Year End Plans: CTSO, one that I got out of

Year End … CTSO, one that I got out of

I had a moment of madness in 2014 when I took tiny positions in three-penny stocks. I don’t know how I first got interested in CTSO, but they were growing revenue rapidly. However they were still losing money. Investing in companies which are losing money went against all my internal rules and principles.

I bought in to CTSO in June at between 23.8 cents and 24.5 cents. I came to my senses in August, when it became clear that while there was theoretical reason to think their device might be beneficial, there was no evidence it was, and the few studies that had been run were equivocal at best. As anyone who knows anything about medicine knows, citing a few case studies is meaningless. You need a controlled study. There weren’t any that showed positive results. All their stories of “success” refer to success in getting distributors, or “opinion setters”. It started to seem like it was very questionable long term.

I sold out at 25.2 cents. Since then they announced Sept quarter results. Revenues continued up. Losses were even greater than the year before. In fact they were considerably greater than total revenue, making profits any time soon very unlikely. Since then they did a 1-for-25 reverse split so they could get listed. It doesn’t help the company, but probably will help the insiders sell stock. 1-for-25 made my 25.2 cents worth $6.30. It shot up to $10 on the basis of the reverse split. Today it blew off steam as high as $12.87 and then dropped as low as $9.32 and closed at $10.40, down about 50 cents, or 5%. If some of you were still in it, I hope you got out during the blow-off above $12. It may go on up, but I have no regrets about selling out. This is DEFINITELY not my kind of stock. As I said, a moment of madness.

Saul

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Saul,

Re: CSTOD ticker symbol for the next 20 days.

“Reverse Share Splits Are Normally Bad News.”

Been bruned by many companys that pull a Reverse Stock Split. When a company announces a Reverse Stock Split, I sell the stock immediately if not sooner.

http://finance.zacks.com/reverse-stock-split-good-bad-2298.h…

http://www.davemanuel.com/2008/03/14/what-is-a-reverse-stock…

http://quotes.ino.com/analysis/splits/ look on down to 2014-12-05

Why it was done.http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cytosorbents-issues-shareholde… kruz on down to #1.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cytosorbents-reports-temporary…

http://www.rightline.net/stocksplits/stock-split-calendar.ht…
http://www.rightline.net/home/stocksplits.html

http://biz.yahoo.com/c/14/s12.html

Quillnpenn -

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Just in case you have any question about how bad the last quarter results were, inspire of the headlines about a million dollars in product revenues of the first time, here’s the excerpt from the press release.

Financial Results for the Third Quarter Ended September 30, 2014

CytoSorbents generated revenues of approximately $1,162,000 and $881,000 for the three months ending September 30, 2014 and September 30, 2013, respectively. Product revenues were approximately $1,032,000 for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, an increase of approximately 406% as compared to product revenues of $204,000 for the quarter ended September 30, 2013. Additionally, grant revenue and other income was approximately $131,000 and $677,000 for the three month periods ended September 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Overall blended gross margins were approximately 59%, with product gross margins of approximately 65%.

Our loss from operations for the three months ending September 30, 2014 was approximately $1,498,000, as compared to a net loss from operations of approximately $965,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2013.

On September 30, 2014 our cash and short-term investments were approximately $7,780,000, as compared to cash balances of approximately $2,183,000 as of December 31, 2013. This increase in cash is a direct result of our March 2014 registered offering of our Common Stock from which we received approximately $9,451,000 in net proceeds.

Thus, product revenues of $1.0 million, up 400%…but losses of $1.5 million, up from a loss of $965,000. That means, by the way, that they took in $1.0 million and spent $2.5 million. Not good!

In March they raised $9.5 million. Now they have $7.8 million left. If they hadn’t done the offering they’d be broke already in Sept. Not good!

Saul

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Saul do you have similar thoughts regarding AEYE? Thanks.

Saul do you have similar thoughts regarding AEYE? Thanks.

Hi Utah Chris,
I’m not sure what to think about AEYE. They talk about greatly increasing their Revenue, but then there has been a question about how much of that revenue (and earnings coming from it), is non-cash. They are not very explicit. They seem to sign up some impressive clients (like a branch of U of California, and like Wheaton College), but there haven’t been any announcements in a while. I have kept my position very small, but I am gradually tapering out of it, thinking that it may have been a mistake in spite of my initial enthusiasm.

Saul

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. Happy New Year!

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