A lot of people I know have been minting coing long VHC. I used to own the stock at around $14, but sold it because I am a fucking moron. Nevertheless, there is a very interesting story to be told in the name. Long term contributor and friend of mine, Chuck Bennett, alongside the ever elusive “Devil”, have been heavy buyers of the stock and options for months. This is what I can tell you, relating to the story and why they feel it is going to $70.
VirnetX is a patent troll company, armed with some of the best attorneys money can buy. They are claiming ownership of the Secure Domain Names/Registry, in other words: every time you make a purchase via iTunes, VHC expects to get a cut. Their patents were recently validated by a Federal Judge, who ruled against Microsoft, awarding VHC $200 million. They have open lawsuits with a number of companies, including AAPL, pursuing the framework of royalty whoring established by QCOM many years ago.
One of their open cases against CSCO, AAPL, NEC and Aastra pertain to the core products of each company (think iTunes) and amount to $160 billion in sales, ANNUALLY. In layman’s terms, every time someone accesses iTunes via their iPhone or iPad, it violates VHC’s patents. Pretty sick, huh?
Regarding valuation: The company has $60 mill in cash, no debt, with a small burn. Bulls who know the story say the settlements to come may amount to over $8 billion. The bears who are being flamed in the stock point to other patent trolls, like CEVA and TSRA, who shot higher early, only to come crashing down later. Whether this is the next QCOM is anyone’s guess. It’s too hard to predict how a judge might rule. Nevertheless, the stock has been working and is clearly being recognized by investors as a story to watch.
Related: Inventors declaration.
vhc
Pardon the brevity of this post. There are people who know the story much better than I do and are welcomed to leave bullet points in the comments section.
Also Related: fuck, fuck, fuck! (note left by yours truly in The PPT many moons ago. There are 26 pages of notes in there.)

