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I appreciate the kind words, and think the same of you and your contributions here. I'm on the tech side, you bring the financial and market side into clearer view. Almost everyone contributes something. Almost.
Looking at another day of feeble volume, I was thinking of the math for the shorters. They are playing with a margin of pennies, and very few of them. Let's say they swing two cents a share while we are trading in such a tight range. So far today, about 300K shares moved; if they are 40% of that, that's 120k shares, at maybe 2 cents per share, $2400 to divide by all those who are playing these games. When you add to that the idea that it goes up almost as many days as it goes down, they might only profit three days a week. I guess I'll just keep coming to work at my traditional job for a while longer! And Scoop whenever I can!
Please let me know how far off the mark this little analysis really is. Maybe there's more to it than that??
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66Mustang..
If one is to believe those figure put out daily,then Yes is the answer.While some here think we are being capped by McNally it is nonsense.MDT might want to not release every single thing (like TMDI patents) because TMDI can't really lease them to anyone anyhow at the moment,and it cost money to do so which some here might think they are free.
So with the cheap pps,and light volume it only takes a few 100k cash a day to keep the stock squashed or less.Typical mind you im my opinion.
Ps.Nice post in depth you bring to the board.Many thanks on my behalf.
Roll
Roll, does this mean that 42% of yesterday's volume was short sales???
And... where is everybody today? I look forward to my near-daily dose of Titan trivia, but mostly crickets here today! Did I miss some big Titan news or something?
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Rise and Shine...Yesterday's short numbers @42% ratio..
That is a higher than usual high.TMDI getting in the spring loaded position.And No Bongo Roll is Only Roll.Ray Charles could see the difference.
https://fintel.io/ss/us/tmdi
Flendy, I think you are on to something here. Chapel Hill is the future of the company and the future of our investments.
Medtronic has contracted Titan not only for some existing and pending IP, but also for certain development milestones to be met. Those development milestones will be met by personnel in the Chapel Hill facility. This is the one and only key to unlocking subsequent milestone payments, and it is the very reason Medtronic has signed an agreement with Titan. It isn't JUST about the existing IP portfolio, or they would have just written one check and walked away with whatever they wanted. Instead, it is entirely about Titan's ability to develop the specific product(s) Medtronic has in mind for it's market offerings, and that ability resides in Chapel Hill. Medtronic spent years trying to do it on their own, and apparently didn't like the best they could come up with. But they apparently like what Titan came up with. Once again, a small skunkworks-like operation created an awesome technology package (well, Enos won't fly like the SR-71 but the SR-71 would leave huge scars if you used it for abdominal surgery).
Medtronic recognized not only their existing tech, but also their capabilities, which is why they enlisted their help in a co-development venture. In Chapel Hill, in case that wasn't sufficiently clear. Medtronic is a $135B behemoth, according to some reports. And yet they are relying on little old Titan Medical to get their program off the ground.
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Flenderson Thursday, 08/20/20 11:17:48 AM
Re: SPORT19 post# 113754 0
Post # of 113799
Why do you think there focusing so much time and resources on it? Most other things are taking a backseat now. New videos, agm, etc. Not my words. CH is critical for next stage. So yes it is part of it, and they will secure Oct payment. The next round after that will be when it gets interesting.
Roll... People who sell on the rise and buy on the dip... is that still shorting the stock even though you are keeping the extra shares as your profit? I'm not a financial guy or trader, so I don't know.
And HC, I do see some logic in your proposal to $2.92 warrant holders, but I'm guessing it doesn't even come close to an alternate strategy... They could instead put that same amount of money into nearly four times that many shares on the open market. By the time the warrants are barely in the money, they will have quadrupled their money instead of making a few pennies per share, AND they still hold all those warrants for when the price does finally start to climb. That is a likely answer to your "Why wouldn't they..." scenario. Sure, I too would love to see some outsiders jump in with millions to buy these warrants, and it would certainly benefit the company and maybe even have a positive impact on share price, but it doesn't seem like a feasible strategy at this juncture. Especially when even a guy like me can figure out how they can do better with their investment dollars.
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We can't touch 4.00 because.......
well you tell us why in your own words.Something about selling on the rises and getting more shares....something along those lines.Funny how you answer to your own questions by your actions on selling shares with the "burner phone".....Trust must be earned....and words on a public forum are greater than the action itself.
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Honeycomb777 Thursday, 08/20/20 12:02:33 PM
Re: None 0
Post # 113792 of 113797
Here is a question...WHY wouldn't the holders of the majority of these warrants, team up, and BUY shares on open mkt. to HELP PPS get to levels where they could be in the money / exercise ? Never understood that part ?? I mean if you think highly of the company, enough to buy up a raise and have millions of warrants at say 2.92 just sittin there - isn't it WORTH it to buy buy buy until you trigger MILLIONS of "in the money" warrants ? I dunno - just spitballin on another boring day in Titanville
Rocko, don't forget that their latest filings show Medtronic is sitting on about $11B in cash at the moment!
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RockoTaco Thursday, 08/20/20 11:05:04 AM
Re: pontiacg6 post# 113774 0
Post # of 113780
So very true and yet so widely misunderstood. The only time internally developed IP has value is when it is sold/acquired. So how much is Titan's IP worth to Medtronic, how much could it be worth to JNJ, how much is it worth for ISRG - ALL depends on how much they value it and what they want to pay for it. We do know that ISRG has a market cap of $80+B on $4.5B in sales. No doubt that Medtronic and JNJ will/have to get into robotics and it will grow their MC by tens of billions in just a few short years and then really accelerate in years 3-10.
On top of that we know that Medtronic has signed an agreement to license Titan's IP and know-how. The end buyout will be enormous b/c there is $10's and $100's of BIllions of dollars in revenue and MC at stake for these companies that NEED TO GET INTO robotic surgery.
Pontiac, are you also a Peter Drucker student?
I remember reading a bit about his Knowledge Worker and Knowledge Society back in my undergrad days. Much of it seems to have come to fruition, and to your point, Titan's IP portfolio is a perfect example of how knowledge has become imperative for business survival. If Titan stopped developing and protecting their IP (developed knowledge) back in the "chicken in a bottle" days, they would no longer exist. Their value still resides almost entirely in that portfolio, and that is why I have always been so respectful and appreciative of Mr. Brar and his contributions to our investment.
Drucker's other statements like (paraphrasing) "You can't have a healthy business in a sick society" are becoming more and more concerning... but that's a different issue!
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pontiacg6 Thursday, 08/20/20 10:36:18 AM
Re: ShortsRClowns post# 113770 0
Post # 113774 of 113779
What if I told you that more than 80% of your company’s wealth was invisible — literally invisible to managers and shareholders? You might think I was nuts, right? But it’s true.
According to experts, the average company’s intangible assets — most especially its intellectual property and technological know-how — now account for 84% of its market value. That’s quite a change from just 40 years ago, when 84% of firm value resided in tangible assets like plant and equipment. The cause of this dramatic value shift, of course, is the emergence of a new Knowledge Economy in which know-how and innovation rather than factories and raw materials have become the main factors driving productivity growth and profitability.
I have a prostate with no known issues, but if they want to trade me in shares of Titan stock to participate in the IDE Clinical trials, I might be willing to part with it!
So how much money do you want HC to lose? Apparently $140K of losses for him isn't enough for your liking?
Hell, I hope he has 140,000 shares and doubles or triples his money, or better!
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=157676621
SPORT1.9" Member Level Monday, 08/17/20 02:27:13 PM
Re: 66Mustang post# 113579 0
Post # 113582 of 113582
$20???
Uh...no
Funny you should use the De Lorean for your argument! They, too, were greatly hindered by financial woes, causing them to stuff a feeble Renault-built V6 under the hood, and prompting John to enter the world of cocaine dealers to try to secure funding to keep production rolling. Titan went a different path with their financial woes, which as now led us to a wonderful deal with Medtronic. However...
The DMC product did manage to inject some fairly revolutionary design elements into the car world. 1970's plastic welding and bonding technologies were also awaiting better tech, and rust could shorten the average automotive lifespan to 5 to 7 years in a Northern climate. Stainless body was revolutionary. Gull wing doors were really just about style and had been done in small numbers by Mercedes years earlier, so no DMC credit there.
Had JD the financial resources to build the full design he wanted, they might still be competitive today, maybe even beating Tesla to electric car supremacy years earlier. But we'll never know.
What we do know is Titan has funding AND a groundbreaking design. As you've seen here too many times, there are three basic design methodologies to introduce single port access to abdominal surgery, and all three are locked up tightly in the IP of two companies. Medtronic, JmJ, CMR, this company in Japan, all releasing multi port robots because they CAN'T do single port for YEARS, until certain key patents expire. And we can see what a nightmare it is to try to get a viable multi-port system to market, with the biggest wannabe players announcing delays of YEARS. IT isn't easy. But Titan has already done the hard work.
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SPORT19" Member Level Monday, 08/17/20 11:43:10 AM
Re: 66Mustang post# 113533 0
Post # 113542 of 113543
Medtronic, JnJ, CMR, this company in Japan, all releasing Multi port robots so clearly multi port isn’t the Model T.
If you want to compare robots to car models that were launched and failed we could do that for months.....
Not all “advanced” designs change the market.
Remember the DeLorean?
Very advanced design and concept...
Failed
Whole new robot? Highly unlikely.
To so much as consider a 510(k) last fall means all the nits had been picked; circuit board designs, internal harnessing, etc. were all basically ready to go, only the finances really needed additional work at the time.
The recent PR about completion of design of "surgical instruments" implies to me "end effectors" underwent some revision, possibly adopting some MDT technology or a hybrid design to be compatible with both Enos and with Medt's eventual offering. I had verbally conjectured that MDT's end effectors were possibly superior and they might want the same ones on their big system; it also gives them a better chance of using Enos as a predicate device when their new bigger system design is ready for regulatory scrutiny, and it could simplify their supply chain as well.
The Digital Surgery acquisition could require some "hooks" into our software; access to internal interfaces to capture video and images, as well as motion tracking. Much of their focus seems to be geared toward the training and simulation areas, so initial impact on Enos might be minimal, but the future points more toward "intelligence integration", much like Tesla's upcoming autopilot software (my apologies for reverting back to the automotive analogy!) - the driver needs to sit in the car and be aware of what is happening in case corrections are needed, but Elon says his commute rarely requires human intervention with this upcoming release. No reason to think the future of digital/robotic surgery won't be the same... display might propose an action (e.g. "Cut here?" and the surgeon clicks the "Yes" button. With full manual override always available.
Software is software... If there's a lot of it or if it requires additional memory or data storage, it's just an upgrade to the computing hardware, all very straight forward these days. I'd be surprised if Enos looks substantially different when it hits the market. We were already ready, but our new overlords have a couple minor requests! IMO, of course.
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66 or roll what are ur thoughts on the idea that enos is a whole new robot they have been secretly working on.
The Model T was a proven and widely adopted design. That design has little relevance to a modern automobile except purely from a historical perspective. If you needed to drive across the country, you would prefer be in a modern, comfortable vehicle. The Model T was groundbreaking in its day, but automobile designs have made the Model T obsolete. If a car company today tried to introduce a Model T to the market with no hint of modernization (and assuming safety and environmental restrictions would allow it), it would not be a popular car. Technological advancements have made the automobile much safer, more comfortable, more reliable, and better in almost every way. The Model T had a good run, but newer, better designs were continually adopted and the industry advanced tremendously.
The early da Vinci systems were really the Model T of robotic surgery. They became fairly ubiquitous because they were the only real thing readily available and reasonably supported. And like the Model T was debateably better than walking or horseback or bicycle, the early da Vinci was considered better than open surgery, (especially for sparing the nerve bundle during prostatectomies). We are still in the early stages of design advancements for robotic surgery, but whereas we are invested in a next-gen technology to advance the state of the art in robotic surgery, the Japanese company in that article appears to have just shown off the Model T of robotic surgery, with no outwardly visible improvement. Surely they are using modern computing processors and circuitry and a number of updates which aren't visually obvious, but the basic design concept appears way too similar to 15 and 20+ year old technologies. And we all see how well that business model has served Trixie!
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SPORT19 Member Level Monday, 08/17/20 09:54:50 AM
Re: 66Mustang post# 113526 0
Post # 113530 of 113530
What you call an archaic design most would call a proven and widely adapted design..
SPORT or ENOS or whatever it is hasn’t even touched a living human patient...
It’s been years since we’ve heard a surgeon comment on SPORT and virtually nothing from surgeons on the new design.
MacNally might wind up parting it out...
.73 says the story
Stay classy
Thanks Geo! Interesting product. Japan entering this marketplace could logically be a serious competitor... Or...
Four arms hanging off one cart, much like da Vinci for the past couple decades, and Amadeus almost a decade ago. Maybe patent expiration makes it feasible to compete with that archaic design now, finally? And pay attention to the surgeon cart, and the little Viewmaster headset which leaves those cool red rings around surgeon's faces for about a half hour after the case is done. I expected something a bit more groundbreaking coming out of Japan, not another 20-year old also-ran. But still better and sleeker then Senhance and Hugo!
Further evidence of just how advanced and unique Enos is, and therefore what a splash it can make in the market!
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Has anyone posted this yet? Thoughts?
https://www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2020081101024/
Hey Roll, and anyone else with a couple minutes to spare...
Take a good look at what Medtronic has done with Hugo!
Go to the Medtronic web site.
Click the search icon (magnifying glass looking icon)
Type "Hugo" and hit enter. You should get 6 links to content on their web site.
The first link is about Hurricane Hugo relief efforts.
The next 5 each direct to pages with some robotic surgery content. Go to each of them, and search for "Hugo" (use ctl-F to search the content of that page). None of the five other pages actually contain the word/name Hugo!
It appears that the entire Medtronic web site is devoid of the name of their highly-touted robot from last September's big reveal.
This leads me to believe that they have most likely moved on from the majority of "Hugo" as it briefly existed, and they are going back to square one for their "bigger" system. Maybe snake arms, deployed two per pod to cut their bedside footprint in half? Maybe two per incision to offer four arms and two viewing angles through jut two incisions? Maybe processing can be split between the pods and the surgeon console instead of an additional tower in the room?
Titan's tech would give them a number of options to create a vastly improved design, most of which is already prepped for quick integration and regulatory submission. But still not nearly as close to market as Enos!
Regardless of their future plans for their halo product, their total abandonment of Hugo (as it once) was is rather telling, and makes Titan's future look extremely promising!
IMO, of course... but some others may agree!
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MDT's Loan and The Development Agreement.....
were all in the first quarter and I have not seen it anywhere in MDT's filings.Should these items appear on August 25,2020 there they would be fair game for the first time an analyst could ask about them.I do not believe anyone has inquired publically to MDT about TMDI's relationship to them nor have I seen a single article about HUGO. The conference was a dog and pony show without Q&A to MDT so MDT said what has been PR'd by TMDI.
Also,I never saw in MDT's investor pages anywhere where MDT itself filed a PR about the loan and Agreement.It struck me odd to not disclose that publically to a MDT shareholder besides newswires repeating it.
IF anyone feels like digging over the weekend in MDT filings let us know what you find.
This could be addressed during first quarter CC after MDT reports on Aug,25. BUT a call in will have to ask about it imo.We will have to wait and see too if any "clues" appear in the filing.There is always clues-more detail in a company's filing.
Thanks Roll
Good Morning HC... Well, it is so far anyway, but the trading bell hasn't rung yet!
To your first question, I do not believe Medtronic will snatch Titan up prematurely (I believe they SHOULD; more on that in a moment...). They have not done so in the past; their rapid acquisitions are smaller potatoes, up to several hundred million dollars for a deal that gets announced and closed within a few weeks of the announcement, or the announcement isn't made until it is already a done deal. So if we were to be a sub-billion dollar purchase by MDT, it would already be done. Their most technologically similar acquisition was put on a timeline, that being Mazor. They didn't take any shortcuts with that one; everything ran according to the schedule with the only variable being the actual FDA approval for X. This would mean our deal is most likely to close then (at FDA approval for Enos). However, someone pointed out that a new administration could be voted in come November. The reason this could be significant is that the Covidien deal was bitterly fought by the Obama administration in 2014. MDT overcame those objections eventually, but maybe they won't want to deal with that nightmare again if Biden wins, so the election could provide impetus for MDT to say "Screw it, Do it Now!" That would give them a little over 2 months to finish the deal before Biden attempts to, "uh, pledge allegiance to the fla... no, not that, uh, oh... Is that a bible? Is it autographed by the author? Oh, uh... Oh, swear in? Okay... Tell me what to say... wait, that's too many words..."
Anyway, Medtronic has about $11B cash on hand and could easily drop half of it into a quick Titan acquisition to avoid a grudge match with Joe and the Stoner Chick. Otherwise, I think there would need to be some other reason to shortcut the current schedule (e.g. JnJ sniffing around too closely or buying Titan stock). But if Trump gets re-elected and the FDA tightens the noose on predicate device rules, we could be into 2022 before closure. All conjecture at this point, of course...
As to your final questions, I will refer you you a post from 2 weeks ago, post 112042, in which I answered the same basic question. In summary, I email Titan management on occasion and I coordinate with a select group who periodically talk with Mr. McNally on the phone to share our concerns directly (where he remains equally tight-lipped about the future). As to what has fundamentally changed since the prior management team? Let's see... Mr. McNally has a history of bringing medical devices to the market successfully. He succeeded in selling a medical device company to a larger organization. He has leveraged the award-winning patent program to induce a giant med tech company into an agreement whereby we co-develop the end product(s) and based on their history, we surmise a likely buyout scenario, or worst case, we end up with an FDA approved single port surgical robot that we can sell and support (which should put valuation into the several billions) or some other big $$$ big med tech company buys us out for that reason (also a several billion dollar scenario). That is worst case in my mind only because of the timeline which would then be involved. I want to retire before 2023 if possible! (Tomorrow would be best.)
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All I will say is that the majority of folks love to pile on investors instead of the very Mgt who are running this PUBLIC company. You have been around a long time, so I tend to respect your posts because you have actually lived it more then most. You are definitely not a newbie.
I think we all want Titan to succeed, but the ones who have been the most correct here have not been the "pumpers". So here are my questions for you:
If MDT is a suitor, then do you really think they snatch TMDI up BEFORE human trials start ? I believe they will pay more once they understand how human trials go and if the robot is viable. I can potentially see them making a BO offer prior to FDA approval but not before human trials, hence the milestone payment arrangements.
So, anything is possible, but to wake up next Monday with BO news is (to me) a fairly low probability. Plus, I would never sell more than 3-5% IMO as if major news did happen, you wouldn't jump off a bridge because you were completely out. Again, it is a suggestion/idea for folks to consider. I did just that and BOTCHED it and still have a few more shares. I'm upset I didn't wait - would have gone ape shat... buying all I could today.
I will close out the post with this...YOU, of all people, YOU wrote and sent that letter years ago. So why haven't you done the same thing now...what has fundamentally changed with this company (for the better) that you feel so confident about ? Please share
HC, we love that you are so smart as to figure out what happened a long time ago. Certainly everybody here would rather have scooped all their shares at our all-time low of fourteen cents, except there was no way to predict then if it was going down to two cents or up to twenty bucks. Crystal balls are in short supply here, especially when trying to put a time frame to anything the company has done thus far, so I have to side with Roll with regard to the FACT that we don't know when, or even if, something huge is gong to happen. To his apparent point, since we don't know, selling anything could happen to be the day before a buyout is announced (an action which is often accompanied by a trading halt). The only advantages we really have here as long term investors is that we know the technology is unique, valuable, and well protected, and Medtronic has validated all three of those points by establishing a relationship with them. Schedule? My guesses are based on experience with medical device development and regulatory bodies, with a hint from the Mazor acquisition. But I'm guessing just like anybody else, except I also share my rationale for my guesses when not everybody else does. Concerns expressed about getting raided by Medtronic and then left at the altar seem rather unfounded. Medtronic is on an acquisition hunt, just announcing yet another one for insulin pens. If they screw over any organization that they are doing business with, nobody will want to talk to them because they would be untrustworthy. That's no way for Mr. Martha to build his self-declared legacy of acquisitions.
As far as us classless posters, check the mirror. In just the one post I'm currently replying to (pasted below for your convenience), you have referred to groups of us as Helens, pumpers, foolish, and stupid. Sorry... to be more accurate, "STUPID". This board is a battleground that has driven me on occasion to lose my temper and to dispense with dignity for a post or two, but others such as yourself seem to have a difficult time getting through an entire post without lobbing insults at either an individual or a large group of investors. Some days you can be downright genial! Apparently today isn't one of those days.
I agree with you that it may seem a bit base to continually point out someone's apparent folly of relieving themselves of shares around the $.25 price point, even if it didn't happen exactly as portrayed. But given that individual's history of posting the same crap day after day, regardless of how old and outdated a piece of "information" may be, I can easily see how others are fed up enough to point out that even such supremely knowledgeable individuals may have been wrong once or twice themselves.
Have I made "mistakes" with this investment? In retrospect, I COULD call some purchases "mistakes" based on current or previous PPS such as the aforementioned fourteen cent day earlier this year. But I don't view any of it a mistake because the fat lady hasn't sung yet. If I eventually sell at a loss... yup, it will have been a mistake. If I make good money in the end... No regrets for sure, it will all have been good, whether it was a purchase at $3 or at $.25 at the time. It will all have been part of an accumulation phase, which cannot possibly be optimized without that crystal ball. If it hits $.50 again? You will surely fail to mention that the folks who bought in at $.14 have still more than tripled their investment in under four months. And if we do see $.50 again, there's still no point in any of us beating ourselves up over another huge scoopertunity!
As for the possibility you mention of doubling your position? Sounds great if you can propose a risk-free way to do it. Roll provided the exact reason I am not doing it, but you are certainly free to do so, and honestly, I wish you the best of luck with that strategy. It's just not a risk I am willing to take.
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Perhaps I should have said SAD - sad that people care so much, some even changing profile pics to show 25 cents. Real Classy
True Helens on this board...many as foolish as some of the people (past & present) making big company decisions.
* What's funny are the predictions and how wrong the pumpers have been (thus far). Roll, if this hits 50 cents, you gonna be saying the same thing - that all is good blah blah blah ?
If so, I'd like to ask - wouldn't have doubling up your share count = double your profits at time of BO be better ? If ya really believe then wasn't it STUPID not to have sold some and bought back lower? I think I'm done discussing our opposing views. Let the peeps decide who they want to listen too going forward. My dick is smaller than yours anyways
Jbuffett, you appear to have experience in robotic surgery. What is your background? In general terms, of course...
A few points of clarification... In the past, Titan has indicated their intended price point as being substantially lower than any available ISRG system. They initially were targeting a sub-million dollar price point but once Mr. McNally took the helm, he indicated that he couldn't realistically meet that target and be reasonably profitable, so they were then targeting the $1.2M range plus substantial discounts (up to 50%) in service contracts compared to ISRG.
I have never seen a third footprint in any Titan presentation; they always indicated they have the surgeon console and the patient cart. The processing power appears to be shared between the two units; note the extra space behind the foot pedals. I do not believe they have an additional processing tower.
They have the patent for the camera wash system but they did state that it will not be deployed in the initial release; they seem to be relying on the 2D camera for visualization during the 3D camera cleaning.
They originally touted their disposable end effectors with no indication that some may be re-usable. It has been very recent that they indicated some re-usable end effectors. I am still hoping to hear some clarification, as they were saying surgeons would always have a fresh, new cutting edge for every case. I think it was as recent as the Medtronic relationship when they said anything about reusable end effectors (design completion declared via PR on July 30 and testing was to commence immediately thereafter). This PR was the first mention of re-processing that I have seen, although they did not draw any distinction here regarding end effectors vs. other instrumentation such as snake arm assemblies, cameras, the deployed camera insertion tube, etc. any or all of which could be generically referred to as instrumentation. I'm hoping they stick to their original plan of at least doing one-time only cutting surfaces but the rest can be reprocessed for economy's sake. And I really don't know what percentage of "cutting" is done with sharps/scissors as opposed to ESU/RF energy devices. And I assume lasers are still too futuristic for robotic surgery, but who knows what the future holds. Heck, Boston Sci fibers for kidney stone ablations start at what, 200 microns? Should be easy to adapt laser fibers to snake armed hardware in the future, if they don't deem lasers too dangerous for non-open procedures.
The surgeon videos are quite dated, some being three years old at this point, and all the hardware was relatively rudimentary at that time. Certainly better than basic proof of concept hardware (that was the "chicken-in-a-bottle" stuff) but nowhere near ready for prime time back then. Various reports over the years indicated they were working on arm strength (especially at full extension), range of motion, range of vision and camera mobility, etc. Any human-operated robotic system will now have motion damping features for hand tremors or other non-standard inputs. I'm quite sure the past 3 to 4 years of development have been more than just implementation of redundancies for failsafe operations; it surely is a much more polished surgeon experience than in the 2017 videos. Without these enhancements, Medtronic may have had no interest at all in little old Titan!
A lot of work presumably remains... but not relative to other development programs. Titan was way further along than any other development hardware platform we have seen, when considering their earlier plans for regulatory submissions which were only abandoned due to finances at the time. I would surmise the additional development work now is mostly at the request of Medtronic to meet certain goals they have. Keep in mind they (MDT) have been working on their own platform for some time so they may have had a few ideas and a stack of independent research which can be applied to Enos to make it an even stronger contender.
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Thanks for the reply. I got your point and like I said before. I am a long investor of tmdi and I hope tmdi does get bought out. But I think it's important to have realistic expectations from a new technology like the titan sport. Like I mentioned before titan is definitely in line and has positioned itself well to be BO by either J&J and MDT. We are very fortunate that these large companies are having a difficult time in coming up with their in-house robot.
Obviously, as you mention there are many different benefits of the sport compared to ISRG and newer addition. My definition of ground breaking is from laparoscoy to robotics. No matter how bad the tech was abck in the early 2000s. It was ground breaking. I did see the original DaVinci standard robot in the early 2000s and definitely a monstrosity in terms of foot print, but other than CMR versius system the foot print in the or seems pretty similar. One console, one robot and one tower. Same with sport, one console for the surgeon, the robot itself and the tower system (which may incorporate the hospital imaging system), which I don't think we know yet if they are compatable with other imaging systems.
In terms of cost? Tmdi has not mentioned price of the robot and they can't do so until fda approval. So as far as I know it could cost the same or more than intuitive. My guess is that they will price it lower, but by a nonimal amount. Just like trxc, they didn't lower their price point significantly compared to ISRG. For the amount of money it takes to build a robot, it's almost impossible to sell at a much lower price point and try to be a profitable company. Also, the cost of the device for the hospital is usually is the inital cost or the robot and service agreement. Yes, instrumentation does make a difference, but not by much. (by the way ISRG instruments have 10 lives). By increasing the number use of the instruments maybe beneficial for cost, but there is a reason why intuitive recommends 10 uses. I hope tmdi comes up with a better option, but my best estimate is that these instruments need to be changed for safety reasons and they do wear out due to the size of the instrumentation.
The videos of surgeons operating on tmdi, does seem reasonably function, but it's not ground breaking. The movements are not refined and out of this world. It accomplishes what it's supposed to accomplish. A 25 mm incision is nice to only have one, but it can increase chances of developing hernias. ISRG has a 3rd arm in the same size which can help with self retraction and more important for single port surgery, but tmdi does not. I hope that the next Gen may have a forth arm. The 2d camera helps to localize the instrument ao that. I'm not sure If the self cleaning camera is included in the mcnally version since the recent rehash and update. I hope they kept the function in, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was removed due to the new upgrades to the camera system.
I believe if titan really pushes the Enos idea, and to be placed in surgery centers, it can be a benefit and possibly profitable. There is still a lot of work to be done by mcnally and his team. I hope they can get there with MDT's help and guidance of what they want so they can get BO. There are definite goals and metrics they have to meet with MDT, and if they don't we are screwed and done for.
I am just calling out what I see and wish the best of luck for every long tmdi investor, because I'm one of them.
I look forward to that as well! I'm figuring about 2 years from now should give us all time for the dust to settle, get our new finances in order, then plan a worthy trip for the group!
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Even the naysayers have to admit, MDT taking a nibble shows some positive progress. Every flower needs the mud and fertilizer, and we have all had our share of that. Time for thus baby to blossom!
Looking foreword to buying you the beverage of your choice in Vegas hopefully within the next year or so!
Catching up again... Took a few days away, which was nice!
OR Nurse, all your recent posts have been right on point! The OR picture a couple days ago was certainly interesting. I was picturing both surgeon consoles being active and the docs fighting it out like Rock'm Sock'm Robots but inside the patient! Speaking of which... There appeared to be no patient! The drapes hung over the foot of the table with no contours of either a patient head or his/her feet. Obviously staged with no intention of looking realistic, maybe staged by a competitor to make it look ludicrous? As to your "groundbreaking" points, kudos for those observations as well.
Anyway, on to "Groundbreaking"... To start, go to Titan's web site and re-watch the videos of surgeons who used the system two years ago. Start at the bottom of the page in order to watch a developing chronology of surgeon opinions, beginning nearly three years ago. A couple quick summaries here: From Dr. Swanstrom, he indicated that patients universally prefer a single port option for surgery, and that Titan offered an excellent solution to the issues of ergonomics for both the patient and for the surgeon, "an important advantage." Dr. Ruurda lamented the limitations of existing technologies where instruments cross over each other through a single port, making complex surgeries very difficult, whereas Titan has overcome that limitation. He additionally discussed the advantage of the larger "extraction place" versus 5mm ports for multiport procedures. Dr. Estape expanded much further on the advantages of snake arms in comparison to single site (with crossed over instruments) and straight instruments. "Much easier to train, much easier to teach... very encouraged by what I saw today..." "This opens up a huge world to single port surgery... for the majority of GYN patients and I think this will be a game changer in the world of GYN." Game changer sounds a lot like groundbreaking if you want to define each.
Okay, how about price point? As OR Nurse noted, it allows for PROFIT. Given that most hospitals have one dominant profit center which is surgery, that profit needs to be optimized whenever possible to support the rest of the hospital. Also, system pricing that puts robotic surgery within reach for smaller hospitals and surgicenters who cannot afford the current platforms seems like breaking new ground into a much wider market space. OR Nurse hit the nail on the head for that observation as well.
How about snake arms to reduce limitations on free-space motion? Separate 2D camera to visualize instrument insertion as well as to serve as a backup to the main 3D camera? Maintaining visualization when removing 3D camera for cleaning? A lens wash system to eventually eliminate the need for external lens cleaning? Single-use disposable cutting surfaces to ensure optimal sharpness for each case in an economical package? Sorry, but these are all features which are not currently available in the marketplace, therefore the term "groundbreaking" applies to all of them.
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When DaVinci came into our OR several years ago, I thought it was a joke. PRICE PER SHARE $685.
A monstrosity of a machine. Almost laughable. Thought this type of surgery will never last. Why would you significantly pay more to have the same surgery? Again, have you been in an operating room during arobotic procedure? I have trouble describing it. Those of you who have been in the room understand completely.
You talk about end effectors. DaVinci tracks the number of uses for their end pieces. I believe after 12 or 13 times, they get thrown away. The fact that Titan is discussing having end effectors strong enough for reuse is ground breaking.
Did you see the size of the complete robot? The smaller footprint itself is ground breaking.
Finally, bottom line, what is ground breaking to hospitals and surgery centers is COST. Surgery centers and hospitals want BUSINESS. These organizations have changed. PROFIT is the name of the game.
I experienced the effect of COVID on healthcare organizations. Thousands of nurses laid off because elective cases could not be done. No help getting unemployment. Saw videos of firemen and policemen driving to hospitals with their lights on in support of nurses. National news for nursing support. Thanks to our essential healthcare staff. Meanwhile, the truth is these healthcare organizations were laying their staff off to save money while getting billions of dollars in COVID relief funds.
Do some research on nursing layoffs during COVID and relief to healthcare facilities. And now that government has allowed elective surgeries to return even though COVID cases are spiking, do you think government are going to stop elective surgeries again? No way in hell. The money train is back chugging again.
So the design of the end effectors may not be groundbreaking. Agreed. But Titan has patented snake arms and other improvements that will allow them to play in the game. A game that only has one player. ISRG.
If a hospital or surgery center wants to make money, they need to recruit surgeons. If surgeons want a SPORT to do their surgeries, hospitals and surgery centers will buy them. And when surgery centers and hospitals learn they can buy them for less money and it will ACTUALLY fit in their ORs BAM! it is a win win. And when the ultimate piece of the puzzle learns about SPORT the patient or consumer(again, healthcare is a BUSINESS) look out!!! A patient learns that a surgery can be done through one incision, the umbilicus with no scars??? You can't be serious????? SIGN ME UP!!! WHERE DO I WRITE THE CHECK????
I can just hear the conversation at the beach.
"You had a hysterectomy? Where is your scar?
Ever heard of the SPORT? They go through your belly button.
No scar? You can't be serious!!!!"
You hope.
You would.
But what would make you think that is even a possibility, a remote consideration at this juncture? Anything? Or do you merely raise it as if it were a possibility in order to try to scare folks?
Just curious.
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I hope the special meeting includes a vote on a reverse split. The last reverse split was VERY POPULAR with Titan investors with 88% voting YES!
They got what they wanted....I hope they get it again...
Ups and downs for sure! Just waiting for the big UP, being the buyout!
I've had a few Mustangs - '71 Fastback in high school, '73 coupe while I was in the Air Force, a low mileage '73 Mach 1 when I got out of the service (had that one for 13 years, sold it with 53K miles!), and the '66 convertible was a project car that I couldn't resist; also blue with blue interior but black roof, and my only 6 cylinder 'Stang. Once Titan finally hits, I'll be shopping for a clean pre-1970 convertible with a modern drive train - need an EFI V8 and at least a 5 speed manual! Don't need ridiculous HP, just competent, reliable, and fun!
Will you also be shopping for a Titan "reward car" when this test of patience finally wraps up?
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Needless to say,going through this ordeal for several years with Titan has had it's ups and downs. I truly appreciate all your input and efforts that you've given. It means do much to have you and now Rolls input. THANK YOU !!!
BTW, the first car I bought was my favorite, a 1965 Mustang convertible, white top, dark blue with light blue interior! Don't worry, I won't change to '65 Mustang' hahaha
Rollgard, I think the IDE filing will probably come shortly after the validation testing on the new instrument designs. It sounds like these changes were requested by some of the surgeons and it is typically as good idea to give the (eventual) customers what they want. Seems like everything else was pretty well in place except full software package, which requires failsafe strategy implementations, redundancies, and a host of nitpicky functions to ensure everything works exactly as specified. They may also be adding in some hooks to other Medtronic devices, e.g. data collection, motion tracking, etc. to conform to some of Medtronic's existing data structures and/or the new Digital Surgery acquisition they made in February.
I could see validation on the tools done as early as the end of this month or mid-September, with a strong chance that IS the October milestone. IDE shouldn't be too far behind, but with new software requirements likely imposed by Medtronic, could be later this year, I would guess. That could put 510(K) in early spring 2021, and approval by late summer, assuming one round of AI from the FDA.
I don't see Hugo coming back for a couple (2 to 3) years at best. I assume Medtronic will run with Enos as soon as possible to start building relationships with hospitals and surgicenters and to establish a foothold in the marketplace. They want to start competing with ISRG ASAP and collecting revenue from this giant science experiment they have been running for years with no end in sight. Titan is their shortcut to the marketplace.
When Hugo eventually rolls around, it will be billed as their "Cadillac" system, augmenting their product line offerings and allowing their early customer base to expand further into Medtronic's portfolio. Many disgruntled ISRG customers will need to wait for Hugo before jumping ship to the full-scale three-armed robot but I foresee a lot of these organizations jumping fully over, picking up Enos and Hugo systems as soon as budgeting allows.
They (MDT) need us quickly as their foot in the door and to create solid credibility in the market so Hugo can make a bigger splash. I won't be surprised if a lot of surgeons are happy enough with two arms that Enos will enjoy more market share than Hugo. Besides, who wants a half dozen scars when one hidden entry point is an option?
All my opinion, of course...
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66Mustang Nice,Thank you.Care to share an opinion,
as to what the holdup is with IDE filing.I was assuming some improvements caused the delay-Cambridge,Digital Surgery etc...is that fair to say.
Would it be fair to say next milestone is IDE filing?lastly,in your opinion how does HUGO-fit in with IDE? Same time? months apart?
Just hard to see how MDT+TMDI get both robots near the same time to market unless HUGO is being implemented and the finished robot will be a Heinze57 (if you will) platform,being only ONE robot to compete with ISRG.
Thank you for your time.Roll
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66Mustang Nice,Thank you.Care to share an opinion,
as to what the holdup is with IDE filing.I was assuming some improvements caused the delay-Cambridge,Digital Surgery etc...is that fair to say.
Would it be fair to say next milestone is IDE filing?lastly,in your opinion how does HUGO-fit in with IDE? Same time? months apart?
Just hard to see how MDT+TMDI get both robots near the same time to market unless HUGO is being implemented and the finished robot will be a Heinze57 (if you will) platform,being only ONE robot to compete with ISRG.
Thank you for your time.Roll
Headsupmonk, I am not saying Titan is keeping our share price down. I am saying that they most likely will not go out of their way to hype stuff to drive it up at the moment, and that would well be under direction from Medtronic. I don't think it's "peachy" but I suspect he is just following the agreement as it has been laid out for him by Medtronic.
I don't see Medtronic allowing our scope to be on any device other than those controlled directly by Medtronic (and/or Titan, but I think that is all going to be under the Medtronic umbrella, much like the Mazor name is still in use).
I have mentioned before that I have written to Mr. McNally on a number of occasions. I don't believe I have ever written to him with nothing more than "Hey, nice job!" I believe I have only written to him when I have a suggestion for improvement or a question about why something is the way it is, because I disagree with it at that time. I don't vent every negative here on this board because there are plenty of other people focused solely on doing that; I like to provide some contrast and correction to many of those posts, which may make it seem that I think the company can do no wrong. As an investor, it makes more sense for me to publicly air the positives to support my investment, and keep my negatives out of the public view. If I were shorting the stock, that would not be true, but I am a long term shareholder who does ultimately see a very rosy future, even if the path to get there is a bit bumpy.
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66 I don’t like the fact that your ok with Titan Medical keeping our SP down for the “buy out”. Mr.Mcnally can do no wrong in your eyes. He said he would support the SP after R/S Nope, no attempt He sai he would update on progress last weekend. Nope nada. You and every Helen on this site know he’s holding our MC down and it’s just peachy. I may call him a genius but only because I believe he has created a position of power with his new scope which will end up on every MP and SP ever created from here on out. The man is seasoned and knows what he has. Everybody wants some. He’s fookin his shareholders everyday though. Bend over 66, Mr. McNally will see you now.
Just catching up again...
Livendi, Medtronics is in the business of acquisitions for growth. It is Mr. Martha's self-proclaimed future legacy. From a MassDevice.com article:
Analysts asked if Medtronic might begin using its resources to acquire more businesses. Martha agreed the company’s strong financial position coupled with the likely decline in prices for outside businesses makes this an opportune time to acquire businesses that can add to the company’s growth.
Martha said Medtronic won’t wait for the dust to settle to begin acquiring companies. “We believe healthcare and medtech, the areas we’re in, are going to come back, and we believe by our Q4 that our revenue growth on a two-year stacked basis will be back to normal levels of profitability.”
“We feel this is a hit, a difficult financial impact for everybody, but we do feel bullish for the market and for us as well so we won’t hold back,” he said. “We’re looking mainly for tuck-in deals that are going to create long-term improvements to our weighted average market growth rate and to allow us to better position ourselves strategically.” Martha said Medtronic will look at deals of all sizes.
From MedTechDive.com:
Despite the negative financial impacts of COVID-19 on its revenue in the latest quarter, Medtronic has its strongest balance sheet in years and is looking to take advantage of the potential opportunities created in the medtech industry for acquisitions.
Martha told investors on Thursday's earnings call that Medtronic is poised to increase its merger-and-acquisition activities amid the uncertain environment, indicating financial pressures on smaller medtech companies could present buying opportunities.
"There are some opportunities that — at least I felt personally, were out of our reach, too expensive before this, and now are kind of more in line with what we think are reasonable returns for those investments," Martha said.
With asset prices down across the industry, Martha said Medtronic is looking to "play offense" with tuck-in acquisitions that could bolster the company's long-term growth.
While Martha said the company is looking for deals of all sizes, he said he prefers acquisitions in the "medium, billion-dollar" range because they have a bigger impact on Medtronic's growth rate.
Medtronic has the means at its disposal to execute on such a strategy. As of the end of its fiscal fourth quarter, the company has $10.9 billion in cash and investments as well as an undrawn $3.5 billion credit facility, with no public debt maturing until March 2021.
"We don't buy growth, we grow what we buy and so that's what we're focused on," Martha added.
Medtronic won't let Titan slip away. It's not how they work. And it is even more of a focus for them now than it had been during the prior 60+ acquisitions.
Hey SRC, I did a quick trio back through my recent posts for that timeline... There are actually a few pertinent posts:
111255
112151
112281
111148
110824
The last one is most likely the one to which you were referring, but there may have been content on any of the others which you were reflecting on at the time.
Enjoy!
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When I step back, after taking in all the pros and cons, and say why would MDT help fund TMDI/Sport through FDA approval and then just walk away and let a JNJ or other competitor come swooping in, when all the risk is gone, and get TMDI all for themselves.
Licensing is not ownership but I will admit I am not clear on how it works with the MDT TMDI agreement. MDT is using TMDI IP in their robot so what happens when the agreement ends? Anyway, 66 laid out a likely roadmap and that is where my expectations are when it comes to timing.
Hey 66, if you get a chance on your next post can you reference that post where you laid out your roadmap thoughts? Thanks.
Thank you for the compliments, ShortsRClowns and Rollgard.
To others who may think the market doesn't agree with me, you apparently didn't actually read my post. I clearly indicated that I believe the share price will hover between fifty cents and two bucks. And here we are... right where I said. And probably right where we will remain for some time to come. Call it an extended buy opportunity, if you will!
And if you happen to believe that Medtronic did not buy the offering (presumably you mean the $18M offering), I think I can change your mind about that, because you disagree with anything I say. And I happen to know that Medtronic did not buy that offering. So now you (whoever you are, unspecified poster) are now required to disagree with me and start saying that Medtronic DID buy the offering.
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Who here thinks Medtronic is completely inept??? Raise your hand if you do!
For the record, I did not raise my hand.
To re-phrase the question a little more pointedly...
Who thinks Medtronic would be so naive as to enter an open-ended agreement which allows the little guy to run amok afterwards and stimulate any and all of the competition by selling duplicate copies of their IP licenses?
That is not the business model Medtronic has espoused thus far. And it is not a business tactic which gets any company to the position of prominence that Medtronic currently enjoys. Added to Mr. Martha's proclamation that his legacy shall be acquisitions, and it is Intuitively obvious (pun intended) that they plan to compete with ISRG head to head. They do not plan to compete with a dozen other players who all offer the same technology that they have. They do not even plan to compete with Titan. Titan is required to maintain that ruse to avoid the share price run-up which hurt their position in the Mazor deal. Frankly, they aren't very convincing. And I believe things are going exactly according to the plan.
I do not expect any BIG news from Titan anywhere in the near future. The milestones are part of the plan and they will necessarily receive some requisite pressers when they are reached. Major steps like IDE approval, results, FDA filing, etc. are largely public records so they will need to PR those types of things because we will know anyway. I personally expect that over the next year or so, we hang around between fifty cents and two bucks, controlled by the shorts. And so it goes until the buyout, probably still 18 +/-3 months from now if things run according to the plan. But that time frame could get cut short at any moment by Medtronic saying "Close enough. We know where this is going so let's wrap up the deal and move on." In doing so, they could de-risk the program by having complete control over it, as opposed to allowing Titan or one of their contractors to inadvertently move the wrong way. Hell, just look at the Naglreiter situation. Contractor went sideways and it turned into a legal pi$$ing contest. The sooner Medtronic wraps this deal up, the safer the development program is for meeting their ultimate objectives. And their ultimate objective is not to compete against the very same tech they will be offering. That would be stupid. Medtronic is not stupid.
Who here thinks Medtronic is completely inept??? Raise your hand if you do!
For the record, I did not raise my hand.
To re-phrase the question a little more pointedly...
Who thinks Medtronic would be so naive as to enter an open-ended agreement which allows the little guy to run amok afterwards and stimulate any and all of the competition by selling duplicate copies of their IP licenses?
That is not the business model Medtronic has espoused thus far. And it is not a business tactic which gets any company to the position of prominence that Medtronic currently enjoys. Added to Mr. Martha's proclamation that his legacy shall be acquisitions, and it is Intuitively obvious (pun intended) that they plan to compete with ISRG head to head. They do not plan to compete with a dozen other players who all offer the same technology that they have. They do not even plan to compete with Titan. Titan is required to maintain that ruse to avoid the share price run-up which hurt their position in the Mazor deal. Frankly, they aren't very convincing. And I believe things are going exactly according to the plan.
I do not expect any BIG news from Titan anywhere in the near future. The milestones are part of the plan and they will necessarily receive some requisite pressers when they are reached. Major steps like IDE approval, results, FDA filing, etc. are largely public records so they will need to PR those types of things because we will know anyway. I personally expect that over the next year or so, we hang around between fifty cents and two bucks, controlled by the shorts. And so it goes until the buyout, probably still 18 +/-3 months from now if things run according to the plan. But that time frame could get cut short at any moment by Medtronic saying "Close enough. We know where this is going so let's wrap up the deal and move on." In doing so, they could de-risk the program by having complete control over it, as opposed to allowing Titan or one of their contractors to inadvertently move the wrong way. Hell, just look at the Naglreiter situation. Contractor went sideways and it turned into a legal pi$$ing contest. The sooner Medtronic wraps this deal up, the safer the development program is for meeting their ultimate objectives. And their ultimate objective is not to compete against the very same tech they will be offering. That would be stupid. Medtronic is not stupid.
I think a lot of folks are losing some valuable distinctions. Dr. Vipul Patel was lamenting some shortcomings about the existing SP platform offered by ISRG. His comments were aimed strictly at that platform, as he was talking from the experience of doing large numbers of them. And his experience with large numbers of such cases are entirely with ISRG's SP.
On the other hand, he participated in this study:
https://titanmedicalinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Rogers-et-al-SPORT-Multi-Specialty-SRS-2018-Booklet-Version.pdf
I would have liked to see more specific comments and more detail in the conclusions, but the takeaway is the last line: "as of now the SPORT Surgical System by Titan Medical is proving to be a feasible and reliable advancement in the field of single incision robotic surgery."
Our design, as rudimentary as it was over two years ago, was agreed to be an advancement in single incision robotic surgery, of which there is still only one marketed offering, ISRG's SP.
If we go back a couple decades, ISRG's multiport da Vinci was new, and it was substantially better than the alternative, especially for prostate patients who previously were very likely to lose sexual function after prostatectomy. That improvement alone convinced me to invest at that time. It was just better.
ISRG's SP may still have a few issues to be worked through; maybe it will get better and maybe it won't. From a patient perspective, does the typical patient want up to a half dozen scars around his/her abdomen, or nothing visible because the only port is aligned with the umbilicus? Patients, who have a choice, are likely to choose the single port option when available, regardless of whether the surgeon is delayed by an extra 15 minutes in getting to his/her next case.
Dr. Patel may have vented this weekend about his personal feelings on ISRG's SP but he also contributed to the above conclusion that Titan offers an advancement - maybe at this point, sufficient advancement to overcome his current objections with ISRG SP.
I'm certainly thinking Yes on this.
Mr. Zaring started his career as a Financial Consultant for Merrill Lynch. Financial background gives him good insight into how a company is being run.
He then hops around to some big players - Merck, Ethicon, Intuitive. Maybe picked up a little knowledge on what makes a small company a good acquisition target for a big fish. Sees some of those qualities at Mazor, an up and coming product line and small enough to be easily acquired by a biggie. Only took him a year to get Medtronic to buy Mazor... not bad!
Hangs out at MDT for a couple years to get a good read on what else they are looking for. Sees their floundering robotics program. And Titan with robust technology but financial struggles. Match made in heaven. And he helped orchestrate the Mazor deal so he knows what both sides want/need (aside from each other, in the MDT/Titan case). Relationship initiated in the Mazor model; hit some milestones to get paid, then scoop when the product is ready... It took Mazor a little over two years to finish the design work and approval on X. Oh, BTW... meanwhile some finance deals occur, Titan gets some "mystery" funding (more mysterious to those who haven't actually read the Edgar filings) so it isn't too obvious that they are about to get acquired, or PPS shoots through the roof.
Let's go back to Mazor for a moment. Mr. Zaring joins in April 2015. Deal with MDT announced in spring of 2016 with an estimated 2 year timeline. Mazor receives external funding May 2016, and another round in August 2017 (https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/54975-25#funding). Gotta keep the ruse going to keep PPS down? Maybe...
Meanwhile, Mr. Martha rises to CEO, claiming his legacy is to be acquisitions. Titan deal is in process. Mr. Zaring heads to Venus Concept next. What are they doing? Hmmm... Robotics product in medical (aesthetics) arena. Mr. Zaring has been there about 6 months now. Here's an interesting article...
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/06/16/2049186/0/en/Venus-Concept-Inc-Announces-Common-Stock-Purchase-Agreement-for-up-to-31-Million-with-Lincoln-Park-Capital-Fund-LLC.html
Chad is there for a few months, nods his head Yes to Geoff. Last month, Venus enters a common share purchase agreement for up to $31M with a third party. Now go to the third paragraph, and think really hard about what they mean by "merger synergies" mid-paragraph.
Prediction: Mr. Zaring has a new job by the end of this year in a company which could be another acquisition target for Medtronic. Have I laid out a sufficient history here from which to extrapolate these hypotheses?
MX77 and ShortsRClowns, I do believe your "floater" suggestion is very well-founded, and that acquisition model is being repeated with any company large enough to merit a little digging before they dive in. Other recent acquisition targets are too small to merit that amount of effort (Digital Surgery, Intersect ENT, Medicrea...). But Titan, Mazor, Venus... all following the Chad model!
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Is Zaring some kind of 'floater', meaning that MDT has him go to other companies like TMDI and VERO to determine their value and if further engagement is in MDT's best interest?
Rebster! Nice Haiku!
It is nice to hear from you!
Even without rhyme...
I'm a Titan long
Others maybe have it wrong
Soon will be our time.
2022
Retirement for me and you
Our wives at the beach.
Only two more years
Suntan oil and lots of beers
Soon will be in reach.
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Been in Titan years
At times has brought me to tears
Hope shorts get up rears
Why would I need the dictionary? I'm fairly sure, as I stated before, that you did spell it correctly.
Any validity to your statement about the .88 options relies on history going pretty far back. Titan has always been a development company, and will remain so until they either start selling a product or get bought out. When they became a publicly traded company (Sept 2014, I believe) they followed the standard model of any publicly traded development stage company - when they need to pay the bills, they sell more shares, hence dilution. It is a fact of life for virtually any publicly traded development stage company; the entire business model is built around it and that is why dilution is a fact of life for such an organization. The big difference now is that we have a source of funding for some period of time without additional dilution. Just gotta hit a few milestones. The first milestone had a four month window, and we hit it in one day. That sounds very competent to me, but far from how you seem to characterize things.
On your comment about the delay of going back to the laboratory, I can only say that you appear to have virtually no experience in development of a medical device. They have completed the design of the new tools. They must now evaluate safety and efficacy of the new design, which logically occurs in a lab environment. This is not a setback or a delay, this is the development process as it pertains to a medical device proceeding toward the regulatory approval phase.
We believe that our next subsequent milestone is due in October. I would guess there is a fair chance that successful evaluation and testing of these tools, presumably with proper integration into the overall system design, could well be the October milestone. Validation plans are most likely already written, and just need to be executed in the lab, followed by writing up the reports. Two or three weeks of testing at most, allow another week for finalizing the reports (which will be written as the testing occurs) and getting the appropriate approvals. We could potentially meet our next milestone and receive the next payment before Labor Day... in which case, this would represent a delay of negative 8 weeks, because that would be substantially ahead of schedule.
We don't know their full schedule; we know much less about it than I would like to know. Reasonable assumptions would put the schedule somewhere near the Mazor acquisition model, or more compressed given how far advanced the overall system development is and the huge value for MDT of getting this product to the market. Software development is a further unknown to us investor peons, but whether they adhere to the old Waterfall model, or Scrum, or Agile... any and all of them first create a plan with a schedule, and they know what the schedule is.
We all know this is an absolute playground for the shorts; short volume has averages 34.5% over the past two weeks and barring any SUBSTANTIAL news, we will probably sit down here under their (your) shared "control" until the conflagration hits. That will be so much fun!
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You might want to check a French English dictionary.
If you don’t think there’s any validity to what I’m saying about the 88 cent options, then you might want to look at what happened to the price per share when McNally was brought on board with options for around $15, and also what happened when they were subject to the reprice to 3 40. In each case they were followed by massive delays and significant dilution.
Just look at today’s press release to find more proof. They have to go back to the laboratory stages now. They are way delayed.
Longs are going to get crushed after this conference.
But hey, they will likely put a new video out. Maybe they can use a turkey breast this time? It would be a fitting symbol as to the capacity of management.
Frankestin I think
You should try haiku format
When you post message
Five Seven and Five
Syllables go with the flow
Very Easy too!
There's no need to rhyme
Your prose doesn't rhyme at all
But feels poetic
Titan News Haiku
New tools ready for lab tests
Stock price goes Sky High!
And it's kinda fun
See how easy it can be
Try haiku today
Not seeing it... Can you post a link?
Never mind... it just showed up on their web site. Thanks for the heads up!
Interesting note, not sure I like it... "enhance... durability for reprocessing." They used to tout how their end effectors were disposable, so fresh new cutting edges for every case. Maybe that still applies to cutting edges only, and other tools can now be reprocessed?
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News OUT!!!!!.....
McNally using the "Past Tense" approach as what TMDI has done.EXCELLENT...
State what they have already achieved....Nice.....Tic Toc..
.77 Good Luck....Said yesterday,how ya get smoked.Timing is everything.
Also keep in mind that this article is from February, over six months ago, on a day we closed at $0.49 and 6 weeks later (March) we closed at $0.15. Market cap and price were both completely in the crapper as we awaited something (anything) to happen. Now something has happened; we have the backing of and collaboration with one of the largest med tech companies on earth. It would be interesting to see where we rank now on that list, or if we would make the list at all. We certainly remain popular with the shorters, but given the other criteria discussed in the article, who knows...
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https://seekingalpha.com/article/4322523-obvious-shorts-highest-borrowing-fee-stocks-in-u-s-market
just to remember how is high
It's nice that you know us so well and yet you are so wrong about us.
A couple of folks here with a similar mindset to my own actually speak to Mr. McNally on a fairly regular basis. They tend to coordinate calls so they aren't all badgering him at once, and the caller gets input from others in advance to ensure viable talking points are discussed to the extent possible. Of course, numerous topics cannot be discussed, but our concerns can be addressed to the extent possible.
I still email Mr. McNally and Mr. Randall periodically; I have only sent two such messages this month and a couple of my points were addressed in the Shareholder's Letter two weeks ago - maybe they were added as topics because of my letters, or maybe they were going to discuss them regardless. That doesn't matter; the point is that I do communicate with them as I see fit but not is such a manner as to have my communications overlooked or ignored.
To spend hours per day phoning them or writing them would just get me placed on their Ignore list.
As for your pumpers and dumpers comment, that also is incorrect. I have yet to sell a single share of this stock. Having spent decades in the medical device field, I understand the technology and its value, and that is why I am invested in this company. Not because of management, nor will I sell because of management if I disagree with them. At times, I have shared my disagreements both via direct email and also publicly on this board. Many of you will recall the letter writing campaign which I spearheaded a few years ago and numerous iHub posters participated in. Maybe it was motivation for the management change at that time, or maybe that change was in the works. My point is that I am not afraid to air negative comments publicly. Their web site went down for several days and when it re-appeared, there were no updates of any sort.
I was quick to air my disappointment publicly. To me, that is just being fair and honest, not pumping nor dumping.
I still work as an engineer in the medial device arena. This does not afford me the opportunity to spend hours per day badgering management over trivial details. When something does appear to me to be significant enough to pursue, I will pursue it with them. Otherwise, they and I all have better things to do with our time.
You commented on the management option price of $.88 and noted that it means the price must be going lower. Completely illogical. Why would anyone issue options with the intent of them not being in the money sooner or later? Your argument on this is completely baseless and senseless. Unlike some other posters on this board, I know that you are capable of much better than this. Hell, you even spelled "laissez-faire" correctly!
As for your estimates on a buyout price, you either failed to look at the technology and the buyout prices for companies with comparable but inferior technologies, or you are intentionally posting such mis-guided "information" with hopes of further advancing your profits from the activities you claimed to be doing to gain 10% this morning. One cannot overlook Medtronic's history of fair-value acquisitions, especially under Mr. Martha's watch. I would reasonably assess your buyout estimates and being off by a factor of 20 as an absolute minimum, but most likely substantially higher.
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The problem with you longs is is that you spend minutes if not hours out of your day waxing at great length about the speculative potential here.
If you were truly concerned about the stock performance, you would be spending hours a day phoning Stephen Randall and David McNally. It is quite clear that the nice relaxed and laissez-faire approach does not work with this group.
Their phone needs to be ringing off the hook day in and day out. If the MDT deal is as good as 66 Mustang, roll guard and big T, not to mention the newly converted Rocco taco espouse, then the stock performance being under a dollar is inexcusable by any standard.
The problem is this at these folks are not just pumpers but they are also dumpers. They understand the trash management that we are all dealing with. Notice that their posts tend to pick up when the stock price tanks. Then they pump the hype for a while and ride the slide back down.
True longs would be nipping at the heels of management day in and day out. For those who are excusing a NASDAQ traded company not updating their website to reflect recent news of two months ago laughable in the extreme. Are they not trying to attract investors with the most up-to-date information? Wanton Incompetence!
I was wrong about the Wolfpack pumping it up this morning. But since this is a trading stock and I am a nimble trader I was able to short the stock for another 10% gain within half an hour at the opening.
Management awarding themselves this many options at $.88 is clearly indicative of the share price going lower.
Wake up! If this does get bought up it’ll be the carcass that gets bought it for 100 to 300,000,000. Max! It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better
Dice, the end of your last post may be much more important than folks realize ("Service Providers"). Those 9.X million shares, as we already saw with Cambridge, are worth $$$, and as such, they can also be used as direct payment for various services. As good as cash, maybe much much better than cash - because Titan can continue to operate even if their cash supply should weaken. Their potential need to do another dilutive raise is greatly diminished as long as they hold off on assigning those shares to employees. And it would make more sense to hold off on assigning the shares to anyone, in order to see what each employee actually contributes to the program and who really deserves what. Or keep them in their pocket as vendor payment if needed.
And Roll, to your point on yesterday's volume... Trading volume was absolutely feeble yesterday until late in the day when someone started snagging huge chunks, which also drove the price up. If their intent was to drive the price up, they would have leveraged their buying power and bought via tons of smaller orders. The large blocks imply that this was a rapid accumulation, not a price adjustment game. But then the market closed! So... were these deep pockets done with their accumulation? Or were they just getting starting started when trading ended? Some people don't really like playing in after-market and pre-market trades; some accounts do't even allow it (for us small-timers). The point is that once the bell rings in about 10 minutes, we could see this accumulation kick back off.
And regardless of whether it is done or not, someone else now holds a good chunk of Titan shares. Maybe this will make it more expensive for the shorts to borrow shares, cutting into their profits... All good!
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DiceMaker Wednesday, 07/29/20 07:20:56 AM
Re: Honeycomb777 post# 111953 0
Post # 111965 of 111981
It is open to way more than just current employees and management...
The Board may, in its discretion, select any of the following persons to participate in this Plan and to receive Options under this Plan:
(i)
directors of the Corporation and of any Affiliate of the Corporation;
(ii)
officers of the Corporation and of any Affiliate of the Corporation;
(iii)
employees of the Corporation and of any Affiliate of the Corporation; and
(iv)
Service Providers;
Can anyone tell us the actual size of the blocks that people were bidding for? Some of the volume spikes on the graph look like 250k, 300k+, and even one over 600k, but I don't know if those are cumulative over some time period or if those are individual orders where someone said I want 600,000 shares at $1.0X...
Roll, I'm guessing they build at least three, as many as 5 units for human trials. This is based on their previous relationships with three Centers of Excellence in the past, plus a backup system (which gets to be more important once entering trials and trying to maintain a schedule, especially when milestones are being driven by that schedule) and one more system for Medtronic to play with, to get accustomed to the technology, etc. That would make 5 total.
Medtronic's interest in our patent portfolio is (just my guess) most likely to be applied liberally to their Hugo, which would therefore merit near complete re-design (which was already a necessity due to it's burdensome and burgeoning floorspace requirements). And Enos was just about ready to go to trials last fall from a design standpoint, so we should clearly be way ahead of Hugo for trials and regulatory approvals. The other advantage to this strategy is that it takes large amount of pressure off Medtronic, who can begin robotic sales with single port much more quickly, start building a, actual robotics customer base (beyond spine), and provide teasers of bigger things (Hugo) to come. But not TOO much bigger, as it would be with current Hugo!
ShortsRClowns, with respect to the conference, I think this one will go as most have in the past for Titan. Expectations run high in advance of the conference. Those expectations aren't met because it really isn't the forum for those types of "deals" which seem to be expected. Come Monday, we take a hit on PPS because people built up their expectations for no valid or viable reason, and nothing comes of it because - why would anything come of it? A few dozen or couple hundred doctors learn a little more about what is in our product pipeline. Not earth-shattering at this juncture; they can't even go badger their hospital administrators to buy one because they aren't yet available.
Hell, if I ever WERE to try to short this stock, that is probably when I would do it, because a drop of 2 to 6 cents in PPS will most likely occur on Monday for just that reason. (For the record, I will not be trying to short the stock; I have never sold a share, never shorted ANY stock, and have no plans to.)
As for my prediction for Monday, I hope they somehow prove me wrong.
And I do find it extremely interesting that Medtronic's two presentations have no assigned presenter yet, at least not listed on the web site as of this morning. Whereas their first presentation in Plenary II is immediately after Mr. McNally, I could facetiously conjecture that he will just stay there for the Medtronic session as well!
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While we are slow...Anyone care to guess what MDT.....
Could possibly say about HUGO on Saturday?
It's going to be interesting if both MDT+TMDI,tout filing for IDE soon,then mention human trials etc..all while they either are going to distant the time frame between SPORT/ENOS and HUGO?
Also,I think TMDI being ahead of MDT perhaps,build out let's say 3 finished ready for human trials outside the US and commence the surgery's at the same time. Or is it wiser for them to use one with hands on and stay focused only using that one?
Thanks Roll
Mongo, you just might be onto something here! All their PRs since mid-November start this way. Prior to that, they all started with "a medical device company focused on the design, development and commercialization of a robotic surgical system for..."
They are no longer focused on commercialization.
Subtle, but possibly meaningful distinction. After all, it appeared to have been a cut and paste operation for quite some time, but they had to have a reason to make the decision to cut out "commercialization" from their PRs.
(and as I'm typing this, the iPod comes across the Scorpions song "Robot Man" - timing is everything!)
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I’ll bite.
“a medical device company focused on the design and development of single-port robotic surgical technologies...”.
Not manufacturing or production. Licensing. Or buyout for IP.
I can assure you, HC will jump all over this for you.
The nutshell version (until he gets on line to expound profusely for weeks about it) is that it will add 9.5M shares to our share count once issued. It represents (ballpark, running numbers in head) about 12% or so dilution, which could therefore rightfully/logically knock us back into the low .80's for share price. But this stock doesn't act logically, so who knows...
Among the ways to view this...
Money grab by management? Call them greedy? Well, personally, I don't think the number should be that high; I think less than half would have been more than sufficient reward for their efforts. But it is what it is, and maybe, just maybe, a good chunk of it will be reserved for ALL employees including those yet to be hired. Also, they don't necessarily need to all get issued as shares of stock, so the end result could be less dilution. Certainly a nice perk for an engineer whose input helps launch this missile, if everyone gets something.
Years of complaints that Mr. McNally hasn't bought a substantial number of shares? He probably knew all along that something like this would occur. Buying a few thousand shares out of pocket is completely insignificant compared to what his cut of this will surely be. So is it really greedy? If he pulls this off the way it looks like it will play out, and when added to his annual salary for his job, it would be well below typical compensation for his position as CEO in a medical device company with a highly marketable and highly profitable product such as a surgical robot. Amortized over his years of service, it will probably amount to a fair compensation package, but with the majority of his compensation deferred until program success was assured. This also indicates that program success is pretty much assured, or they wouldn't have done this at this time.
As for timing, I still believe (since the web server came back as is and with no updates, which shows their focus is more on product development than IT or marketing concerns) this is about a 2 year project, similar to the Mazor schedule but probably slightly further advanced than Mazor X was at the time of their initial deal. Our deal really started by late April at the latest, and we are now in late July, so let's call it 21 months to go, maybe less because they REALLY want this.
I think the main takeaway should be that they are confident enough in the end result that they can now go ahead and issue this compensation to themselves.
Okay, HC, now it's your turn to spin the dilution side for the next dozen weeks or so!
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Can someone please shed some light on the employee stock options that are being issued and how this may relate to a future buyout? Does the timing add to the speculation of something brewing? Thanks.
So from what I'm reading, apparently the dream is dead for Medtronic as well. Shame. Such a good company, all these years... And to be taken down because one lonely person doesn't believe in their new development partner.
I must say, if I'm evaluating the position Medtronic is taking vs. SHORT1.9", I'm going to have to believe Medtronic's viewpoint. When Medtronic is spending tens of millions of dollars in an argument against one lonely iHub mod, I think Medtronic has the more believable position.