Quarterhill Inc T.QTRH

Thoughts on Q4 & January

[mrmoribund]

If there's anything from the recent past that makes Paul's legacy not look so good it would be what I recall to be his claim on the Q2 CC that Wilan would have a strong revenue 2021 H2, making 2021 FY (or H2) as strong as the corresponding period in 2020.

My sense now is that unless we get some great settlement news in the next week then Wilan will not come even remotely close to the 2020 revenue number.

If so then we can also probably assume that Q4 will be a loss. Indeed, it may end up being a bit of a jolting big loss if there is also some kind of special charge associated with the CEO change.

So I can see why the market is reluctant to come charging in right now, even on a big up day like today.

That said, it's good to get the slate clean for the start of 2022. Regardless, January should be a most interesting month.

We'll find out in due course about those two other ETC almost-contracts that were talked about in the Q3 CC but I'd think a reasonable inference is that they will get done. Even if a competitor gets some traction in protesting a preliminary contract decision, the company with the preliminary win would surely get an opportunity to respond in detail--as well as fix any issues. If the issue with the Texas contract was that Quarterhill wasn't American enough, well, that has been fixed with regard to all three of them.

There is, of course, the Apple decision. I guess it'll come when it comes.

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An aside. Look at this. I just now got the IRD Xmas card in my email. It says:

"2022 is shaping up to be a very exciting year at IRD"

I believe it.

(I will not treat that as an official projection--FWIW, I don't think the company Xmas card goes onto SEDAR.)

Hope all's well in Saskatoon.

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Regardless, my gut tells me Quarterhill now has the structure exactly right. The ITS stuff should have Richardson Texas at the centre. Not Toronto.

[SpicyP]

Good point, mrmoribund.  I seem to recall Paul Hill going as far as saying that Wi-lan had multliple paths to achieve comparable numbers to the previous year's revenue and net income.

[Lagger95]

It will be a US company. 

[cabbieJBJ]

I think the Amazon SJ was a shocker and the German actions being pushed out to next year was probably unexpected.  2022 is a clean slate tho.

[astutein]

Cabbie- The Amazon District Court Judges decision re Sumary judgement was a shocker to our legal team.  Ou legal team has filed a 109 page Appeal . to the US Federal Cuit on !!/24/21. Very interesting to  purchaser  of Wilan, should Wilan win appeal and get granted Jury case trial. Notice of Appeal posted in RPX.  Main contention in reading parts is that it contradicts fact

[cabbieJBJ]

Astutein, did you read the document?

[astutein]

yes  I read small parts of the109 pages.  Very detailed arguments re validity of patents and reasons why legal team arguing District Judge erred in his ruling.

[cabbieJBJ]

I'll purchase it when it shows up on Docketbird.  Docketbird charges by the document whereaas RPX charges by the page. Regarding your post Astutein, I thought the issue with Amazon was that summary judgement declared that Amazon did not infringe.  I don't believe the Delaware court ruled on validity.  Can you help us understand this better.  Thanks.

[astutein]

cabbie-the Notice of Appeal re final judgement of US Court decision of Oct 28 2021 was a 2 page document and Filed11/24/21.  Erred in referring to109 page document. We have appealed the Oct28/2021 Summary Judgement.

[cabbieJBJ]

Thanks Astutein.  I was aware of the 24-Nov-2021 Notice of Appeal.  I didn't think any briefs had been filed as yet.  The CAFC case number is 22-1193.  Just FYI, there are 20 open cases at CAFC relating to the IPA patents.

[IPGutcsi]

Merry Xmas Y'all! @cabbie - WiLAN has 20 open Patent Infringement cases at the CAFC? Please confirm!   

[cabbieJBJ]

Yes IPGutcsi, I can confirm that there are 20 different appeals at the CAFC related to the SIri technology that Wilan sub, IPA, is litigating with Amazon, Google and Microsoft.  This is posted on RPX.  Merry Chistmas.

[v_guerriero]

Interesting post. The BIG takeaway is this Board of Directors finally gets it.  There was never a chance at a moon shot with a patent troll business attached to this company.  Patent assertion businesses are not liked by investors. A pure play ITS business with leading market positions in rolling and commercial vehicle enforcement - and huge industry tailwinds behind it - will be

[astutein]

The longer it takes for CAFC to release their decision may indicate that settlement talks are in process as CAFC has indicated in oral arguments it prefers the parties settle among themselves rather than court imposed settlement.  With that said I am prepared personally to let decision carry on until end of Jan? Thats my take..   

[cabbieJBJ]

The conference call regarding the reorganization and the Wilan strategic review is very important because it guides investors on QTRH’s strategy blueprint for 2022 and 2023, possibly beyond.    These are my key takeaways from the prepared remarks and Q&A.   John Gillberry’s remarks   The goal of the reorganization and personnel changes is to accelerate QTRH’s

[mrmoribund]

Cabbie, excellent summary. One thing that surprises me is the specification that any technology story acquisition MUST be profitable freestanding. I would say everything, including not-yet-profitable tech stories, should be considered relative to the price. If the technology is dazzling and amazing enough (but not advanced enough to be freestanding profitable YET), and considering price, then

[whaler83]

QTRH sounds like a solid investment going forward. It's impressive that we were able to pivot the way we did (for us long term shareholders). I'm happy with my entry price. I hope this will be a long term holding for me with considerable capital appreciation and a continued and growing dividend.