Quarterhill Inc (QTRH.TO)

They are sitting on tons of cash and pay a really nice dividend. People just love to hate this company. There is still upside and they still have a valuable patent portfolio. At some point it will bottom out. They need something to get this thing going. There is not a lot of downside because of the cash position.

They go around and sue somebody that has infringed on a technology patent. Has always found this hard to value. Very lumpy. They miss a quarter because nothing happens. He doesn’t like this one. Because it is lumpy, wait for announcement that would give it a $.50 bump and then sell it.

Had been Short on this for quite a period of time, but thinks it is time to be covering. If this company were to sell off all of their patents, the stock would be much higher than where it is currently trading at. He is looking at this from the Buy side, but it is definitely a Hold.

One of the biggest reasons he has had a tough time with this is that their numbers tend to be fairly lumpy. As they get these patent awards, the numbers really come through. And then there will be long periods where nothing happens. Underlying cash flow seems to be pretty secure. This is a stock that you really want to trade around. When it gets sold off by the market, that is the time to buy, and then when it gets bid up after they signed a couple of deals, it is probably the time to sell.

(Market Call Minute.) They continue to make decent money, but are in the midst of changing their business model. He would wait for further indications that the new model will be successful.

Doesn’t follow this company closely. It tends to be news driven. They make their money by suing people. It has a stable of patents that it acquired, and then finds companies that are infringing on their patents. It tends to go up when it wins a lawsuit, and aside from that it tends to get forgotten.

On his watch list. They constantly put out announcements in the media and are constantly doing deals. There are a number of companies that he just can’t completely understand. They generally lose money. They look like they should do well and they don’t.

It is much harder to go after companies for royalties than it used to be. They lost a couple of rounds with Apple. There is not a lot of downside risk to revenues. He does not see a lot of upside, however.

Does not follow it closely. They have been working on finding ways to fund these legal battles they fight. They are looking at partnering with legal firms. It is not a steady state in terms of earnings growth. The payout is safe at the moment.

Raised their dividend about a week ago. Sitting on tons of cash. Earnings are pretty good, but forecast is pretty bad. They had such a bad time with predictions that they decided to set the bar very low. Yields 6% and they have cash to pay it. A nice little way to play the tech sector.

They get involved in patent lawsuits and it’s a company that is very hard to model. It tends to be very lumpy and volatile. This is not a name that she would own because it is very unpredictable.

(Top Pick Jan 21/14, Up 5.54%) A roller coaster ride. They are hell bent on signing a licensing deal or winning in court with AAPL-O. Some good upside.

A patent portfolio. It is a tough business to predict. You don’t know when they might get a licensing deal.

The potentially positive news is that the downtrend from early 2012 seems to be breaking. There has been a little bit of consolidation, so that is some encouraging news from a technical perspective. Still in the early stages so he would be a little cautious. If they can break above $4 and stay there, it could be a good story.

Strong from end of September to early January. It has not shown too much in the last couple of years. This stock has been trending higher recently. They key is that it is currently in an upward trend. It is slightly below its 20 day moving average. 2 out of 3 indicators are good. There are lots of other opportunities in technology but this one is okay. It is a news-driven stock and there is volatility.