Biotech vs. Regular Tech

Biotech vs. Regular Tech

on April 05, 2004

One of the things that I don't get is why Biotech companies are valued so much higher than 'regular tech' companies, or in the case of MVIS, photonics tech companies.

Here is MVIS, with their incredible light scanning platform technology, ready to transform the entire display industry.

In early 2004, with the Nomad II rolling off the line, the Flic scanner is moving some units and we are only valued at $200M.

Compare that to some biotechs, which face the following inherent challenges:

1. Very expensive and time consuming to bring a single drug to market.

Some estimates are 15 years and $800M!

2. High failure rates for drugs in clinical trials.

3. A single arbiter of marketability, the FDA.

4. Addressable market for product limited to only sick people with a specific illness.

And yet, consistently biotech companies receive lofty valuations based on 'pipelines' of new drug candidates that very likely will never make it to market, or if they do will be many years in the making.

Compare that to Microvision --

1. Yes, it has also been expensive and time consuming to come to market with scanned beam displays (SBDs).

2. No need for clinical trials for non-medical SBD apps.

3. The only arbiter of marketability is the quality and cost of the product and the ability of MVIS to market it.

4. Addressable market includes every human being on earth!

It's my thinking that the SBD platform will find its way into: TVs, cell phones, PDAs, Autos, robotic/machine vision systems, as well as new applications like 'information eyeglasses' and 'personal heads-up displays' which can be seen in their nascent form in Nomad II.

With the company on the cusp of breaking out with much higher product revenue than ever before in its history, it's just kind of weird that 'the street' just doesn't get it and we are only $200M. Still, the trend is our friend and we are moving higher.

It's probably going to take a quarter or two of awesome sales performance before the enormous potential of the stock and the company itself can be appreciated.

Maybe, we're almost there.

BJ

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