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Post by bradleysbest on Mar 6, 2017 14:31:53 GMT -5
Very sad to see MNKD wither away to this... I had so much hope for Afrezza. My investment has gone to shit & there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel!
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Post by LosingMyBullishness on Mar 6, 2017 14:33:44 GMT -5
Delisting isn't really a concern right now. What we are worried about is perceptions, and what management was thinking, and what they are doing. The odds of surviving 6 months, with what we know today, I figure to be 10%. Management needs to speak to change that perception, otherwise Shorts and going to continue to dominate (and rightly so). When I listened to the last CC, I heard defeat in their voices. Shorts listened to the call, and smelled blood in the water. Sharks have very good senses... and they are swarming. Unless you have a really big spear, don't jump in the water. MNKD has reduced my spear to a toothpick... It frustrates me that sales people are busy talking about the importance of proper training, that we have not seen the announced commercial, that there are no news about the badly needed label change or new development in TS applications.. nothing. The only thing that moves is the share price and it moves in one direction. I understand that shorts love this stock.
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Post by gamblerjag on Mar 6, 2017 14:35:49 GMT -5
I did.. lol
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Post by dreamboatcruise on Mar 6, 2017 14:36:55 GMT -5
You can blame management for being totally silent and not being proactive in promoting AFREZZA over the last two plus years!! Thats how! Woah wait a minute. But I've been reading here the last 2 years that MNKD/SNY and MNKD were intentionally holding back Afrezza until the "pieces were in place". Sorry I just need a laugh today my portfolio is in shambles. Shhhh! Don't talk about the secret plan... management is definitely wanting to keep that under wraps.
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Post by peppy on Mar 6, 2017 14:37:00 GMT -5
As long as I am witching, when I grew up Markus Welby M.D. was on TV. It looked good to be Markus Welby. 32 years ago, going into the physicians office, they listened to hearts, lungs, palpated, blood pressure etc. The physicians young, happy. I see these same physicians now.... the dream died. they know the gig.
I go into the office, I hear about preventive screening X-RAYS. X-rays are not good for our cells. Radioactive contrast is not good for our cells. In the world I live in the preventative causes cancer. I do not need to see a physician. At this point, I am afraid of what I would say. I am afraid I would look at them and say, "Can you pinpoint the exact day you sold your soul?" The only way I could see a physician is through the ambulance service in an emergency room, where I would be to incapacitated to speak.
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Post by lookingforlogic on Mar 6, 2017 14:37:58 GMT -5
How to Handle a Short Attack on a Stock You Own
Keith Fitz-Gerald Jun 03, 2015 67
An anonymous individual writing under the name “The Pump Stopper” launched a vicious attack on Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc. (OTC:EKSO) yesterday that immediately pressured the stock and caused it to drop 24.28% to close at $1.36 a share on heavy volume. Understandably, that makes a lot of people nervous.
Here’s the thing, though.
If you’ve been in this game long enough, you know what to look for and why stuff like this isn’t a big deal in the scheme of things.
Today we’re going to talk about how to recognize a legitimate short versus a short attack and what to do about it, especially when it comes to a stock you may own like Ekso.
Here’s what you need to know:
First, let’s tackle the elephant in the room – stock manipulation.
Most investors are familiar with the phrase “pump and dump.” That’s what the SEC calls a form of financial fraud used to artificially inflate the price of a stock – usually a small-cap or microcap – for personal gain by distributing misleading and false statements. That’s the pump.
The dump comes later when the fraudsters suddenly sell their stock en masse and the price drops catastrophically, causing investors to lose their money.
It used to be done in so-called boiler rooms or small back offices like those depicted in the film The Wolf of Wall Street, but now it’s most commonly perpetrated via the Internet and chat boards. Pump and dump is so extensive that these kinds of stock scams may now account for an estimated 5-15% of all spam email.
It’s blatantly illegal.
The reverse of that is called “short and distort.” That’s what’s happening with Ekso.
Instead of buying the stock in question, the perpetrators typically short the targeted company first, then release theoretically independent reports and analysis that is little more than a thinly veiled smear campaign. Once the stock has fallen, the parties involved buy to cover, bank their profits, and hopefully disappear.
This, too, is illegal, but that doesn’t change the fact that it happens all the time.
Sadly, the SEC is totally outclassed and seemingly always a step behind. They simply don’t have the resources to detect, prosecute, and punish every short and distort artist out there.
Many people wonder how this is possible, especially today. It’s not as difficult as you would think.
TV personality Jim Cramer gave a hair-raising interview in December 2006 that was aired in March 2007, describing how hedge fund managers and others push stocks higher or lower at will, stating specifically that some hedge fund managers spread false rumors to drive a stock down.
“What’s important when you are in that hedge fund mode,” he noted at the time, “is to not do anything remotely truthful because the truth is so against your view, that it’s important to create a new truth, to develop a fiction.”
Then he outlined three ways to do that:
Spread false rumors Drive futures Give information to reporters who would then spread the “news” giving it an air of legitimacy So how do you recognize legitimate shorting versus a short “attack” or even a bluff? There are a few giveaways:
First, real short sellers don’t hide behind anonymous Internet chat boards and cutesy names. They don’t have multiple email accounts to engage in rumor mongering. And they don’t have websites registered in Panama that have been through nine changes hosted on seven different name servers over the past eight years. That’s because guys like George Soros, Simon Cawkwell, Mark Cohodes, and Jim Chanos – some of the most famous legitimate and successful short sellers of our time don’t need to. They’re idea-driven.
Second, real short sellers don’t want attention. In fact, they want the exact opposite – not to tip anybody off so that they have an extended period of time to maximize their positions. “Short and distort” sellers typically use high volume activity to drive prices down quickly in their own self-interest rather than see them collapse under their own weight.
Third, real short sellers publish factual information if they publish anything at all. Short and distort artists string together information that may or may be germane, let alone accurate under the guise of personal opinion that makes it hard to prosecute. They rely on selected information that is taken out of context or partial truths and inference. Ethics have very little to do with how they play the game. Their sole interest is in creating short term angst that causes investors to bail so that they make money buying depressed shares.
Obviously, this is not pleasant for anybody. Short and distort artists prey on panic. They have a demoralizing effect that can hurt not only individual investors but also the companies they target by slowing down financing and growth.
Believe it or not, though, there is a silver lining.
Sometimes short sellers get burned by their own mojo. If enough people come back into a stock, that pressures the short sellers who are then forced to cover at higher prices in something called a “short burn.” The irony is that many times it’s their own actions that light the fire.
The other thing to think about is that if you buy off on the targeted company’s potential – in this case Ekso – a short attack can be a super time to pick up shares that are temporarily “on sale.”
Speaking of which…
What’s Happening with Ekso Less than an hour after I learned about the story, I was on the phone with Ekso’s CEO Nathan Harding and CFO Max Scheder-Bieschin. As you might imagine, I share your concerns given the very serious nature of the allegations being made. So, I was keen to speak with them.
I learned that the company will be issuing a point-by-point rebuttal to The Pump Stopper and that it will be posted on Ekso’s website as soon as possible. That way all interested parties – investors and “The Pump Stopper” alike – will have access to it at the same time.
This is absolutely consistent with what you would expect from a public company in Ekso’s position and in full compliance with SEC regulations, including FD, Rule 10b5-1 and Rule 10b5-2 governing the release of material non-public information.
The Way to Defeat “Short and Distorts” Is by Keeping Perspective I’ve studied Ekso carefully, reviewed competitive offerings carefully, visited headquarters and, talked extensively with C-level executives, Ekso users, and even health care professionals.
To be very clear, I saw and still see tremendous potential ahead.
Short attacks like this are unfortunate and gut-wrenching. But they come… and they go.
“The Pump Stopper’s” allegations seem credible at first glance, but many of them don’t make sense if you stop and think about them logically for a minute.
Take the allegation that Ekso’s testing centers now prefer competitive products, for example. These are the top treatment centers in the world. It’s not in their interest to be exclusive with any manufacturer… not Ekso, not ReWalk, not Cyberdyne. You could easily substitute their names instead of Ekso’s and instantly those companies would be on the defensive.
Instead, what these treatment centers want is to evaluate and use as many options as possible. They have a medical obligation to their clients to test any device with potential. That way they can offer the broadest spectrum of treatment.
Ekso has never communicated a goal to be the only one there, nor have they claimed that Ekso suits work on all patients. That’s an inference “The Pump Stopper” hopes you’ll make so you’ll hit the sell button and make HIM money.
Or how about the list of employee defections?
People come and go all the time, so employment ebbs and flows with every startup, not just Ekso. This isn’t unusual if you understand how Silicon Valley startups work.
Further, according to CFO Max Scheder-Bieschin, many of those same people are actually working at Ekso again at this very moment. The Pump Stopper doesn’t want you to know that because that interferes with HIS agenda.
Obviously, this situation is a long way from over, which is why I am watching it carefully. There may be more selling ahead. In fact, I’d bet on it.
But what I wouldn’t do is abandon ship in a panic.
We’re talking about a stock that’s between $1 and $2 a share. It’s not like we’re talking about Netflix at $624 a share here. So your downside is limited.
That said – to be really blunt – if you cannot handle the loss of $0.37 a share, you have no business investing in the stock market let alone a startup company like Ekso. Investing is risky and all investments can lose money. That’s why you never, ever invest money in any stock that you can’t afford to be without.
Further, if you’ve taken emotion out of the equation and properly position sized your investments, including Ekso, in keeping with the Total Wealth Tactics we’ve discussed many times, you’re not going to blow up your portfolio if something goes wrong.
And, finally, keep my original instructions in mind. Ekso is a long-term investment that will be volatile. Startups always are. That’s why my original instructions were to average down if the stock fell to $0.75 per share. Barring any change in the material information that Ekso releases shortly regarding The Pump Stopper’s allegations, those still stand.
Still, I know this is tough. Nobody likes to see a stock they believe in get clobbered for any reason… but keep it in perspective.
Microsoft is on track to do $99.3 billion in global revenue for 2015. In 1976, it booked $16,005.
Many times stocks that are ultimately big winners feel frail in the beginning.
Best regards,
Keith
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Post by careful2invest on Mar 6, 2017 14:42:08 GMT -5
Very sad to see MNKD wither away to this... I had so much hope for Afrezza. My investment has gone to shit & there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel! Cant be! Our CEO, CFO, told us that they they were sitting on an "embarrassment of riches" that there would be an "epic turnaround" and just recently, the "reverse split is from a position of strength" Surly he would not lie to his investors... Maybe he got the order confused in his wording... Maybe he meant that if one once had plenty of "riches", they would soon be "embarrassed" about their "epic turnaround" in their tax bracket and that their once "position of" financial "strength" is a thing of the past after investing in MNKD!! The company that he burried! F'ing frustrated at their lack of business prowess!! Amateurs !! And it cost me a nut!!
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Post by peppy on Mar 6, 2017 14:49:49 GMT -5
Quote: Most investors are familiar with the phrase “pump and dump.” That’s what the SEC calls a form of financial fraud used to artificially inflate the price of a stock – usually a small-cap or microcap – for personal gain by distributing misleading and false statements. That’s the pump. The dump comes later when the fraudsters suddenly sell their stock en masse and the price drops catastrophically, causing investors to lose their money.
Reply: Yes
May 11, 2015 3:35pm MannKind Corporation
Jefferies analyst Shaunak Deepak maintained a Buy rating and $9 price target. With advertising, we expect the eventual rate of non-prescribers will fall closer to 12 percent. The 2015-2017 Afrezza use numbers implied by our survey suggest penetration rates nearly four times higher than we had previously modeled, and a $37 PT. To account for potential overreporting by surveyed physicians, we have discounted reported penetration rates by 70 percent and assumed that the reported 2017 penetration is a stand-in for peak.
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Post by dreamboatcruise on Mar 6, 2017 14:51:22 GMT -5
lookingforlogic... but in this case shorts don't have to distort anything. They can simply state the facts... "MNKD is operating at negative cash flow. Revenue has shown no signs of starting a sustained upswing. They will soon run out of money and their ability to raise capital through equity offering is diminishing with the share price." The stock that article is about is an interesting case. The author certainly gave good advice on the trigger to buy. It appears that this stock continued to fall from $1.36 cited as the then current price down to $0.72, so anyone using his trigger of $0.75 would have basically caught the bottom. Now it trades at $3.23. We need him to tell us where MNKD will bottom
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Post by madog365 on Mar 6, 2017 14:53:16 GMT -5
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Post by agedhippie on Mar 6, 2017 15:04:47 GMT -5
THE COMPANY NEEDS TO BE SOLD! THAT IS THE ONLY CHANCE OF SURVIVIAL. Sadly I know it but does the BOD know it. It's far to late for that. At this point you would have to be crazy to buy the company since the drug is not selling (Sanofi failed to sell it, Mannkind is busy failing to sell it, what makes the next company think it can succeed where those two failed? Add to that the hidden cost of paying off the debts to the Foundation and Deerfield and it's hard to see a buyer.
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Post by nemzter on Mar 6, 2017 15:05:31 GMT -5
No point, they've gone short themselves and will not respond I doubt we will make it pass 10 days with the SP over $1 at this pace with the RS.
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Post by gamblerjag on Mar 6, 2017 15:08:27 GMT -5
well the good news is you will be gone in 10 days! whew!!!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2017 15:15:07 GMT -5
He did? I thought he wanted the 1-10. Tell me more:-) "First off, even if the stock has not managed to get back over $1 and stay there long enough in time to meet the criteria to avoid delisting, the company can file for another six-month extension (and such petitions are almost always granted), or, alternatively, the company could guarantee the stock price would be over $1 by simply convincing shareholders to approve a reverse split of the stock." www.notwallstreet.com/mannkind-mnkd-12717/Christ.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2017 15:18:04 GMT -5
FWIW the market is taking a huge $hit today. Speculative stocks getting hit the hardest.
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