Trading Below Cash

The stock went public at $24 after having raised $6 a share in cash. The company did fine for four years, ran profitably, saving its pennies. But it grew too conservative. It didn't take any risk on new product or marketing ventures. It just sat there after having saved $5 more in cash, so it had $11 in cash and no debt.

And then revenues declined. Profit margins went away as the world turned to competitive products and other ways to waste time. The company became hated by Wall Street...and worse: ignored.

So the stock drifted down and down and down...and now it trades at 8 bucks a share. That's $3 a share below cash, below the actual cash value of the country.

How can this happen? That's beyond insulting. Well, it turns out that investors believe that the company will never return to profitability, let alone breakeven. It'll just fade away to nothingness, so nobody wants to own it. If the new management team and board prove the Street wrong, shareholders can make bank. If they don't, well, they'll just die...slowly.