I believe ASICminer's management team is honest. I have reasonable faith they are learning from their mistakes.
Unfortunately, if anyone's been paying any attention to the Prisma thread, this honesty hasn't done a thing to dissuade customers from the ASICMINER brand - a heavy loss, as ASIC chip manufacturers are essentially dead in the water once they've fucked up.
We needed a blowout with the Tubes/Prismas, and instead we saw the last of AM's goodwill burned away by an inferior product. The only thing that could sway my opinion as an analyst at this point is AM buying out and acquiring Rockminer as their hardware assembly and customer/investor relations branch with a subsequent re-evaluation of overall strategy. Anything other than this would constitute an absolute failure, regardless of whatever dividends are released this quarter or half.
The
BTC0.1 point is
not a buy, but rather a heavy, heavy sell at these BTC-USD prices based on consumer sentiment, with my neutral point being around 0.0775, with a buy at 0.05. There are other full-hardware ASIC brands that have outdone AM on customer relations and overall satisfaction - the ability to leave a device running without worrying about it is a key factor that has been left unmet by this past generation of devices. Moving forward, shareholders cannot expect a sustainable return on a
BTC0.1 investment within the next year with the current market sentiment aligned the way it has currently fallen following the Prisma/Tube shitshow that has surfaced, especially considering the response by the company to dissatisfied orders - do you really think the major US resellers are about to make orders for AM's next generation of hardware? Canary and CrazyGuy, et al. will likely be dealing with lemon-based complaints well into the new year.
I sold off the last of my holdings today at
BTC0.098 for a
sad loss, and based on what I've read from customers (not to mention what I've
not read from friedcat&co. due to an utter lack of communication), I've set my expectations for lower future sales based on the current pricing strategy accordingly.
My
caveat emptor advice to readers: do not buy until you feel the price of shares accurately represents the value of the company again. Do your research, compare AM's market cap and internal rate of return to companies on the open (even fiat) markets, and only then - buy accordingly. A ~$14m valuation may appear as a bargain compared to historic returns, but again, never base investment decisions on historic performance, especially whe the majority of a company's balance sheet relies on "goodwill", which has surely been obliterated by the most recent generation of hardware.
For comparison, take a look at the fundamentals of AMD, which has been similarly priced and has similar fundamentals to AM in recent years. I'm not saying AM is a total loss right now, but as an investor, I'm certainly not trying to hold stock at this price point.
Herein lies the problem with self-contained public offerings as a whole. Companies who float stocks for public sale normally are required to show heavy adherence to many regulatory bodies before being accepted on likewise; heavily regulated, stock exchanges. Indeed there are rogue companies not just in the ASIC industry who will rely on the loyalty and high expectations of closely-linked investors / customers, but investing in anything 'off-the-grid' as it were, is a highly risky business to partake in, as has been explained by jjdub7 above.. who has accepted the loss which is current. That, however does in no way mean that AM 1/2/3 et al share prices will not rise again in the future. Looking at the state of play as is, furthermore assures me that I, for one, would also be looking to sell off at this slight loss prior to incurring more of a hit.
take it this way, AM is the only h/w that I do not have, either powered down or currently running. I'm obsessive with my miners and can't stop tinkering, but I wouldn't want anything which carries an AM chip, that is currently on the market. I've gone through machines from all other manufacturers, sometimes at my delight, other times with a screwface and as one who remains very cautious inasmuch that I never buy a batch1 device, I just can't see myself wanting to buy anything with BE300, i fear (for those who are invested) that particular chip is going to be again, way behind the mark on h/w released concurrently with it.
My own
caveat emptor on investments comes from many many years of ups and downs trading in many different commodities and i'm currently sitting with stock of 100barrels of brent which i'm unlikely to make profit on for a good couple of years. Bear in mind the situation that you are in, with likeness to my own situation with my brent, your investment in AM may or may not be safe to profit from in the future, but it also may be quite some time before you are able to sell at profit - I have people who would want to buy my stocks but that is a stock which will be required. AM ASICS may well not be required this time next year, if they don't get BE300 to the top of the efficiency pile.