Poet Technologies Inc (POET)

[mackwheaton]

This stock and this company have been a sad joke over the past year. The share price sits at 1/3 of where it sat just less than a year ago. The company claimed to release a dozen new products into production in 2023. Really? Where is the revenue generated from these products, how much time and money have been wasted on products that have not, or cannot, be sold?

Now the company claims it needs to reward employees (primarily executives themselves) with options repriced at a fraction of their current strikes in order to retain them. Looking at what has transpired this past year, if I’m one of those employees getting repriced options, I’d convert any in the money options into shares ASAP, take the profit and go to work for a photonics company with a CFO that doesn’t constantly destroy and dilute the value of shares, and a CEO that 1) knows how to make products that companies want, and 2) knows how to draw the interest of investors instead of waxing on and on about the products they are developing (but have not made money, and probably won’t for another two years, or more).

They will get their repriced options, ensured by their recent generous offerings, and they have money on hand for another year of product development. So they will again go silent until, sometime in 2025, they once again come with hat in hand, begging for more money to get to the finish line, the value of shares further diluted and existing shareholders be damned.

Institutional investors of any repute will remain miles away from POET until 1) they land deals with top level customers that include visibility of revenues to be generated and 2) major upgrades are made to the executive team and board of directors.