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Ha, I think that's probably a little too optimistic!
Don't get me wrong, I think they could get between 300-500K in revenue this year which would be great! Combine that with audited financials, uplisting, and the 2018 Farm Bill (senate version) as a catalyst .. this thing really could take off.
That said, let's stay grounded and realistic. A $1.00 stock price with their current shares outstanding (about 363M) would mean they would have a market cap of $363M! I think that's premature right now, but it could absolutely trend that way in maybe a year or 2, if they can continue to build on their quarterly revs.
.15 by end of year would still be close to 400% based on current levels, I'd still be happy with that :)
Thank you!
I've got just under 100K shares and seriously debating more than tripling my share count at these levels.
Given where the revenues are headed, audit completion, uplisting .. I think this could be a pretty easy ride to .15 - .20 or higher before end of year.
I'm sure VATE has announced this at some point or maybe it's buried in a filing and I just can't find it .. but have they told us the name of the PCAOB accounting firm they hired for the audit & form 10 uplisting requirement?
Let's be clear - that's not efficient. Anyone who has any worked for a company that has operations in India (or anywhere in Asia for that matter) will tell you how wildly inefficient it is. Purely from a timezone perspective
Let's say the Manohar Chowdrhy & Associates team has some questions, they send them off to POTN. It is answered next day. Manohar comes back, additional follow ups. It takes another full day to answer. Meanwhile, work is being held up because those questions need to be answered before another item can be started
Those delays build up over time and what you may have thought was a 1 month project can easily turn into a 2 month+ project.
More and more US companies are shipping operations overseas to India for one reason only - cheap labor. It's a sad, but honest truth. You gain on the bottom line, however efficiency is sacrificed.
This isn't preying on ignorance. You're not wrong - in real life practice, every single accounting firm will have their deficiencies. I also agree with you that the PCAOB conducts these reviews so firms can self-reflect and improve practices.
However, even with that understanding, how should this new hire instill ANY level of confidence over the previous firm.
Why did they travel to the other side of the globe to find a PCAOB auditing firm? Common sense would point to trying to save a buck.
My simple point is that there quite literally hundreds of reputable, transparent, and accredited firms locally that they could have gone to.
Given the shortcomings of East West Accounting, how am I supposed to believe that Manohar Chowdrhy & Associates - centrally located in India no less - will be their savior?
Could not agree more with your assessment. It's absolutely ludicrous to think that POTN needed to go to some 3rd world country to find their accredited auditing firm.
You've got the Big 5 US accounting firms that I'm sure would have done this, had you reached out appropriately.
Even beyond that if POTN was considered too small of a company for them to audit or spend time on - there are literally HUNDREDS of accredited, transparent, and educated national and local US based auditing firms for them to have engaged with.
Glad to know they went to the other side of the world to find an auditing firm. Likely to save a few bucks.
Honestly cannot wait until this one blows up in their face and they have to go for round 3.
You got that right! Even better - why don't they go hire Huey, Duey, and Luey?
I'm sure Disney will let them out of the cage to do a quick financial audit and Form 10 SEC submission.
Yet another total fail by the management of this coming. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE CANNOT BE OVERLOOKED.
Revenues are only a piece of the puzzle and while those are fantastic, the rest of POTN is wildly mismanaged.
Thank you for posting that - further proves the point that they have hired yet another complete JOKE of an accounting firm.
Can't wait until the hammer comes down on these fools for a 2nd time and POTN has to pull an about face and hire a 3rd firm.
Manohar Chowdhry & Associates?
Are you kidding me?
Yet another total fake, ding dong accounting firm.
Go check out their LinkedIn page - "having it's offices in 10 major cities in India, and a branch in Dubai..."
Why don't they go get ANYONE reputable? They are clearly making enough money to go get themselves a PWC, Deloitte, KMPG, etc.
Can't wait till this audit and Form 10 submission take even longer than the first go around.
I wasted my time and read their annual / quarterly report, which btw was almost impossible seeing as whatever moron scanned it in, couldn't be bothered to make sure it was even. This company is a POS dumpster fire.
Anyone who has their money parked here is a fool.
$3.154M in liability for compensation owed? For a company that has never turned a profit? Brilliant.
Thanks for the responses earlier on why to invest here ... that said, why shouldn't I invest in Kona Gold (KGKG)?
They own a tremendous amount of VATE publicly traded shares and are even cheaper at about .0115. I could load more than and if VATE takes off, KGKG then carries a huge investment gain.
Just curious - could someone explain the strategic partnership between VATE and KGKG? Though Medico is now more focused on the ELV8 Brand Inc and Clark is more solely focused on KGKG ... Kona still owns quite a huge number of VATE publicly traded shares, is that right?
Has anyone done some analysis in regards to a relative price target on VATE?
I'm seriously considering making a sizeable investment into VATE, currently in my DD phase.
Seems as though revenues are growing at a good rate. This full year in particular should be really strong.
I can't seem to find any toxic convertible dead, which is largely unusual for a penny OTC stock in the CBD/Hemp space.
Thoughts on what QB status would mean for these guys?
There is no need to worry about POTN advertising on I-Hub. I'd invite you to go to any other forum or message board and take a look at the advertising banners on there. Companies advertise on high traffic websites where they know investors/customers read from.
Go take a look at the AVS Forum website and their banners. 99.9% of their advertising comes from speaker, AVR, speaker wire, and electronics companies where they know they have an audience discussing their products.
It's simply intelligent marketing to spend your advertising dollars on high traffic, high visibility websites.
Going to have to agree here as well. Time to capture gains and buy back in later
Over the long term (1+ years) this is really not that big of a deal. But over the next couple weeks, I think the sting is going to be real. We will likely see prices back in the teens - where I will look to get back in.
Whatever new accounting firm is hired, will need to do their own independent audit of 2017 financials, and we know how long the first pass took. Of course they will also need to submit a new Form-10.
Additionally, I believe Q1 2018's financials were not audited. Given what POTN is dealing with - this new accounting firm could also be asked to audit Q1 2018's financials and Q2's (ahead of their release).
It's not the end of the world news, not in the least - but I think we will see delays in the same length we saw at the beginning of the year. During that time, price will likely be stagnant or fall, presenting buying opportunities out there for all the longs!
As far as the CHAMPS trade shows go - POTN has done the following in sales:
5/23/17 - "sales results in excess of $235K"
2/26/18 - "recorded over $270K in sales"
7/23/18 - "scores over $300K in sales"
The above is specific to CHAMPS shows only. I think they've averaged about the same at the other shows they participate in.
Toucan - I also hold this stock and am very much a long. I appreciate you going through the financial statements, as personally, I have NEVER been strong in accounting or financial statement analysis.
Would you mind going into why you would expect to see an inventory line item,from a CPA perspective?
From what I vaguely remember during accounting in school, inventory should be listed on the balance sheet as an asset right? However, it sounds like in the case of POTN, they don't actively carry inventory and instead fulfill as orders come in via 3rd party fulfillment centers. If that's the case, wouldn't that explain the lack of entry?
Though at the same time, inventory is a key factor in COGS on the income statement right? However, on their income statement we don't have the breakdown of COGS, so I don't know if its being captured.
All - what's the feeling on this company right now? I've seen quite a few posts stating the connection between RSHN and POTN, which is how I've gotten involved.
Looks like there has been some strong fact finding and DD done here - via email correspondence, trademarks, colorado incorporation, etc.
That said, what do those that know this company better feel this firm is moving towards? Is it an outright sale to POTN? Is it a merger? Is it a new product line?
Does anyone know their current outstanding and authorized share count?
Besides the data posted on this board, I can't find any meaningful financial or share data outside of 2014-15.
I appreciate your bravado in this company - but I think it's misguided.
There are hundreds of millions of shares on the market and the dilution continues. While past performance is not indicative of future performance, this "company" has never sold a product or turned a revenue.
I am a sheep to the slaughter if I continue to believe that an 80 some odd year old man and his 70 some odd year old sister are going to create a CBD empire. Additionally, Mr. Black has shown little to no initiative to silence doubters - as he asserted HMPQ and Hempwerk are two different entities in his now infamous FB rant. Even though, according to what little paperwork is available, it was more or less owned by HMPQ until Sal got his millions in payout. Can you smell the fraud?
Additionally, I'd recommend you actually read Stockscamalerters's posts. He backs up his data with facts and the fact of the matter is nothing HMPQ has ever said has materialized.
While my position was negligible at best (a few hundred thousand shares at sub penny prices) - my money is better parked in other more 'legitimate' CBD firms.
I wish you well, however, I think you're going to eventually lose your shirt here.
Sold everything, finally had enough. The slow bleed from mid April to now has been a joke. Don't feel like being on the daily dump ride. This company is a dumpster.
I understand your 'point in time' analysis and take. I would agree that when it reported EPS, as they are also point in time snapshots, then yes the fully diluted count is 835M.
However, I think we just have a difference of opinion as to when the preferred to common conversion would take place and the count of common shares available at that time. Of course I'm taking a more optimistic view on the firm, I'm a long and I'm hoping they succeed as a firm.
You make a point on understanding the entire structure of the firm, which I have done my best to do. Their preferred share conversion structure is not normal. Their options, warrants, and debts - to date - have not been favorable. The strikes and conversion prices for many of these debts have been in the sub penny range. However, many of those, as you so pointed out - have already converted and those debts are already baked in.
The remaining toxic debt, is currently in litigation. One of those debts has the potential to again, radically alter their share structure, based on it's size and convertible price. That said, I still remain optimistic that POTN receives a favorable judgement
POTN has a fantastic market position and produces a great product within an infant industry. As they continue to grow and mature as a firm, these items which we are discussing will continue to get ironed out. It hasn't been perfect to date, but I hope that continues to get better.
Let's not forget this is an OTC stock and does not come without it's fair share of risk. Personally, I feel the risk is still worth the potential reward.
We can both agree it's incredibly easy math, however where we will continue to disagree on is the number of common outstanding shares at the time of preferred conversion.
I'm not arguing that, based on their filings, there are 465M shares currently outstanding. However, what makes you believe that the company would be foolish enough to convert those preferred shares to common shares, at this point in time? Their share count would explode and their PPS would implode.
Why would they purposefully balloon their share count now? It makes no sense. It behooves them to wait until the 300M reduction is complete prior to converting the preferred to common shares at the rate of .0018%.
By doing so, it creates less dilution and increases shareholder value.
Boy.. Where to start with Alan Brochstein's half-baked article.. While he does a great job spinning the negatives, many of these points we already knew, as folks that follow POTN regularly. Let me do my best trying to break this down piece by piece:
Name Changes: Thanks for pointing this out, but anyone who has followed the company to date, has already been well aware of their names changes over the years. To that end, let me just provide a couple of links with dates where this data is mentioned. I could go back further, but I won't bother
4/30/18 - Q1 report: https://backend.otcmarkets.com/otcapi/company/financial-report/191918/content
4/02/18 - 2017 Annual Financials: https://backend.otcmarkets.com/otcapi/company/financial-report/190136/content
Share Count: Of course this is the most important. The company had previously stated that they were in the process of reducing their outstanding common shares by 300M in exchange for non-trading preferred shares. The reduction of 131M Brochstein calls out in his article that seemingly "came out of nowhere" are a part of this process. With about 465M current outstanding shares, we have 169M left to reduce, thereby bringing us a total of 296M shares post complete reduction.. Now we don't know what rate these common to preferred shares converted at - but let's use the 44,227 preferred we already know about and the covertible at .0018% of total outstanding. The math breaks down as follows:
296M (full reduced future share count) X .000018 (the conversion rate) = 5,328 shares for every 1 preferred.
5,328 X 44,227 (current preferred share count) = 235.6M new common shares
296M (fully reduced shares) + 235.6M (total known preferred to common conversion) = 531.6M TOTAL COMMON SHARES
^ A far cry from the 825M Brochstein calls out in his article.
Warrants and Convertible Debt: Much of what Brochstein points out has, again, already been common knowledge based on previous filings. The average investor that has followed this company has already known the shares that have been issued against those debts. Moving forward, there are only 2 convertibles left, both pending court cases:
https://backend.otcmarkets.com/otcapi/company/financial-report/191918/content
Financial Statements: This is the only piece I will give Brochstein credit for - specifically on the Cash Flows and Balance Sheet item. This needs further analysis, as something does not add up. However, based on the math above, his commentary on share count is incorrect.
Operations + Sales / Marketing: POTN has grown at an incredibly competitive rate over the last 12 months. As investors, why should we want them to carry inventory? Why do I want them to pay for a warehouse and on hand product? I don't. Continue to take orders and provide on-demand drop shipping - this model works. When it comes to sales + marketing, POTN participates in an incredible number of trade shows. These shows are expensive to participate in - between the slip for space, paying employees to be there, giveaways for marketing, etc. Much of that sales + marketing cost can be attributed to pre-paying future trade shows.
Valuation: Brochstein calls out a fully diluted market cap of $260M based on price of $0.3113. That market cap is incorrect, based on his incorrect assumption of share count. Using the math provided above, the market cap is about $165M (.3113 X 531.6M fully diluted shares). Again, with 12-month trailing sales at $18.9M, this brings the sales multiple down from his purported 13.8X to 8.75X, which is incredibly more in line with the industry.
All in all, Brochstein does a great job of spinning the negative for the unsavvy investor. For those of us that have been in this from the long haul, everything he points out has already been common knowledge. Disregard the noise and good luck to longs.
Good links - they were good reads with valuable information in there and I think it's the information in those links that make it so controversial. Taking that first link as an example, you have different use cases that vary person by person and their experiences.
Some folks don't have a risk of dependency and find their recreational use easy to pick up and put down - while other folks carry a higher chance for abusing it.
I think so much of it depends on how a unique person is wired internally, right? Mental health is an incredibly important and often overlooked topic in the United States and as more states introduce legislation to make marijuana available for medicinal or recreational use - I don't believe we have enough information readily available to set appropriate guidelines.
I think we both agree that for certain medical cases - marijuana as a legitimate treatment option can make a lot of sense. Folks that have MS, prone to seizures, certain pain management cases, etc. When it comes to the recreational side though, it's very hit or miss. To your points in your post and as those articles point out it absolutely can be harmful, but it can also have minimal to no affect, varying person by person.
That's what brings me back to government intervention in terms of legalizing and establishing rules and regulations around it's use. If and when it gets off the Schedule 1 list, we will have more medical professionals get involved to better study and educate the public on its benefits andrisks. We also need common sense laws around it - ie) no driving while high, etc. We need a way to measure consumption (think breathalyzer for alcohol).
It's funny how my perception has changed on it as I've gotten older. When I was a young dumb kid I'd yell out - legalize it, what does it matter! Now as I get older I've changed my tune a bit!
Respectfully, I'd have to disagree with you on the addictive qualities of marijuana. That said, please understand that I do feel for your loss and unfortunate family experience.
I think it is very much on a case by case basis. From personal experience, I started smoking in the 8th grade and carried the habit through college. For me - it never inhibited my ability to get good grades, graduate, land a great job and be on a successful career path. Now being in my late 20s, if I smoke the stuff today, the goofy and funny high that I used to get is instead replaced with anxiety and paranoia. Just doesn't make me feel right and its not something I enjoy doing at all anymore.
Marijuana as a stand alone drug, in my opinion, does not carry nearly the same addictive properties as it's current peers within the schedule 1 classification. A quick google search from trusted sources could show you that something legal like cigarettes (while albeit chemically engineered) carry far worse addictive properties than marijuana.
Truth be told, in order to avert heartbreaking cases as you've described in your post, I think the government needs to legalize and regulate the growing, marketing, and sale of marijuana at a national level. By taking it off the schedule 1 list, it would allow more skilled professionals to conduct additional medical studies so we as a general public can be better educated and understand the pros and cons of its use.
RIP Bearlove. Time of death 06/29/18 09:58:29 AM.
LOL. The Caveat Emptor is in place due to the OTC and those in charge of it being corrupt? Have you really convinced yourself of that? That is easily one of the most bushleague responses posted on this board and there have been quite a few.
The CE is there because their regulating body has found something shady in HMPQs business dealings.
You understand that designation gets slapped on to firms who aren't playing by the rules, right? That it is designed to protected the investing community?
No, of course not, that'd be silly. The CE is on there because the MMs and OTC are in cahoots to specifically derail and disrupt HMPQ.
My god, give it a rest already.
So glad I got into VATE at the end of May, really feel like they are going to start moving into their prime over the next few months and hopefully years. Excited to see where it goes!!
With that said, could anyone here help me understand the partnership and ownership arrangement that VATE has with Kona Gold?
FINALLY.
Too many posts on this board are about industrial hemp, government legislation, and industry catalysts ... and not HMPQ specific.
So sick and tired of reading uneducated "rocket time" posts about the industry and the hemp movement as a whole across the country -- when literally none of it affects HMPQ since they can't get their facility operational and move a product out the door.
Industry news means nothing if you don't even have a marketable product in the industry!
I agree that there are numerous wasteful PR announcements, to keep the stock price afloat, just like that one we saw today.
The real news will be if they hit their 6/30 date for filing as well as any litigation updates.
However, I don't see any problem in paying iHub to advertise on the site. How is that any different than any other company?
Go head on over a different site, like the AVS Forum - for speakers, receivers, cables, etc. Every piece of real estate on that site has advertising for the products/companies that are discussed there. POTN purchasing advertising here on iHub to display and sell Diamond CBD branded products is no different.
I really love the way that VATE is trending - their product scope, distribution channels, marketing, etc.. seems like they have a lot of nice synergies.
With that said, I still think it's silly to think that their coffee offerings would ever make it into a national chain like Dunkin or Starbucks at this point in time.
While I totally think it is possible (many years down the line) - the adoption of hemp and CBD based products is still a bit slow. In addition, think about the liability a larger corporation like that opens themselves up to if someone drank a CBD or hemp based drink and had a reaction to it.
While we personally use their products and think it's great, there are teams of lawyers that would advise against it (given the current national drug schedules and issues).
That's why personally, I still think the best option is for them to keep pounding the doors into those boutique wellness food stores and hopefully very soon the national organic food stores (in addition to the success from online sales) - let the direct consumer make the choice on what to brew at home and get the word out. Then let the consumer go to their local Dunkin or Starbucks and ask for the product!
Grassroots at it's finest! Go VATE!
What insider note and egregious convertible / interest rate? Would love to see you post a link leading to documentation that specifically calls that out.
As far as I know, POTN has one large convertible note to settle, which is currently in litigation.
Please back up your assertions with data / facts.
Right- which is wildly concerning. How and why does a firm with no revenues pay out $1.3M in consulting fees?
Though again, it depends if you take the glass half full or half empty approach.
Glass half empty would say - they are paying either themselves or insiders, something shady is going on. Glass half full - they are paying contractors and laborers to get the facility and acreage ready.
That's part of the problem with unaudited financials. We as investors just see a line item and without any meaningful breakdown of how that number is derived, it deserves the criticism and skepticism it gets.
But at least Jamie's candid post seems to be grounded in reality, rather than a lot of the things Sal says on the fly that are incorrect.
What I mean is, and by my earlier post, I can totally understand the real life circumstances that cause construction delays, manufacturing delays, supply chain issues, etc. All of those are real life examples of issues that most start ups and even mature companies can face. I've seen it all too much before, notably in a speaker company that I follow / purchase from. The only difference of course is that this speaker company is private with a loyal fan base willing to wait - while we are investors in a public company, frustrated as to why we aren't seeing things move faster for a return on our money.
I do agree with your point that there is a disconnect between Sal and Jamie - something I hope smooths out as they continue to mature.
HempWerk Inc seems to have come alive again on FB. New pictures of the acreage secured and the work going into it.
More than that though - was a very candid and refreshing note from James Black, the current CEO. I can appreciate all the hard work it sounds like he and his team are doing to get the machinery, farm, etc - all up and running. I can also appreciate when he speaks to timelines in regards to the construction and manufacturing delays, as anyone who has ever had anything built - be it a home or otherwise, knows those projects often run way past their anticipated completion dates.
With that said, while James does a nice job of speaking to HempWerk's specific progress and situation, I still have my reservations for Sal and HMPQ as a whole.
While there are some that bash for the sake of bashing, I would think that I'm trying to be an independent objective investor. I'm still up 64% on my buy and will hold out a bit longer, but as soon as I'm at even money or it looks like it's going under - I'm out in a heartbeat.
Based on HMPQ's track record, it deserves all the skepticism and criticism it gets.
CardsFan3 - I appreciate the back and forth we have had on this firm. Totally agree with you everyone needs to do their DD and the OTC is ripe for risk takers.
While "past performance is never an indicator of future results" (as the saying goes), this particular investment has too many red flags and too many mistakes, misquotes, etc - that I think they deserve the amount of skepticism and nay saying that they get called out for.
As I type that and read it back even "they" as a firm - is just an old man and his sister. Feels like we are all getting taken advantage of.
In all the reading I've done on this board, you seem to the post the most unintelligent ramblings. Generally, they are not material nor are they specific to HMPQ, though it is always followed by some sort of bogus & incoherrent ROCKET TIME ending.
Industry news is not HMPQ news. The HEMP act does next to nothing for a firm that can't get their act together, but love selling shares and burning your money.
Remove the wool from your eyes and see this scam for what it is.
I just listened to that Podcast - it made my ears bleed.
3 weeks ago - 4 tons of flower were purchased? They expect to reap 1M from that, which will fund the additional 19 tons of flower they want to purchase.
Bought a previously used organic garlic farm (restoring the farm with 10,000 quality seeds). 10 acres total, 7 of which fenced in from deer.
In 2 days from today, the flower arrives (we'll assume its the 4 tons already purchased) and that only keeps them alive till the end of July. Then are in the market to buy another 19 tons of flower for the end of the summer (noted above with the sale of the original 4 tons).
Down payment required for the august harvest? what august harvest? There's no seeds planted. That apparently costs 3.5M and HMPQ needs to pony up 200K. Where is that going to come from?
He has lots of people employed in Maine and NY - no way.
Goes on to say there is NO debt besides as 12K convertible debt note (he previously said 10K in the same interview)
245L extractor machine (he says largest Vitalis has ever made) - already proven to be a lie.
Plans to sell white powder isolate before anything else - as the bottling and distilling machines for CBD oil is not finished - as they are not arrived. News to me.
Seems to have a ZERO idea why he got the CE and ZERO idea how to get it removed.
If you listen to the full 9:45 minute interview, this is not the type of man you want running your investment.
Correct, never met the man and have no personal relationship to him. However, his company structure, lack of employees, lack of product, lack of revenue streams, etc ... I could go on and on, would leave me to believe that he's not doing right by shareholders.
Do tell if you've got the secret sauce that I don't.