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I’ve been in this stock since 2012. So I’ve had a front row seat for the mess created by previous management. The conf call doesn’t scare me because I believe in the tech that we have AND I truly understand the competitive advantage The Sport will have over the DaVinci Robot. AND, I understand how much hospital administrations HATE ISRG’s heavy handed tactics. And they cannot wait for a competitor to enter the market so they can tel ISRG to go pound sand. I’ve worked in the healthcare/medical device industry in sales for many many years. And very busy DaVinci users (Surgeons) are the ones who turned me on to Titan. Many surgeons I know personally, are heavily invested in Titan with their own money.
I’m betting big that we can get to 510k approval. Yes, we’re aggravated and frustrated due to the many blunders from past management. But, if and when FDA approval happens, no one will care about this new delay. It won’t matter a bit when offers start rolling in. Or TITAN decides to go at it alone and builds out the marketing/sales/manufacturing to do it themselves.
Will you give a rats a$$ at that point if and when we have a FDA approval in hand and we’re trading at $3-$5 bucks? The patents and intellectual property of this company have tremendous value. The stock price reflects the horrifying management we’ve had before Mc. He’s done a great job cleaning up the mess but there is only so much he can do.
If TITXF goes down today, I’m loading up and buying more. I’ve been here for 7 years. What’s a few extra months? It’s nothing.
This setback won’t matter if we can get to the finish line. Keep the faith. Stay strong. Remain long. It will be ok. See you at the finish line. Peace and love.
Bought 48,000 more shares today. Been in and out of the stock several times over the past 5 years. What a roller coaster it's been. But I've never been completely out of the stock because I felt like if they can somehow pull this off they're entering into a massive market ripe for the picking. As intuitive surgical is HATED by hospitals. Since they have no competition, their business practices are very heavy handed. And many accounts would love to stick it to them and switch to Titan. I really believe that as I've spoken to many hospital facilities who has shared their disgust about Intuitive. I'm long and strong!!!
And hopefully we can get into the 4th or 5th inning soon and keep this train moving forward. Very promising news with this successful GYN case.
I'm in this for the long haul as well. When I got in 4 years ago I knew it would be a bumpy road, that it would take a long time to build this company from scratch, and that it wouldn't be easy.
Hell, I'll even buy some more shares at these bargain basement prices. We've been through this before when Amadeus got shelved, when CEO's were sacked. The sausage making is always an ugly process. So it is what it is at this point. See you at the finish line (hopefully) LOL!
In ref to eTrade situation. I am with Fidelity, and I had to sign off on some type of small cap disclosures before I could buy Titan. Granted this is when Titan was under $1.25. But once I agreed to the disclaimers/disclosures and what not. I could buy as much TITXF as I wanted with no restrictions. This is probably what is happening with his/her eTrade account.
We're right in the same spot my friend. I have 20,000 shares and I normally NEVER invest in penny's. But I work in the med device sales world and several top Davinci surgeons turned me onto the stock 2 years ago. Since it's outside of my normal risk tolerance I researched and did my DD for over a year before I bought in. 30 days after I finally pulled the trigger, the CEO left and the stock crashed down to .48. It was a moment of truth for me, but after a year of watching and researching I was confident in my decision so I doubled down and bought more. In hindsight, I should have quadrupled down at .48. HA HA HA But I could have just as easily cut my losses and gotten out. But I believed in the company and based on my conversations with my surgeon clients I held fast. By the way, they each have over $100k cash invested in Titan, and one has $150k invested. That was a huge vote of confidence and I'm grateful for them sharing this little gem with me. See you in 3 years my brother. Go Titan!
I completely agree and that's why I have been really quiet since the run started. Not a peep from me, and I'm not joining the cheerleading section just yet. I'm long and strong, but cautious. My finance professor always told me. What goes up, must come down! HA HA
I'll keep buying on the dips and will keep spreading the word to my friends and family. I have several who have jumped in. And I have one coming in for $50k. See you in 3 years my friend.
I'm happy to see so much love being shared on the board. It's amazing how a 1 week .80 cent PPS increase can quash all the in fighting. LOL What a run we're on. Go Titan!
From your Chickenlips to God's ears!
It could happen! Businesses HATE taxes so it's certainly possible!! LOL! I'm in the MA camp and truly believe our little engine that could will get gobbled up by one of the big boys. I hope I'm wrong as I think this could someday be a $50-$100 stock. I'm not greedy though, and will take anything over what I'm invested in at. My cost avg is $1.22 so anything above that is a win for me.
If what you're saying is true, then I highly doubt an early buyout would be in the cards because the 1st thing that the purchaser would do it move the company HQ to Boston or somewhere stateside. Losing those Canadian jobs and tax revenue wouldn't be in the interest of a Canadian govt backed venture.
Most of the top talent doesn't want to live in Canada so it would make sense under that scenario to move the HQ stateside. No major Med Device co is based outside of the USA.
I'm confident also that FDA approval will be obtained. Any person who has invested in Titan has to believe that by default since the company is pre approval. But I wanted to remind everyone that there are hundreds of drugs and med device products that never made it to the America market b/c they couldn't get FDA approval. And for some of these products the R&D costs were in the several billion dollar range. So the amount of effort or money that's invested in a product doesn't guarentee an approval. The risk in this case is low, but it is not zero.
I agree with you in principle, but if what you're saying is true. There wouldn't be a grave yard of products that couldn't get FDA approval and never made it to market. It's much tougher with pharma since they have 4 different rounds of trials they have to survive. But it's not a shoo in for med device either. Even under 510k approval rules. Under the 510k process we have to prove that we're at least equivalent to the Davinci in safety and efficacy. We don't have to go through rounds of clinical trials as part of the direct approval process. Although there will be several published trials and a pivotal trial which will be submitted to FDA as the basis for approval showing equivalence to Davinci.
The SPORT could be rejected. It is a possibility, and anyone who believes that it's easy to get FDA approval is wrong in their assessment. Other agencies are not as stringent as FDA which is why most companies go to Europe or Asia 1st to gain approval. Then use that approval to sway the FDA about their data. But there are a plethora of products being sold in Europe and Asia that will never be approved in the United States. The FDA, for all of their issues and problems is still the gold standard for product safety and efficacy of medical products. Despite Ximedica and Columbia/Vanderbilt associations there is an absolute risk that FDA approval won't happen. I would suggest you never discount the risk of any possibility. Maybe you weigh it less, but it's not zero.
That's the thing that drives me crazy about the Hargrove critics. He is an ANIMAL! Most people probably think that Titan is a technology play. If they come up with cutting edge technology that's better than ISRG or whomever comes along, then this will be a home run. WRONG. This is and always has been a sales play. To navigate the dangerous and deep waters of a hospital materials management, insurance reimbursement mine fields, and build relationships with top surgeons in every hospital is difficult. But when truly understand that a guy with that legacy in sales is steering the ship, it's hard to bet against it.
Many on this board are getting caught up with the tactical decisions ie. non existent PR's, which video is on the home page, etc, etc. None of that is going to drive revenue for the company over the long term. And at the end of the day, sustainable cash flow is what drives a stock price and value of a company up. Not a video on a website, or a PR saying how awesome a company is.
I'm putting my money on Hargrove and the team he's assembled.
Very long, and strong! See you in 3 years.
i agree. i'm sure some of the Ximedica people will be embedded into Titan.
IMO, they'll hire a salesforce, and train them before FDA approval. The on boarding process is going to be longer than most device co's only b/c I'm there's a lot of training and certifying that the reps will need to do, i.e. being proficient on the robot. learning the procedures based on Titan's model. They'll hire a lot of ISRG reps, but they will still want them to do things the Titan way. So they'll be a lot of deprogramming and reprogramming. And if for some reason FDA approval doesn't come, they'll just fire all the reps.
I think you're right. The M&A guys would need at least a year to work up the valuation on a deal this big. Lots of moving parts. But if Titan becomes a target and a bidding war happens, I just hope it's after we have some good revenue numbers to boost our valuation. I'm not in the camp that doesn't want a buyout. A bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush that's worth zero. LOL
wouldn't surprise me. big pharma is tired of patent cliffs and looking to diversify. several of the big boys have already moved into the med device space.
That's exactly my point. would it be great if the stock soars to $100? absolutely, but that doesn't mean that $8-$10 isn't still a HOME RUN investment. 800% return would be the largest ROI I've ever had in my investing career. Even though we're owed a return, it doesn't mean that we'll get it. There is just as much chance that the stock could go to $0 as it could go to $100. There is always risk and it's not a sure bet. Noting is a sure bet. Just ask the investors of World Com, Enron, or AOL, or any Dot Com that imploded and everyone lost everything. There needs to always be perspective. I'll take $8 and would be skipping to the bank whistling all the way there.
I completely agree. Robotics is the future and Titan is in a great position to capitalize on this emerging market. ISRG and TITXF will be the Ford and Chevy to the robotics space (hopefully without all the recalls) LOL!
Sandman, I completely agree. This is a long term investment and will take years to realize it's full value. And I agree with CUIN also that this is basically a new company now with the development of SPORT.
I'm a med device rep and I'm in the OR's everyday. And I can tell you that TITAN is the buzz of conversation. Everyone is talking about them. Matter of fact it was one of the top davinci surgeons who turned me onto titan 2 years ago. I watched it and did my DD for about a year before I jumped in. My risk tolerance is low so I only have 20,000 shares, but I personally know several physicians who have well over $100,000 in Titan stock. They're betting that this little company will do big things and they know better than anyone as to the benefits that a new robotics company can bring to the market.
I'm very long on this stock and I'll see you in 3-5 years.
TITXF could go to zero, there's always risk. So I won't be sorely disappointed if the company is sold for $8-$10 a share.
How can any investor turn up his nose at an 800% return on his investment. Maybe we have different investment goals.
I agree. I'm not saying that there should never be any PR's. I'm saying the fact that they have been scarce hasn't hurt the company. I know you disagree. But the stock has done well. Great isn't the enemy of perfect.
Those are 2 separate issues and I was responding to a direct question that CUIN posed to me specifically about the PR about his CEO appointment.
Just because I said "who cares about PR's" that doesn't mean I can't agree with CUIN about whether or not they should have announced the CEO. And it was pointed out in another post that a PR was put out announcing Hargrove as CEO, so my post in response to CUIN is moot. They did announce his appointment.
And announcing who the new CEO is, can directly effect the PPS of a stock because it is material as to who is running the company. Fluffy PR's sharing good news without any serious relevance from a pre revenue company are meaningless. There is a difference.
I knocked Pointofretuen's SA article because I felt that his criticism of mgnt was unfair and wasn't based on the performance of the company under Hargroves tenure as CEO. If you put out an article and attack the mgnt of a company you better be ready to hear constructive criticism from those who disagree with you. He offered much sharper criticism of mgnt than I offered him about his article.
Great question!
Again, right on point. PR's don't raise a stock price, over time. Solid planning and execution of a business strategy does.
I completely agree Sandman. None of us should be trashing the management as that in and of itself is detrimental to the PPS that they (and all of us) want to see go higher. I just wholeheartedly agree with everything you said in your post. You're right on point.
Good find!
I completely agree. The website is terrible. Beverly will need to fire her nephew or whoever built it, and get a professional web development company to build a site that will reflect the quality of the company that they are.
I totally understand where you're coming from. I do. But it's hard for me to complain about a 100% increase. There are investors buried up to their eyeballs in worthless stock, that would kill someone to get a 100% increase. I just can't justify complaining about 100% increase. Over that same time it could have decreased by 100%, so I count my blessings at this point.
Yes, I completely agree with you on this point. He (they) should have announced his appointment as CEO. It's not unreasonable to want such a big announcement to be made public which could help increase the value of the stock.
Akrez, thanks. And yes over the last year the stock has tripled in value. Last March it was .48 and it's 1.60 now. How can Pointofreturn castigate CEO Hargrove based on the performance of the stock under his stewardship? He's complaining about lack of PR's, but WHO CARES if they release more PR's if the freggin stock has tripled over the last 12 months? There is a major disconnect with his complaint. He's trying to blame Hargrove for decisions that were made before he was the CEO. And I think that is not fair.
It's highly unusual to hire a new CEO and not announce it. I can't think of any other company that has ever done that. Never heard of that before.
Doesn't mean it was the wrong decision. It's obvious that the company's strategy is to keep everything close to the vest, even the hiring of their CEO. Again, extremely unusual.
Only time will tell if that's a good strategy.
Honecomb777, you're taking exception with management's tactics, which is fine.
However, the tactics of management are irrelevant if their performance is excellent. If Hargrove didn't put out a single PR in a year, but the value of the company increased by 200% over that same time. Is that excellent performance or is he doing a disservice to investors because he kept everyone in the dark about the progress of the company?
Who cares about a 6 month PR blackout if the company's value has doubled in that time frame? And the PPS is supported by EBITA. In lieu of operational income, investors invest based on speculation of future value not PR's. PR's don't generate shareholder value that can be sustained over time. PR's are fools gold. Look at all the pump and dumps out there touting how glorious their companies are. It's a PR-a-palooza! And the companies are worthless.
Every investor wants maximum value today. But a wise investor wants to invest in a vehicle that creates value, not just for today, but over time. Over time, is the hard part but the most critical aspect of a public company.
Your complaints about Beverly Brooks are again a complaint about tactical issues. There are no strategic interests in hiring decisions below the C Suite. So who cares about Beverly and her $84k salary. She clearly brings value or she wouldn't be there.
And your anger over Uncle Joey being able to buy in at the same cost/price basis as a person who has been in the stock for 4 years is irrelevant. Ex post facto - you can't hold current mgnt responsible for things that happened before they were at the controls. Totally unfair criticism.
Again, elevating PPS by releasing PR's once a month isn't the job of the CEO. It's his job to create value over time. He's done that.
Mgnt doesnt need a wake up call. They are doing a great job. It is unreasonable and unjustified to complain about 200% growth under Hargrove's leadership. Totally unfair.
I agree. I just thought that Point's criticism was way over the top and unfair. But I love the info that he provides on the board and I'm a fan of his for sure.
I have to disagree with PointofReturn's Seeking Alpha article. He has unfairly criticized management for their "lack of sophistication in respect to the markets":
"I can tell you for certain that the management team is not out of touch, rather they are totally unsophisticated with the markets and what they need to keep shareholders interested. This point was really driven home during the Q&A and (if they weren't aware previously) management has now been well-informed of their lackluster performance with respect to this matter."
A CEO of a public company has only 1 job: To maximize the shareholders value OVER TIME. The most important part is "over time."
I'm saying this with love b/c I respect and appreciate Point's contribution to this board. But I feel compelled to defend Hargrove since he has done his job, and it is not reasonable to expect someone to do more than that. Contrary to Point's ignorant statement in the article. It's not Hargrove's job to satisfy ALL the shareholders. Shorts have different goals than the long folk. And day traders have different goals than the shorts and longs. So instead of trying to satisfy these different factions, he must build long term value and ignore everything and everyone else.
How do you offer such sharp criticism when he and mgnt were able to raise enough capital to make it to commercialization? Apparently, there are many investors who disagree with you as the warrant market has favorably responded to 2 rounds of financing back to back! That to me is impressive, maybe it is that you are not easily impressed.
Since Hargrove came on board, the stock is up about 200%. With that level of performance how can you vilify him as "unsophisticated with the markets and what they need to keep shareholders interested?" That is totally unfair.
I think that your judgment has been clouded because you have been in this stock from the beginning, and you're blaming Hargrove for past mistakes before his tenure. And that is not fair either.
Sending out meaningless PR's just to prop up the stock price isn't the job of management. Do some pre revenue companies flood the media with PR's? Absolutely. If that is their strategy, then God bless them. But as you can tell that isn't the strategy that Hargrove and his team has decided to adopt. And as long as milestones are met I have no problem with management's "level of market sophistication." Matter of fact, I hope they continue with the same level of "market sophistication" and we see another 200% gain in the next 12 months.
Point, I always enjoy your analysis and in depth knowledge of this stock. But I have to divert from you on this one. You got it wrong.
Gratitude.
Absolutely! And out of Davinci or Titan. which system do you think payers (ins companies) will recommend that institutions should buy and use? Yep, Titan! Insurance companies are in the healthcare business. They're in the business of making profits. They make more money when margins are higher, and costs are lower. Whatever they don't spend, they keep. In 10 years, people who looked past this tiny little start up canadian company, will be kicking themselves for not making a bet on Titan.
EXACTLY! You understand what I'm saying and you soooo get it. Obamacare or any other man made process can't stop the evolution of robotic assisted surgery. Surgeons will never accept the idea that since robotic surgery is too expensive TODAY, that they should go back to Laparoscopy or Laparotomy. Frankly, they don't give a s*it. Hospitals lose money on every singe robotic surgery. Every single one. And the proliferation of robots continues. The robotic companies will figure out a way to get the costs down. Titan, the 1st competitor to market is already planning on doing that!
The payers control the healthcare system. Period. End Stop. So once they realize that the technology is here to stay and they can't stop it. They'll look for ways to mitigate the costs by outsourcing the one component which is the highest cost: the Dr.
And more than likely what will eventually happen is many of these surgeries will be done remotely from developing countries where labor is cheap. Even Dr.'s labor. That's probably way off down the road but it will eventually happen as it won't matter if the dr is sitting at a console 15 feet away or at a console 8000 miles away in India connected by the internet.
Your drafting example is a perfect comparison. Once the technology advancement genie is out of the bottle, then you can't stop it. Happens in every industry!
You can't stop the advancement evolution. Robotic surgery is the future. NOTHING AND NO ONE CAN STOP IT.
Robotic surgery will advance from being tethered together by wires--which is the current situation. Then it'll be wireless through some sort of bluetooth type technology or WiFi. Then it'll be connected through an internet connection. Technology will create the ability for the robot/patient and dr. operating to be farther and farther apart.
It's early in the game and this is still an emerging technology. Most people are familiar with the 1st mover advantage. But there is a 2nd mover advantage too. The 2nd person to come to a market gets to pick off pissed off customers of the 1st mover, and get people who considered it but never pulled the trigger for a variety of reason. And in this specific market it was probably the price of the Davinci.
I'm long and strong. See you in 3 years.
Your analysis isn't adding in the calculation of the Dr.'s. Obamacare will squeeze everyone which is no different than what the Ins co's have been doing for decades. So changes aren't going to STOP progress. Robotics are the future. It's early in the technology. The industry will make the robots better and demand to use this technology by the surgeons is only going to increase. The idea that docs will go back to straight stick lap surgery after having had a chance to use a robot is never going to happen.
They will demand the technology and it'll be provided to them. The reason that the robotic costs are higher than Lap right now is b/c ISRG has raped the hospitals with outrageous ongoing costs and a $2 million robot. Hospitals lose money on every single Davinci case. EVERY SINGLE ONE! That model isn't sustainable especially since competition is coming and that will naturally drive down the costs. Robotics is the future. Obamacare, insurance co's, & hospitals won't be able to stop the tidal wave that is slowly building.
I'm long on Titan and have gone into this investment knowing that it won't be realized for probably 3+ years. Should be an interesting ride.