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Good point. DR probably forgot all about them docs.....
Yup. The idea that a tiny company will penetrate a hospital's purchasing department with one of 25 generators is a bit far-fetched IMO.
There's a reason hospitals buy from big guys, and if big guys see a technology they can exploit, then they buy the company outright. One thing about LTC: the purchase price for the technology/company is certainly not prohibitive.
Piazza and crew might have the connections to get the LTC ball rolling, but at that point, I'll be lucky to own 20% of it!!
Hind site is 20/20 spike. And the 10K you took off near the top are the best sells that anyone on this board has laid claim to.
FWIW, when this hit 2.39, the ducks all appeared to be in a row. The CSMG team at that time was experienced and robust- to have Frank D and Richard A on board was beyond any expectation that I had for LTC at that time- with guys and connections like that, why would you sell? I held 100k myself and was thinking about a sale price north of 7$ a pop. The risk/reward ratio didn't seem so foreboding at the time. The rest, as they say........
Of course Frank and Richard's actual relationship to and participation in the company was never made explicit; to this day, we don't know what happened with those guys, other than they faded away.
This reminds me somewhat of a real estate transaction that proceeds fitfully as unknown heirs of a decedent's property "keep popping up."
Fully concur here ninja. A large % of the shares sold lately could be from DR's heirs. The impatient retail investor that lowman refers to has long been shaken out imo. There's been far too many 100's of 1000's, if not millions of shares sold in the past 2 years for the current PPS to be the work of MM's, shorts or impatient retail/message board shareholders. Bigger fish have been dumping bigger blocks.
When will it end? Who can say? CTGI is a pinkie. You can chat up the 100 million A/S for the past 10 years, but that was the work of DR and he should be acknowledged (or cursed) for it, depending on your POV. But you (general) can't have it both ways: to trumpet the low A/S and then lift your leg on DR's grave is nothing short of rank hypocrisy.
The new regime hasn't proved as frugal for justifiable reasons. They also haven't been as transparent and therein lies the rub: Bruce buys 5K worth of shares and we hear all about it. They sneakily sell 25 million shares and it has to be ferreted out by calling the T/A.
To my mind, Bruce is the only one with career/financial aspirations in what's left of CTGI. And the new regime slated to take over LTC wants little or nothing to do with Bruce or the current CTGI outfit. They want the technology, they want the tax break. That's what they care about and who can blame them for not giving a second thought to current CTGI shareholders? As Abe Vigoda said in the Godfather, "it's just business".
Dr Kurtz is at the end of a long and illustrious career, with little time or desire for cleaning up this mess. His silence since taking on the CEO job speaks volumes. Perhaps at the time the BOD thought that giving the job to an established medical professional lent the company much needed professional credibility after Frank D and Richard A vanished from sight.
Whatever the case, the same stars that aligned to take the PPS to 2.39 a share (a hot market, tons of available $$, a pimp-pump newsletter, the hype around impending FDA approval) will not be around to resurrect the remnants of this company after LTC is gutted to its former glory.
Charts mean squat here. The thing's been dead in the water for months. It burped a few days ago. Now it settled.
Time to wait again.
The big RS drove away seekers of a quick, huge return. Now you're stuck with the shares, waiting to see what the new company will look like.
Judging from how heavily China small caps (very profitable ones) have been getting hammered and shorted, looks like it's going to be a while here before we see any movement.
Or this: a large shareholder has read the last PR and doesn't see much of a future in what the company has stated for its next incarnation. Perhaps that shareholder, like many of us, sees value in LTC and that's why they bought the shares in the first place. Maybe they're not too impressed with the prospects of their current CTGI shares having much LTC value in the future. Maybe they're hoping to buy LTC if it ever is spun off and for sale as a stand-alone company.
Or maybe.....(add your own guess here, cause frankly folks, that's all we got)
1:20 R/S to be more exact. Welcome to the world of the reverse merger. Meuse is no different than any other shell huckster peddling his SEC wares in China.
The question now is what's left after the 1:20. looks like holders here are going into the kitchen utensil biz:
http://www.tradepad.net/luggage/company-9725-shenzhen-global-world-hostar-industry-co-ltd.html
with what dough?
I have no interest in drudging up all the nasty comments about Don Robbins made on this board since his death. You read the board. You saw them as well- here's the way the new story goes: the reason we are trading at this BS PPS is Don Robbins. It was stated, inferred and supported many times over by many of the same posters who deified the guy 3 years ago.
I know what Bruce said. I was ripped a new one for questioning DR for the La Jolla financing and ripped a new one for suggesting Kurtz wasn't the man to lead CTGI into the future. So be it.
I have nothing against Bruce. Just wondering why anyone in this economic climate would front him millions of dollars. Based on what?
Revisionists on this board seem to forget their old diatribe that DR made all the right moves (Frank D, Richard A, even Cornell) ....til he was dead....and now he's publicly-traded-company-enemy #1.
No surprise to me that those same people want to portray Bruce, DR's right hand man and a member of the BOD for years, as the boy who stuck his finger in the dyke. If it's a plausible proposition to you, keep on buying shares. Greenblatt, DR's heirs and Gordon Allison have plenty for sale.
CCKH (now CDBH) was a Meuse shell that did a 46-1 reverse....and there were fewer than 75 million O/S. Meuse's stake shares in the company weren't split BTW.
The implication that a Meuse shell wouldn't do a reverse split isn't born out by past results. Some don't do a RS, but many do. It's up to the new company to decide. History does suggest that Meuse is shrewd enough to make sure has shares aren't included in the RS.
Anyone else wondering why someone ponying up 20 million bucks would want to do biz with the current regime of CTGI officials?
With the exception of Kurtz, who doesn't seem to figure too prominently in LTC's future based on recent PR's, which one of these guys has any professional experience in their respective field to justify keeping them on board?
For example, if you were putting up the dough and you really thought that CCTI was the going to hit big, why on earth would you want Bruce Jones to captain the ship? What scientific expertise does he bring to the topic? What other credentials does he bring to the venture other than he was the guy working under Don Robbins when DR bought the technology?
IMO, LTC is still the big enchilada here. The perspective new team wasn't flown to Canada to see emissions scrubbing in practice; our shares were diluted so that they could be flown to the Ukraine to see LTC in action. And they returned convinced enough to run the LTC show (for an unknown fee/stake I should add) but not convinced enough to put up the money themselves.
To add to all the speculation about the CTGI future, I doubt that much, if any money will be directed to CCTI. And I seriously doubt that any financiers want to underwrite Bruce Jone's search for a profitable company.
Absolutely not. And any one who claims to be able to do so is straight-up dissembling.
Read back through the posts since the last company PR and you'll see a pattern: it all begins with words to the effect of "let's say..." and within a few posts a fantasy/premise transforms into something trying to authoritative and truthful.
We know very little here. That might be because the company itself knows very little as well.
Hilarious that after the big meeting all we're left with is deciphering some muddled pig latin for a bit of slop to satisfy us.
Future's never been clearer, LOL!!
Thanks for making us all feel better about our investment here. LMAO! Still think your lawnmower might be the shrewdest move yet as far as CTGI trading goes!
Very true. The days of the big idea are giving way to the need to see cold, hard cash. Which is why I'm heavily invested here: Vermillion used HDC technology to push their test through FDA approval. It's been validated. It makes $$$$$.
When the urine/prostate test is approved, that's when the cash will roll in. It's also when the stock price will better reflect the future potential of HDC.
For me it's always been about this first test. I'm happy to wait until enough evidence is acquired to ensure that it is indeed the industry standard for generations to come. Once that happens and folks read that the same company has a similar test in the pipeline for breast cancer, and by extension any other cancer.... (you can fill in your own pump here, lol)
"competence" shouldn't be confused with "communication".
This is SOP for Barnhill- I've been here for some years now and I've learned that when it comes to PR's and such, it's his way or the highway, like it or not. If that's not your style, this is the wrong company to invest in.
All that matters is: does the urine based test work? The rest of the B/S about warrants and competence is just crickets chirping.
I have seen nothing here since I've been a shareholder that leads me to think that the urine test won't succeed. And in the past 18 months, I have felt more and more confident about my investment here.
I doubt that anything substantially new and revealing was divulged at the meeting....probably more like an attempt to apply some form and order to create the appearance of a viable operation post DR.
And while it's encouraging that Bruce and some others haven't tossed in the towel, if they had any news of material value, we'd have heard all about it by now.
hate to see a P&D outfit like biomed reports back on board here.
A worthy guess ninja. My guess is that large shareholders, underwhelmed by the lack of detail in the last PR, are taking what they can get right now. Many of these shares, of which there are millions, are held by people with no known public identity.
It's doubtful they have an understanding of or loyalty to DR's original vision for CSMG.
Well done again KIK! And won in a mighty tough market!
Thanks again to SSKILLZ1 for an excellent job running the show.
Looking forward to trying it again....if what goes down must come up, the same picks ought to do just fine for me this time around!!
If you can't see a significant progress curve in the past 2 of 7 years, you should definitely move on. The Vermillion test FDA approval alone sets HDC apart from the 1000's of med/bio-tech speculative companies out there with comparable or worse share structures and no confirmation of success beyond their own labs.
This board was moaning for an update and now we have it. The books are getting cleaned up, the team is assembled, the pipeline is shuffling along nicely.
With the urine based test, you have to realize how pervasive it's going to be. It must be absolutely as air tight as possible so that it can establish itself and then continue as the industry standard for prostate cancer testing.
It's Sept and the markets suck. After 7 years, what's a few more months IMO?
Well now that the dust has settled a bit and we've seen a reaction to the PR, I'll once again play devil's advocate here, (with the disclaimer that without this PR and new deal, the likelihood of CTGI continuing as a company was pretty grim).
1. A week ago, I owned CTGI shares. I was a partial owner of 100% of LTC and CCTI. In the future this will not be the case and, as they say, the devil of the last PR is in the details:
CTGI will cede a "considerable" amount of LTC to get that end of the biz up and running. Speculation as to the exact % associated with "considerable" is no doubt one reason the market wasn't over impressed with this news. Whatever the % of LTC taken from us current holders, I hope that the ownership deal cut with the new management team is predicated on results. My CTGI shares were diluted close to 40% (the previous 25 million issuance) so that we could pay to fly the new team to the Ukraine for a look-see. I look forward to them "putting up."
In addition, IMO, it's good bye to DR's shares, wherever they may be. By "considerably reducing" CTGI's stake in LTC, all those millions of shares the man held are, essentially, going to be traded in for pennies on the dollar. This will be true for all of us shareholders and is a reason that there will be much downward pressure in the PPS as people with big positions realize what's happening and sell out. 1/2 million shares today traded hands and we're up a penny. % wise, it's a good day, but IMO, the PPS will flounder until big holders are convinced that their positions will retain significant value after the details of the deal are revealed.
I remain confused about the CCTI spin off plans and Bruce's future role. From the PR:
Should the plan above become reality, the remaining asset of CSMG, being Carbon Capture Technologies, Inc. ("CCTI"), is targeted to be spun off as a separate public company. The current CSMG shareholders would receive a dividend in the form of shares in this new entity. Mr. K. Bruce Jones, current Chief Financial Officer of CSMG and CEO of CCTI, would remain as CEO of that company, and relinquish any position with the re-formed LTC. The plan for the 'new' CCTI is to build a new technology holding company, to find and acquire promising technologies that have the capability to become major factors in their respective markets.
There is one major difference, however, in the business model as it was practiced under Mr. Robbins and the old CSMG. That is, while it is exciting to consider the potential of finding another 'LTC', Mr. Jones and his team prefer to first find and acquire a company with an operating history, one that has a predictable stream of revenues and cash flow.
So will Bruce be the CEO of CCTI as well as CSMG? And what will CSMG be after the CCTI spinoff except a shell in search of a decent biz to partner with? Does anyone else feel like they've just stepped back in time, say about 12 years, when DR was pushing the CO2 separator? Except that then the share count was under 40 million.
Essentially, as with the LTC deal, until we know exactly how many shares of CCTI we can expect in the dividend transaction, we the holders of CCTI are looking at a return to square one: an enterprise with no money trying to get a publicly traded company up and running.
As I prefaced above, it counts for something that CTGI finally issued a PR with a plan. But where we current shareholders fit into this plan is still murky at best.
SLOman, excellent you will attend the meeting. Any interest in presenting/asking a board-generated list of questions?
While the percentage of ownership by CSMG of LTC would be considerably reduced under this scenario, Management thinks the current owners of CSMG shares would still realize a substantial benefit once the 'new' company begins to trade under the new name and as its own entity.
Guess we better hope CCTI hits big because it sounds like LTC won't be the lunch ticket we all hoped for....unless of course you buy the new company, but who really wants to buy the same company twice?
Sigh, looking at the corner CTGI was backed into and the tough times for borrowing seed funds, at least it's still a hope...
Very nice news..and the run up the past few days strongly suggests that, once again, lots of folks knew the deal was happening before us small fry.
Nice payday, nice validation of stacatto, nice residuals (10% of net) down the road.
Hope to see a floor under 3$ today and not a sell off on the news.
ninja, does what CTGI bought for the 700,000 shares from Dr Sayari have any conecting to what Dr Sayari is doing now? TIA
Yup, sadly some here refuse to acknowledge the huge (millions) of shares out there in Pinkie limbo with CTGI. DR's inheritance? The latest 25 million? Greenblatt? Allison?
Bruce plunks down 5k......a finger in the dyke IMO.
Not only are the shares in unknown hands, the company has given those holders little reason to keep on holdin'.
Silence sure ain't golden in this case.
"I guess the PPS will be the ultimate judge and juror here"
Well, lowman if you know of another authority or another way to get rich on the stock market that doesn't involve the share price, I'd love to hear it. I'd imagine I'm like most who dally in the market... just trying to make a dime.
Again, someone is buying all that someone is selling. You can send out an air of discontent, but wealth is a passing from the impatient to the patient.
Correct you are, sir. Buying and selling is the name of the game. However, the impatient who were discontent enough to sell at $2, 1$, .50, .25, .10 have a bit more wealth than the patient who hold shares today. And as wealth has passed over the last 2 years, there's been less and less of it as the PPS has drooped. Ironically, your lawnmower is looking pretty good right now, LOL!
Based on the anemic volume lately, excepting on the big down days, I'd say the patient are either tapped out for cash or wishing they had the money to buy more shares that the impatient now have.
My original post was about all the unknowns here with regard to millions of shares. That is a fact. You can dismiss it or take it into account as you wish.
As for moving on, thanks for your advice. May I advise you to use the ignore button if you find your patience with me has reached its limit.
MM's ??? Lest we forget, there are a lot of shares out there in unstable hands- it's been that way since DR passed. We have no idea who controls them now, but it's a good bet that the holder's dedication to cause and company is not at a par with DR's.
And those shares are just one unknown. PK companies tell you what they want you to know (small insider buys like Bruce's) and gag what looks ugly (increase of 25 million in the O/S)
Some might see these facts as "the sky is falling," others call it DD.
I guess the PPS will be the ultimate judge and juror here
Somehow I doubt they'll add 20 million shares if/when they dilute the commons. I'd be thinking more like an A/S of 250 million to accommodate future needs.
There's still too many shares in unknown hands here- with DR we knew where a lot of shares were and what the plans were for those shares. Now? who knows who inherited his shares.
Given the company's precarious financial position and its lack of revenue/income production over the past decade, an heir could sell a pile and still be sitting pretty for any future PPS appreciation.
So much for yesterday's big gain. Down 10% pre-market on this news:
Alexza Prices $18.0 Million Registered Direct Offering
6:30a ET August 5, 2010 (PR NewsWire)
Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALXA) today announced that it has entered into definitive agreements with a select group of institutional investors to raise approximately $18.0 million in gross proceeds in a registered direct offering through the sale of common stock and warrants. The Company agreed to sell a total of 6,685,183 units, each unit consisting of (i) one share of common stock and (ii) one warrant to purchase 0.5 of a share of common stock, at a purchase price of $2.70 per unit. The warrants will be exercisable six months after issuance at $3.30 per share and will expire five years from the date of issuance. The shares of common stock and warrants are immediately separable and will be issued separately.
Alexza estimates that net proceeds from the offering will be approximately $16.4 million, after deducting placement agents' commissions and estimated offering expenses. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the sale of the securities primarily for general corporate purposes, including clinical trial, research and development, general and administrative and manufacturing expenses.
HDVY- up 12.5% to .18 on massive volume spike today. 2 days ago, the company settled (hopefully for good) the nefarious "note M" in an old filing which could have diluted (worst case scenario) the company to the tune of a billion shares.
From the 10-K, {Note M):
if we are unsuccessful in defending against the claims, the Company may be required, among other things, to issue approximately 146,664,375 shares to such investor, and, if all of the other investors in the 2007 Private Placement sought the same remedy, the Company may be required to issue approximately 1,099,494,872 shares in the aggregate. Issuing any significant portion of such shares of Common Stock would cause substantial dilution to existing shareholders[my emphasis
Details of the settlement:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1141788/000118811210001967/t68617_8k.htm
A/S steady at 300 million. O/S: 210,723,486
The company has deals with Abbott and Quest for its urine based prostate cancer test using the same technology that Vermillion uses. (Vermillion bought the license from HDVY)
The urine test is past the anticipated due date by some months now. Settlement of note M along with a major Quest player joining the HDVY team strongly suggest that either a buyout is in the works or the urine based test is ready to launch soon.
Piazza's VC firm could do it without breaking a sweat, or he knows someone that would do it on their lunch break.
Which begs the question: why hasn't it happened yet? Clearly the new team wants to see some skin in the game before they join up. And not their own...
Could be....
that CTGI's hands are now totally tied with the news of the JLI BK last week and until that mess is sorted, they are, essentially, shut down.
It wasn't long ago that board members speculated that JLI was going to be the sugar daddy here again. Looks like JLI is more of an albatross now, not unlike Greenblatt...
Worst case scenario: CTGI was negotiating with JLI for more funds over the past 6 months and thought they were close to a deal....until last week.
Best case scenario: CTGI knew JLI was nearing insolvency, negotiated legal exemption from a lien on the company and has been busy lining up another source of funds.
Our CEO has been awfully quiet since taking on the job....
What is the status of the status of the ADES project in TX?
The comparison betwen vermillion and health Discovery was not meant for financial purposes. Only to validate the integrity of HDC's technology.
No personal interaction, but the Barnhill technology has made Vermillion a ton of dough. The tissue test for prostate cancer works.....Quest and Abbott must have found management at least somewhat credible, competent and committed.... and the team of minds at HDC is unparalleled.
I've been here a long time. Much longer than I thought when I first bought in, but I'll wait. I find Barnhill frustrating as hell, but at least he's consistent. LOL
Let's keep the insider buying by Bruce in perspective: his was an outlay of roughly 5K. It's a far cry from the 186k that DR shelled out at .62 a share.
While it's good that Bruce purchased shares at all, the thought that this small a cash commitment would ignite a lot of interest is folly.
Anyone ever find out what the $$ from the last 25 million shares was used for?