Network-1 CEO and Chairman Corey M. Horowitz
Several event-driven catalysts seem to be emerging on the horizon for Network-1 Technologies Inc. (NYSEMKT:NTIP). This article will describe these possible catalysts and evaluate the merits of an investment in this microcap intellectual property firm. First, let's take a look at the fundamentals.
Despite the lofty valuations of most US stocks these days, Network-1 Technologies is one company that is profitable, growing, debt free and trading at a P/E under 4. Here are some other basic metrics:
Market Cap: 87.5M
Cash and cash equivalents: 57.8M
Price/Book: 1.7
Price/Sales: 1.4
Price/Cash Flow: 2.3
Forward dividend yield: 2.7%
Debt: 0
TTM ROE: 64%
Insider Ownership: 32.8%
Interested?
Network-1 develops, licenses and protects intellectual property assets. Put another way, Network-1 is in the business of acquiring high-quality patents on cutting edge inventions and then monetizing them by selling usage licenses. Since Network-1 owns technology patents, their licensees are often well-known tech companies such as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (GOOGL) and Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO). The interesting part is that historically, most or all of Network-1's licensees have been unwilling customers.
This is where the "protect" part of the firm's mission statement comes in as a bulk of the operating expenses consist of legal consulting fees. Essentially, Network-1's CEO and Chairman, Corey M. Horowitz, has developed a consistent track record of dragging Fortune 500 tech companies into court and extracting multimillion-dollar licensing deals from them. If this business model sounds unscrupulous at first glance, consider that Network-1 actually is supporting technological innovation, which makes the world a better place, by providing inventors with a credible way to monetize their ideas.
In the fiercely competitive IP industry, Network-1 isn't the biggest in terms of financial resources or staff, but unlike most of its competitors, the firm has reported a solid profit almost every
