portfolio14 Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 What I thought back in July. I'm out of it. My original thesis was: it's an average but profitable annuity-like business + a pile of cash + NOL SODI has never lost money since emerged from bankruptcy until now. Apply Occam's razor, there is a high chance it has something to do with the CEO leaving. So, the original premise is broken. It may still be cheap, but my margin of safety is gone. This gives me a very pedestrian annualised return after holding it for 4 years. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLynchJr Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 Latest 10Q filed today. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/91668/000121390017000376/0001213900-17-000376-index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wachtwoord Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Latest 10Q filed today. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/91668/000121390017000376/0001213900-17-000376-index.htm Yes I was waiting for this on Monday and then discovered it was Martin Luther King day :P Anyway, great earnings. Profitable again! I'm holding (bought more in December) and am curious to see what the new management can deliver in the coming quarters. Great work Tim! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oddballstocks Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Latest 10Q filed today. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/91668/000121390017000376/0001213900-17-000376-index.htm Yes I was waiting for this on Monday and then discovered it was Martin Luther King day :P Anyway, great earnings. Profitable again! I'm holding (bought more in December) and am curious to see what the new management can deliver in the coming quarters. Great work Tim! Agreed, things are going in a positive direction. Looks like the fall in profitability was because of the former-CEO, not in spite of him. Solitron was able to retain a key customer, bring on a new customer and they're expanding their products. It's interesting that former employees are coming back as well. They believed in the products, but not in management. This isn't surprising. I remember taking a phone call from Saraf where he berated me for having the audacity to suggest the company buy back shares or pay a dividend, or ask why CFO's continued to quit. I realized it was him, the guy was toxic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalal.Holdings Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Removal of the legal/shareholder dispute costs from former management should hopefully lead to reversion of prior profits and cash flows. Was a good quarter on the income statement side of things, cash flows negative due to increase in accounts receivable, so that will be something to watch. Overall, with the new activist CEO and potential "defense spending" upside, looks like a pretty good opportunity here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragnarisapirate Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 This is one heck of a story! This company always had potential, and I am super excited for what Tim has done, and will continue to do with it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispy Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Any thoughts on the ~10% drop yesterday? I cant find any recently released information. On the sidelines looking for a good entry point. The company and Mr. Eriksen's position is very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Eriksen Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 Solitron filed an 8-K today providing an update on the inventory charge. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/91668/000121390017007828/f8k071417_solitrondevices.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalal.Holdings Posted July 22, 2017 Share Posted July 22, 2017 Let's hope for a swift turnaround and righting of the ship from here -- filing of the 10-K, re-listing to OTCQB, and sustainable positive cash flows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stahleyp Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 It looks like there were shares traded at $3.05 today. Back up to $4.10 now. crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin T Posted September 26, 2017 Share Posted September 26, 2017 Opened a small position as it hit $3.05 again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watsa_is_a_randian_hero Posted September 27, 2017 Share Posted September 27, 2017 anyone see the inventory charge announcement? Sounds like Tim is placing blame on prior management for incorrect accounting. My question to Tim would be - ok - so is there a clawback on the buyout of prior management? Or are we all just screwed? I would say if there was no clawback in the greenmail that was paid to prior management, that sounds like a big mistake. "an inability of management to affirm proper inventory calculations for the past two fiscal years, including an apparent failure to perform an E&O assessment or incorporate a wafer yield loss adjustment" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spekulatius Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 anyone see the inventory charge announcement? Sounds like Tim is placing blame on prior management for incorrect accounting. My question to Tim would be - ok - so is there a clawback on the buyout of prior management? Or are we all just screwed? I would say if there was no clawback in the greenmail that was paid to prior management, that sounds like a big mistake. "an inability of management to affirm proper inventory calculations for the past two fiscal years, including an apparent failure to perform an E&O assessment or incorporate a wafer yield loss adjustment" So it took them 10 month to find out that prior management didn’t account for inventory correctly? Good luck blaming them or trying to claw back anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Eriksen Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 anyone see the inventory charge announcement? Sounds like Tim is placing blame on prior management for incorrect accounting. My question to Tim would be - ok - so is there a clawback on the buyout of prior management? Or are we all just screwed? I would say if there was no clawback in the greenmail that was paid to prior management, that sounds like a big mistake. "an inability of management to affirm proper inventory calculations for the past two fiscal years, including an apparent failure to perform an E&O assessment or incorporate a wafer yield loss adjustment" Section 4 answers your first question https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/91668/000121390016015290/f8k072216ex10i_solitrondev.htm I don't think greenmail is accurate. We paid a significant discount to the market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Eriksen Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 A press release was issued today after market close. https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/09/29/1135074/0/en/Solitron-Devices-Inc-Announces-Preliminary-Second-Quarter-and-First-Quarter-Results.html Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wachtwoord Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 A press release was issued today after market close. https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/09/29/1135074/0/en/Solitron-Devices-Inc-Announces-Preliminary-Second-Quarter-and-First-Quarter-Results.html Tim Thanks for keeping us up to date here and continuing to be responsive to questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Eriksen Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 A press release was issued today after the market's close https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/04/12/1469599/0/en/Solitron-Devices-Inc-Announces-Preliminary-Unaudited-Fourth-Quarter-Sales-and-Bookings.html Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spekulatius Posted April 13, 2018 Share Posted April 13, 2018 A press release was issued today after the market's close https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/04/12/1469599/0/en/Solitron-Devices-Inc-Announces-Preliminary-Unaudited-Fourth-Quarter-Sales-and-Bookings.html Tim Bookings are falling off a cliff. Solitrons products look like offerings from the nineties, which is probably one of the biggest issues with this company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
writser Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 Saraf probably feels great about selling his shares at $3.91 in 2016. Share price is falling off a cliff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valueyoda Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 Absolutely, the balance sheet margin of safety was gone with the buyout of Saraf, so then it became a bet on the underlying business, and we never felt comfortable enough that the company in its current form would or could produce sustainable profits. I don't envy Tim, who has been dealt a tough hand despite his good efforts, in this situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Eriksen Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 Saraf probably feels great about selling his shares at $3.91 in 2016. Share price is falling off a cliff. Boards face two choices in this situation. Negotiate a severance only package or a severance plus stock repurchase. I felt he would stick to his guns on the severance but probably didn't want to own the stock if he wasn't in control. Thus a combination deal would be the better approach. Another way to look at the repurchase price is if you assume he would have fully collected his three years severance pay plus accrued vacation and COBRA benefits had he pursued it legally, that would have been $1.41 million. So the issue was should the Company do a comprehensive package and gain some savings regardless of whether either side viewed it as reducing the severance or the repurchase price. If you assume he could fully collect severance the buying back of his stock and options was an additional $1.43 million. If so the effective repurchase price was $2.53 per share for the 331,027 shares of stock and approx. 290,000 options less their respective exercise prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookie71 Posted December 5, 2018 Share Posted December 5, 2018 I've been watching this thread for quite a while and have to ask, Is this the same Solitron Devices that broke a lot of folks in the 60's? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hielko Posted December 5, 2018 Share Posted December 5, 2018 I think buying Saraf's shares made a lot of sense at the time, even though in hindsight it now doesn't look so great. At the time the thesis was obviously that Solitron was undervalued, and buying back a large block of shares at market price should have been a good deal. I think the real problem is simply that Solitron isn't as good as a business that people thought it would be with Saraf removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spekulatius Posted December 5, 2018 Share Posted December 5, 2018 I think buying Saraf's shares made a lot of sense at the time, even though in hindsight it now doesn't look so great. At the time the thesis was obviously that Solitron was undervalued, and buying back a large block of shares at market price should have been a good deal. I think the real problem is simply that Solitron isn't as good as a business that people thought it would be with Saraf removed. Agreed. Their products look very stale to me. Right now, if you are in the defense business and it isn’t humming, you are doing something wrong. My guess is that their products were in some long tale projects.platforms that are running out and never were replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Eriksen Posted December 5, 2018 Share Posted December 5, 2018 I think buying Saraf's shares made a lot of sense at the time, even though in hindsight it now doesn't look so great. At the time the thesis was obviously that Solitron was undervalued, and buying back a large block of shares at market price should have been a good deal. I think the real problem is simply that Solitron isn't as good as a business that people thought it would be with Saraf removed. Agreed. Their products look very stale to me. Right now, if you are in the defense business and it isn’t humming, you are doing something wrong. My guess is that their products were in some long tale projects.platforms that are running out and never were replaced. Much of sales are legacy products, although we have invested in some development projects. Unlike most industries where prices fall on legacy products, Solitron's have tended to rise. It is not so much a case of end of life for programs other than Sea Sparrow which ended in 2015, as prior management pissing off customers to the point they went elsewhere. Changing our reputation and regaining that business takes a long time. In some cases it takes failure by the other company in either quality or delivery time. Others it just takes becoming an approved bidder and winning the annual contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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