Owning 78,600 shares of ASTI is nothing compared to most investors but it represents a large holding for me.
Some points regarding this company that have not been mentioned, at least I have not seen them.
1. Military/government deals. Read an article recently that the Air Force does not have enough parts or money for parts for the aircraft already owned. This tells me that the military complex/government is not spending money or investing in the military, rather they are spending it on social programs. This is easy to see as the Obama administration is very transparent on this issue.
NASA and other space programs are on hold with the exception of private companies funded by the likes of Google and billionaires.
Speaking of billionaires, point #2
2. Trump will be elected president of the United States, such as it is. For all the arguments for or against the man are irrelevant but what is true is that there are many rich people out there with money ready to invest. Farm land has been one investment, stocks are low on their screens, in short, they have hoarded cash, waiting.
Trump 'euphoria' will loosen those strings. The military under trump will make the military under Reagan look like the military under Obama. NASA: Race to Mars, etc... for those of you old enough just remember the power of NASA and space exploration during the cold war, remember how cost was not an obstacle? Do I like Trump? Not relevant to ASTI other than the company will benefit greatly with any other president than the one currently in office.
3. Looking at the numbers recently and even the comment by the CEO show there is more behind those numbers than he can say at this time. R&D, cost of sales, news of new outlets...to spend 10mil to make 700k+ either means great mishandling of business OR the seeds have been planted for future earnings MUCH better than current.
4. To cut back on workers and plans would make sense if not for the fact the companies products are selling. Yes, currently government is lagging but see #2 above, it will change as everything always changes. It would be foolish to cut back on workers as it is hard to retain 'good' workers especially in technology.
Just my opinion which is worth as much as dust on the moon, but I see great potential in this company. Twelve months from now it will be interesting to see how wrong or right I was but if the market was easy to make money in then everyone would be investing.
