Speaking of the scoreboard and stock price...
It occurs to me that if I were in love with the investment opportunities presented by VEND, buying stock on the public market is not where I would place my bet.
There are so many options - publicly-traded VEND, kiosks, 19 Degrees, private placements....
By process of elimination -
19 Degrees is a sucker's bet, since its selection of kiosks will be adversely affected by negative selection (only the worst-performing franchisee-owned kiosks will be transferred in) and higher administrative costs. So, that's out.
You could buy a kiosk, but between the kiosk owner and the company, I would have to think that the winner in any arrangement is the company. Profit on the sale and 12% royalty plus other benefits. So, sorry, RoBoZo, but I think you have the relative concentration of your purported investment reversed. I think you'd do better as a stockholder than a franchisee (unless, of course, you manage to sell the INCREDIBLE numbers of cups that you have claimed! And I can't count on RoBoZo levels of performance).
So, for me at least, that brings it down to a choice between the public shares and the private placement deals. True, the private placements seem to all have lock-up periods, but they haven't been very onerous. And the current offering is quite attractive relative to buying stock outright. You come in (a) as a creditor, higher up in the food chain for repayment, (b) earning 15% interest, (c) with a right to convert to common shares if it suits you, and (d) at a conversion price that is at a significant discount to the market price. Unless there are undisclosed negatives associated with the private placement, it strikes me that this choice is a no-brainer.
So, if I had $25,000 or more with which to profess my love for VEND, I'd be on the phone with Nick arranging a private placement for myself.
Which brings me back to the scoreboard/stock price. I think the price is highly unlikely to rise significantly while the private placement option is available. Unless you are either not an accredited investor or you're just ignorant, you'd limit your purchases to the private placements, and the public stock price will not reflect your interest. On top of that, the profligate issuances of stock in private placements and otherwise have generated and continue to generate massive dilution, so your purchase will be at the mercy of that.
Has there ever been a time in the last year or two when the private placement option wasn't on the table? I don't think so. So, there's some doubt about my theory in light of the price spike that occurred just over a year ago in response to the successful pumping over future prospects. I guess there are a lot of retail investors who were motivated by the press releases and such to run out and buy without looking into things like the private placement. And, it could happen again. But for anyone who takes the time to look, a private placement approach would be the way to go, and that won't do the stock price any good.
AI
