Office is the federal component of the Department of Justice responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. The only Department of Justice agency with policing in its name, the COPS Office was established in 1994 and has been the cornerstone of the nation’s crime fighting strategy with grants, a variety of knowledge resource products, and training and technical assistance. Through the years, the COPS Office has become the go-to organization for law enforcement agencies across the country and continues to listen to the field and provide the resources that are needed to reduce crime and build trust between law enforcement and the communities served. The COPS Office has been appropriated more than $20 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local, territorial, and Tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of approximately 138,000 officers.

[sharpchicity]

Seemed like a solid quarter albeit uneventful. Not sure why the stock jumped 25% -- everything on the call seemed pretty in line with what should have been expected.

Couple interesting data points:
- Over the last 4 years, this quarter's booking number is the second lowest Q3 over the last 4 years. If you exclude US federal gov orders, it's the 2nd highest.
- STEP revenue has plateaued and even declined slightly since Q3'23. Historically jumps in STEP have come in Q4 so let's see what happens next Q
- Extended warranty revenue level seems like it still has another couple of quarters left. At these revenue levels, this is a surprisingly valuable line item.
- LTM Revenue + Backlog is the same level it was in Q4'21. The stock price after that earnings call was $5.80.
- Over the last 10 years, FY24 was the year with the least amount of money spent on VirTra simulators by the US Federal government.

[fishhunter]

VTSI stock action is embarrassing. But similar to most other tiny companies.

[fishhunter]

IR should be brought in-house. Gateway IR is terrible imo. Call them or email them, you will agree they suck.

[Coachjim2]

Pete Hegseth as SOD by Trump will ramp up our military. Excellent selection! Good for Virtra!

[D theG]

Oh... one thing I didn't like.... IR should be making sure there are analysts on the call asking Q's.... what the heck are they doing????

[D theG]

Oh... one thing I didn't like.... IR should be making sure there are analysts on the call asking Q's.... what the heck are they doing????

[D theG]

Good Q, 8.9 million in bookings. When we get a real budget passed things will really roll. Margins and production efficiency are great. As sales ramp up we should be seeing some really nice net profits.... and when IVAS kicks in... gonna be sweet!

[utahstock12]

Jeez reading the pr initially with like 10 items and no mention of revenue I almost had a panic attack thinking they were burying a 4m quarter of something. This looks good. Ship pointing in the right direction again.

[weo1998]

Hopefully the news is better than the stock is trading right now!

[ARZ]

all waiting for the release.

[fishhunter]

Furthermore….if VirTra had even half a brain they would try to compete with Axon in the PD camera market.

[fishhunter]

With Ferris gone, the bad blood between the two companies should be lessened. I expect Axon to buy VirTra when VirTra market cap goes up and over $300mil. Likely in 2026.

[NELNEL]

AXON is competing seriously on training with VR headsets. It has a lot of strengths so it will limit VTSI's law enforcement market. This makes it more important for VTSI to succeed in military markets. Any guess on when military news will begin to move this stock?

[fishhunter]

By the way, it would be entertaining if Ferris started posting here again….I miss those days.

[fishhunter]

That was funny!

[sharpchicity]

Yes

[fishhunter]

Did Givens say anything about stock price or market cap at the shareholder meeting? Did he say when Sales Org traction would become apparent in the quarterly results?
Anyone ask a challenging question?

[fishhunter]

The new Directors dang well better buy a ton of open market shares after the upcoming earnings release.

[Fantom19]

More great gouge, sounds solid, thx z

[ztect]

Okay, finally getting back to giving a quick summary of the sharing holder meeting. I'm going to focus on the facility tour since ARZ already addressed a number of other questions. The tour consisted of stops in the various development, fabricating and shipping areas of the Phoenix facility. Though the first stop was in the entryway at the base of the stair where Givens gave a quick overview and comment about the Orlando office being necessary due to Orlando being such an international hub for the simulation industry.

The first stop was the green room where digital content is recorded, and then just there after with the people outside that room capturing the live action, The key point here was how quickly content could be captured with live actors compared to using computer animated characters. Later, towards the end of the tour, less than 2 hours later we saw how something filmed was quickly integrated into a scenario. The speed of integration and quality of content helps differentiate Virtra from its competitors.

Next we went into a room where they dissembled different guns to create realistic facsimiles within the same exact form factors. This included clips and magazines. Our final stop on the upper floor was a large room with a V-ST Pro and a V300 simulator. One of the key points mentioned here was the cost savings of simulators due to not using live munitions that are also currently in short supply. Another key point with the V300 is that the user interface for monitoring the station is incredibly intuitive and thus user friendly. So it's easy to learn and doesn't require a lot of training.

Next we walked downstairs back to the ground floor into another room that further developed guns and gun components. Givens noted that they could make a wide array of guns, including many for foreign customers, but mainly made the guns that were most requested and popular.

I am going to continue this post later since I have to run out the door to a meeting. One key point I'd just make here is that the VIrtra systems are just that systems with content generation and weaponry facsimiles, plus ease of use, that help to differentiate Virtra from other simulator companies.

[ztect]

VirTra : THE EVOLUTION OF SIMULATED TRAINING FIREARMS

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/VIRTRA-INC-42567604/news/VirTra-THE-EVOLUTION-OF-SIMULATED-TRAINING-FIREARMS-48169579/

[novicetrader]

Thanks much for the update ARZ. Holding onto the faith for now.

[joelawyer]

Yes, thanks ARZ.  Much appreciated. Confirms the sense of things that I observed a few months ago when I was there.

[fishhunter]

Thanks for the report!

[Fantom19]

arz, great gouge, thx, good to hear overall positive assessment from you, a long term guy w a clue, much more confident to bulk up on shares,

[D theG]

Thanks for sharing ARZ! Much appreciated!

[ARZ]

here you go. all comments are IMO
My summary of VTSI's Shareholders meeting IMO
1) Bohemia - John has a nice relationship with them and there are synergies that enhances both relationships. John played a crucial role in establishing BISim which specialized in military training software. That company was sold in 2022 for $200M to BAE Systems. The relationship is deep rooted.
2) Cash Balance - John (and the rest of management) feels like it is at a good level
a) Covers salaries for 1 year
b) If they have to ramp up production they have enough cash on hand
3) Shareholder value – Management feels its undervalued but sooner or later that markets will correct once bookings and topline traction start to get noticed markets will correct itself.
Regarding a shares buyback - they do not feel a buyback is warranted and would like to focus on using the cash towards investing in hiring new talented employees, technology and possible acquisitions (when we toured the factory we were shown how the purchase, a few years back, of a machine tooling company has improved both quality and shorter production times.
4) Sales – John’s first priority was to get his house in order (i.e. get operations in order) before tackling salesforce enhancements. Over the past 18 months or so the team has implemented a new ERP, streamlined and optimized Production, built out the accounting function, enhanced QC and now is tackling his sales force issue. à management has been focused on building the appropriate sales team and incentives throughout 2024
5) Board of directors - I met with Gregg and to my surprise he is a great independent board member. Has great visions and answered all my questions. He is an asset to VTSI. The 2 new appointees are also an asset to the Board, James also an asset to the board. I feel the board is solid and all have future vision for this company.
6) compensation - bonuses - are no longer based on purely profits - they will be based on a few criteria’s ie profits, employees production, and a few others.

In summary:
VTSI is no longer a small company with no focus. Jonh has implemented so many improvements at the company. They look at areas of opportunities and will adapt their current resources to fill a potential niche that has large potential. Ie security in hospitals-training security personnel
1) 90% or more of the production and tooling is done in-house, which has dramatically improved efficiency, quality and speed to deliver their product.
2) ERP is now in place and data can properly be analyzed
3) the new building is being utilized in efficiency and will allow for quick expansion when needed.

[fishhunter]

Did anyone get some answers to questions?

[novicetrader]

thanks ztect,looking forward to hearing your observations from the shareholder meeting. The appointment of the two high-ranking military guys seems encouraging.

[The_Gman]

VirTra Appoints Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Maria R. Gervais and Georgia POST Executive Director Mike Ayers to Board of Directors
October 22, 2024 16:05 ET

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/10/22/2967308/0/en/VirTra-Appoints-Retired-U-S-Army-Lieutenant-General-Maria-R-Gervais-and-Georgia-POST-Executive-Director-Mike-Ayers-to-Board-of-Directors.html

CHANDLER, Ariz., Oct. 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VirTra, Inc. (Nasdaq: VTSI) (“VirTra” or the “Company”), a global provider of judgmental use-of-force and firearms training simulators for law enforcement and military markets, has announced the appointment of two high-ranking and distinguished leaders in military operations and police training to its board of directors: retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Maria R. Gervais and Executive Director Mike Ayers of the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council. The appointments became effective on October 21, 2024.

With the addition of Gervais and Ayers, four of VirTra’s five board members are now independent, reinforcing the Company’s focus on effective governance and strategic leadership. Their leadership backgrounds in military operations and police training will support VirTra’s efforts to innovate and deliver life-saving training solutions for public safety and military professionals.

Both appointees have led transformative programs in their respective fields, restructuring training programs that resulted in lasting and profound performance improvements. Their expertise will help guide VirTra during an important phase of growth as the Company expands its product and scenario offerings into new industries, further solidifying its leadership in immersive training technology.

VirTra’s Newest Board Members

Lieutenant General Maria R. Gervais, USA (Ret.)
Lt. Gen. Gervais spearheaded a $2 billion modernization initiative that reduced Army training time by three years while enhancing readiness. She introduced 3D terrain technology to accelerate virtual training, an approach later adopted by other agencies. Her experience with virtual environments will be instrumental in supporting VirTra’s integration of Virtual Battle Space (VBS) military training into its simulator systems.

“VirTra’s reputation for providing innovative simulation technology, combined with its marksmanship and law enforcement expertise, is unmatched,” said Gervais. “VirTra consistently delivers quality training to customers. I am excited to be joining the VirTra team—they have an excellent track record, believe in what they are doing, and have the potential to achieve even more. I want to be part of VirTra’s mission to build and deliver simulation training capabilities that enable organizations to achieve excellence and improve workforce performance.”

Executive Director Mike Ayers, Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council
Ayers has over 37 years of experience in law enforcement training, certification, and development. As Executive Director of Georgia POST, he led a comprehensive overhaul of the state’s police credentialing program, increasing required training from 408 hours to over 800 hours and introducing innovative psychological and physical training methods that improved officer performance and community safety. As a board member and former president of the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST), Ayers is uniquely positioned to help guide VirTra’s training curriculum development. His partnership with VirTra has its roots in the Company’s IADLEST-certified V-VICTA curriculum.

“VirTra represents the future of military and public safety training,” said Ayers. “Its products equip soldiers and officers to succeed in dynamic and dangerous situations while also protecting officers, communities, and the individuals who call these communities home. Today’s law enforcement and military deployments require split-second evaluation and decision-making in high-pressure environments. I have long supported high-quality scenario-based training, and VirTra consistently delivers that standard to our law enforcement officers and military personnel. It is an incredible honor to contribute to providing the best training products for the men and women in uniform. It is a sacred obligation that will lead to better outcomes and safer streets.”

John Givens, CEO of VirTra, emphasized the significance of these new appointments, saying: “It is a testament to the importance of VirTra’s mission that internationally recognized leaders like Lt. Gen. Gervais and Director Ayers are joining our team. Lt. Gen. Gervais will play a pivotal role in advancing our military training initiatives and VBS integration, while Ayers’ extensive experience in overseeing the training and certification of approximately 59,000 officers in Georgia will directly enhance the effectiveness and implementation of our law enforcement training programs. I am confident that their leadership will enable VirTra to continue expanding the boundaries of innovation, delivering the exceptional performance our partners have come to rely on.”

[ztect]

I got back from yesterday's share holder mtg this morning. I will share some of my observations soon in more detail. Though, all I'll note here right now is that I'm a lot more optimistic based on my attendance, the facility tour and the opportunity to talk and pose a lot of questions to Givens, other board members and VirTra employees. As for those other board members, I was especially impressed with new board member U.S. Army Lieutenant General Maria R. Gervais, who I spoke with at some length about AI.

[BCBA11]

How did today go? Does anyone want to share?

[fishhunter]

Someone should ask Givens today

[weeblewobble09]

120K units x $3000 is $360 million. We can dream right???