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The problem is that annual revenues are rising at a snails pace. Barely even up in constant dollars vs 5 years ago, do the math it's true. The other problem is these sub $5mil quarters seem to happen on a very regular basis, at least once or twice every year. Ferris tries to sell them as "one of" sorts of quarters but that is simply not true. The last problem is the stock price, today it falls BELOW where it was in JULY, 2016. That is over 6 years ago! Absolutely terrible in terms of creating value for shareholders.
We need Ferris gone.
We need Givens gone.
We need Mulcahy gone.
We need an entire new BOD.
No sense of responsibility, No sense of urgency, No emotion.
Company culture flows top down.
No wonder the company is filled with sub average performance at every level.
CFO likely left when she looked around and thought….”not the clownshow I want to be associated with.”
Wow! I just listened to the replay of the conf call. Now I feel even worse than earlier. Neither Ferris nor Givens gets it. Neither understands that a conf call is for an audience of investors and potential investors. None of us give a ship about V3, none of us care how hard VirTra employees are working, we are sick and tired of excuses and the "woe is me" attitude that both of the co-ceos are projecting.
IT IS ABOUT REVENUE AND EARNINGS. NOTHING ELSE.
Worse part was when they said nothing meaningful is going to happen with Military until 2024. Worse part was when Givens said he was personally involved in helping to reduce a lead time on a part from 6 months to 45 days - the CEO is involved in this sort of activity. Worse part was when Ferris said people say "wow" when they see a demo of V3. Worse part was when Givens talked about cash on hand but made no mention of debt, that is pathetic and sleezy.
There were so many worse parts to this conference call that it is impossible to pick just one.
You should have waited another 18months and sold VTSI at $11 or $12 in mid 2021.
Revenue and EPS is all that matters. Don't Ferris and Givens understand this? Nobody freaking cares about backlog.
Nobody cares about having a nice headquarters.
Nobody cares about having the "best" most respected product.
The number one objective has to be revenue and earnings and revenue and earnings MUST MUST MUST come before all the glitz and glitter and chest thumping over stupid stuff that doesn't matter.
Think about how much of the $18mil direct offering money VirTra has pissed away in the last year with NOTHING to show for it. It has not resulted in even 1 penny more in revenue and, even worse, their use of that money has driven eps into the gutter. These guys do not give a rats backside about shareholder value or sustainable predictable growth, or even building a robust lasting business. To spit out a sub $5mil quarter like this at this time is borderline criminal. Every macro factor and every planet is/was in alignment and this team of clowns couldn't capitalize on it.
ELEPHANT in the room....Ferris and Givens ignore it! It is absolutely insane that they do not immediately fix the sales organization. It would solve all the problems with lumpy quarters. They keep trying to land whale military contracts which is fine if they were able to do it while still selling product to the 18,000 USA police departments. Apparently they cannot do either one very well. Fire Mulcahy and bring in a top notch sales guy.
It is also my belief that Ferris knowingly lied to all of us during last week's shareholder meeting. He said in very definitive terms that VirTra was the dominant sales leader in selling product to police departments. He said it clearly and he said it without qualification. Absolute lie. In fact, based on this quarter's numbers, VirTra is not only not #1, they are not in the top 5. FACT.
The stock is now destined for the $2 to $3 range and it really is not even worth that much. $3 x 11mil shares and the PS is still over 1. Overvalued now even at $3. This is just like a decade ago. Zero progress, zero shareholder value. Freaking clownshow.
Those of you on the "Advisory Board", and I assume it still exists since Ferris mentioned it during the shareholder meeting, I sure hope you ask some tough questions and provide some pointed advice to Ferris and Givens.
I wonder whose shares I keep buying?….and when they will run out?…..Been buying VTSI shares every other day for a couple weeks now.
Also….Meant to say Hello and Welcome! This board needs some new blood!
I didn't log into ihub til just now after the meeting otherwise I would have asked. I was the guy that asked about reorg of the Sales Org and also color on CFO short tenure. Also at very end asked about vote totals for each director.
If he answered my questions (and I doubt he likes me, and I signed my name to each question) why on Earth would he ignore your questions? Sort of makes me wonder who you are!
Ferris' answers were about what one expects from a CEO although I think he did an above average job in answering most of them and providing at least some new info.
It’s only because we have an east wind today, otherwise I’d be up in my tree. The rut is in full swing!
Interesting that the time of the meeting is 4:30pm eastern time which is 30minutes after stock market close. Other years it was during the day.
Yes, I will participate.
The stock market is tough right now. Even good numbers do not seem to get rewarded. I expect some sort of news tomorrow that comes out of the annual meeting. I expect Q3 revenue and earnings will beat analyst consensus….which is a low bar. I think VTSI stock trades between 4.5 and 5.5 until mid March, 2023.
Thanks!
Ok, I gotta ask.....Why do you continue to own the shares? Is it potential or the hope of a leadership change or lightning striking the Military resulting in a whale order to VirTra or or or? I am truly curious.
My rants aren't too different than yours I suppose. I just suffer from the occasional flare up of optimism that gives me hope one of these idiots will fix the sales org.
Back to the 4s, same price as in mid-2016.
Of course market cap higher now due to 11mil shares instead of 8mil.
Someone needs to ask the CEOs about 6+ years of ZERO creation of shareholder value.
At least a couple near term catalysts with annual mtg and Q3 report and conf call.
More disturbing is lack of trading volume.
Buying heavily, super strong buy
You should ask a question or two at annual mtg next week. Your one chance per year, and the company has to take it!
What the hell? There damn well better be a PR in the morning with some details....health issue? family issue? better opportunity at bigger co? something.
This is really unbelievable. They finally hire/appoint a credible (at least on paper) CFO and she quits or is fired in a couple months? Ridiculous. I wonder if she was a Ferris pick or Givens pick or both? No wonder the stock is dead.
I know. I did hold my nose. The reason I did vote yes for Ferris is because I believe he was instrumental in getting Givens to join the BOD and instrumental in getting him appointed co-CEO.
If revenues do not explode upward in the next 18 months then I will likely sell most of my shares. Q3 and Q4 of 2023 both need to be over 20mil and full year 2024 must be over $100mil otherwise Givens has failed. It’s that simple.
Voted YES for Ferris and Givens and the accounting firm.
Voted NO for the other directors.
I thought about a yes for Greene since he has purchased a few shares but then I thought back to what an uninterested jerk he was on the phone with me a few years ago.
And another thing…..while the Givens promo and his moves since have likely kept the activists from pulling the trigger I still wonder why Givens has not yet addressed the company’s #1 glaring deficiency….the Sales Org. Please fix it!
And another spectacular report today! This gets to $50 by Christmas.
I’ve never understood why VirTra does not do a better job explaining and separating out the STEP numbers each quarter and each year. Perhaps pre-ERP it was a difficult task? But now with ERP it should be easy. I’ve also never understood how the upfront costs on a STEP system is accounted for. I sorta know what they are doing but I think it could be done in more aggressive ways.
In my view you just spelled out THE #1 problem with VirTra perfectly and succinctly.
Those 2018 thru 2021 are brutal. Those are zero growth numbers no matter how you look at them. Even the 2021 number is less than 2018 in constant dollars! Pathetic. Now do the same with EPS over the same 4 years and try not to puke, it ain’t easy.
I own the stock now because of the new captain at the helm. I own it because of the potential. I own it because I still believe it is EASY to fix the sales org. But it is so frustrating to own because they simply refuse to address the elephant in the room.
Great info, awesome post.
I know I keep beating a dead horse, but why doesnt VirTra focus this same level of aggression and effort into their sales Org? Rapidly growing revenue would make everything else quicker and easier…..including the adaption of new technologies. It is clear that the current sales org has failed, Mulcahy has failed, what is your opinion on why VirTra fails to fix the problem?
Why can’t they even try to SELL products? Create a Sales Org for goodness sake!
Out in SD chasing pheasants. Glad I missed the PR until now. I HATE this type of PR because there is no mention of increased revenue or even a single big win as a result of the new tech. I also despise new tech in this case cuz it is a distraction and diversion of resources away from what the company is supposed to be doing. They are a training company or supposed to be. If they go down this new path, the company is dead.
Yes, that is certainly true. It would have been worse for them to have spent all the cash and not gotten the loans (longer term debt). Some leverage is a good thing. And these days having available cash is a good thing.
That said, the point I was trying to make is that VirTra always seems to do things backward. They spend money on infrastructure and projects in the hope that it leads to more revenue. What they should be doing instead is running the company with a sense of urgency and fear, they should go out and get the revenue first and then spend on necessary infrastructure. Run the company like you own it, not like you are a manager running it for a distant owner.
They have blown through $14mil in cash in less than two years without any operational improvements. I mean revenue, eps, CasHflow…..when I say operational.
June 30, 2022 10Q states they had 15mil in cash and a bit over 8mil in debt. Net cash on that date was about $7mil. It is easy to click on and read at VirTra website.
Here is the other problem VirTra has.....they continue to spend too much money without accelerating revenue growth. Every quarter their net cash balance goes down and down and down. Just a couple short years ago immediately after the 18mil capital raise they had over $20million in net cash. Now look what they have, only about $6million. They have been spending like drunken sailors on stuff that is nice to have but not absolutely necessary. The new corporate headquarters is the best example of money burning a hole in Ferris' pocket. Sure its nice, perhaps even makes sense, BUT ONLY IF IT ACCELERATES profitable sales growth. The spend on "foundation company stuff" has now been in place for over a year, yet where are the better results?
Now they are spending millions in Orlando. Sure, it seems to make sense, but if they don't land a couple whale contracts within 6 months then it was another wasteful effort.
The old saying that it takes money to make money is the stupidest and most untrue statement of all time. If a business cannot be profitable from day 1 then it is not a viable business. Period. Fact. No debate!
VTSI stock has finally broken down. Held up longer than most. Like all the others, a few impatient nellies and no one interested in buying shares. If the CEOs and directors had any interest in supporting the stock they could do so in any number of ways….but that is unlikely as well.
It does feel like the company is starting to function with more efficiency and urgency. Also feels like we are just one or two big announcements away from stepping up in stock price. November could be the month of influential news.
My one fear is that VirTra has not yet seemed to fix their sales Org. I’m not sure but I think Mulcahy is still in charge and the structure (thin US coverage, few boots on the ground, tiny incentives, minimal corporate support) remains unchanged. This structure has now been in place for several years. New Police Dept orders should be coming in every single day to the tune of $1mil/day if the sales Org was performing as it should. It continues to flounder. DUMP Mulcahy, HIRE a proven salesperson who knows how to sell $200,000 systems to municipal departments. People like this DO exist. Mulcahy has had long enough to prove he is not the answer.
I like the timing of the annual meeting just ahead of the Q3 report. Today’s announcement was also good news, perhaps they are figuring out how to SELL product rather than take orders.
If I had the body parts to be effective I would put on a cheerleader outfit and lead a VTSI VirTra cheer. Too quiet right now. The interesting thing is that VirTra is the sort of company that should not be impacted in any bad way by a recession. And with the police and lawlessness in the news every day the macro environment should be spectacular for their products.
Of course right now every stock is being sold off, it seems not many of us are in stock buying mode…..‘cept me.
Kudos to director Jeffrey Brown. He exercised his options and kept all the shares, he didn’t sell any to cover the tax hit of $4 per share. He actually now has a respectable number of shares, almost 30,000. And in the past he has made a few open market buys.
Now that co-CEO Givens made an open market buy, clearly no one was locked out or blacked out. So why didn’t any other of the directors do the same? Jeffrey Green has at least made a few small sporadic buys over the years…..but what about a clownshow like Richardson? I used to think he was a good director based on his resume but now I wonder since he obviously doesn’t want much ownership.
Yes, open market buy at $6.04 on Sept 14th per todays sec filing.
I think the challenge/problem that tiny companies like VirTra have in recruiting or appointing or interviewing Directors is the exact opposite of the situation with Fortune 500 companies.
With big well known companies like Google or Facebook or Siemens or Honeywell or Dell or Seagate or Liberty Mutual or American Family or Microsoft.....EVERYONE wants to be a Director and if offered they will say yes no matter what even if compensation is $0.
With tiny companies, the company has to SELL ITSELF to convince someone qualified that they should come on board as a Director. So the one with the power during this discussion is the candidate, not the company.
But I agree wholeheartedly with the point you are making, during any discussions this sort of topic (buying shares) should be openly discussed. And its pretty easy to see from one's history as a Director with other companies whether they believe in owning shares or not.
Would it kill these guys (Givens, Ferris, new CFO, current BOD) to pony up and buy some shares in the open market? I know their hands might be tied but there are ways around that commonly used every day by public company ceos and directors, namely simply set up an automated buy program where you buy xxxx shares each week or each month or each quarter for the next couple years.