Become a Member

Frank Curzio shot with “Batman”/”Air Cuff” Device to tease a Stock — which one?

What's the "1,000% gain opportunity" from a "Space-Age Weapon" being hinted at by Curzio Research Adivsory?

I’ll let you know up front that this is not a particularly “secret” stock reveal today — yes, Frank Curzio is hinting at a stock to promote his entry-level newsletter (Curzio Research Opportunities, currently $49), but you could find this stock on your own. Anyone could, that’s the nature of a unique product.

But I’ve been seeing the ads from Curzio for about a month now, and the questions are still piling up… and I’ve been thinking about the stock myself, so I thought I should do my thinking out loud for you, dear reader. Ready?

The ads mostly feature Frank Curzio “getting shot” — he went to NY to meet with management and see a demonstration of the device, and apparently he volunteered to test it out himself… so that video, really, was all anyone needed to ID the company.

But we’ll see what other clues and numbers he drops, just to make sure we’re being thorough.

They’re testing a bunch of different phrases with the emails leading to this ad to see what works best (“Space Age Police Device Has Me Seeing $$$,” ” CAUGHT ON TAPE: Frank ‘Frozen’ by Space Age Device”), but this is my favorite:

“Recently, Frank flew to New York City on his most incredible venture yet.

“He stood in front of a man holding a Space Age-style weapon…

“What some in the media are calling a “Batman gun”…

“And asked to be shot – right in the chest.

“You won’t believe what happened next.”

And the big market opportunity they hint at, of course, is that this company will be the “next Taser” and will sell this device to all the cops in the world over the next few years.

That would certainly be a worthy investment if it works out — I don’t know what the odds of success are, that is the major unknown factor as the very first pilot programs test the device and it begins to be used on the street, but following in the footsteps of Taser would certainly make investors drool… Taser changed its name to Axon Enterprises recently, mostly to reflect the fact that their business has expanded to be perhaps more dependent on police cameras and their “evidence cloud” that stores video from those cameras, but most of the gain until recently came on the back of their “less lethal” Taser device that is meant to incapacitate people with a relatively small (compared to a handgun) chance of death or permanent injury.

This is what Taser/Axon stock has looked like since they began trading (they went public in 2001, the original Taser was released in 1976 but used gunpowder and was classified as a firearm and didn’t sell much — the first air-propelled Taser came out in 1994, and the first one to really get wide police interest came out in 1999):

AAXN Total Return Price Chart

So that’s almost certainly what has Frank Curzio seeing dollar signs with this one — the potential that maybe the stock could follow on Axon’s footsteps. Do note that this is a lot easier in retrospect — those huge spikes come with a back-end collapse, so if you held Axon through to today you would be quite happy… but you would have also sat through several periods when your investment collapsed in value by 60-80%. Not many people can handle that. Even in that period of the chart that now looks flat by comparison, from 2001-2003 or so when they were just ramping up sales, the stock doubled in less than a year and then gave up more than those gains just as quickly and turned to a loss… we can’t know what will happen with this “secret” stock, of course, but be aware that extreme volatility is likely, and that means dramatic news-driven moves both up and down.

So that’s me setting the table with the major comparison that Frank is hoping will be relevant. What does the ad actually say? Here are some snippets and clues that set up the market opportunity…

“Tasers have a huge flaw.

“An open secret no one really wanted to talk about… until now.

“They’re not always safe.

“Think about it – you’re shooting 50,000 volts of electricity into someone.

“Most people don’t know this… but since the company went public… more than 1,000 people have died after an altercation involving a Taser.”

And…

Are you getting our free Daily Update
"reveal" emails? If not,
just click here...


“… according to a 2016 LA Times report, Tasers were able to subdue a suspect only half the time the LAPD used them.

“Cops are becoming more wary of using them….

“We need something better.

“We need something that saves lives!

“I believe this device is the answer.”

So Frank went to NY to shoot his promo, and got Bo Dietl and “Chief Don” and some other police folks to speak with him about the device… which means he was clearly working with the company’s promotional folks — Dietl is a substantial shareholder, and the “Chief Don” that Curzio also spoke with is Don De Lucca, the company’s Chief Strategy Officer. He also includes quotes that the company has gathered from lots of other police representatives along the lines of “this is going to save lives” and “it’s obviously a safe alternative,” so there’s clearly some acceptance of the idea already — how much of it will take hold and lead to real sales and “a device on every cop’s hip” is very much an open question, but it at least has potential.

And one of the more interesting things is this quote from Scot Cohen, the Executive Chairman…

“I’ve never seen a product where you don’t have to spend for marketing. It’s just coming to us. The media, we’ve been picked up by 60 or so stations, we’ve been printed all over the police rags, both domestic and international, and we’ve made national news online and in print. We haven’t paid for a dime.”

So it’s undoubtedly quite early — they are still training their first departments, and they don’t really have any sales or revenue yet.

More from the ad:

“… this company only listed on the NASDAQ in December 2018.

“It’s still small, virtually unknown to the general public, and is only – just now – starting to gain traction….

“This incredible new device could easily replace Taser as the #1 tool for law enforcement officers.

“And that’s not just my opinion.

“Cops, community leaders, activists – on both sides of the aisle… they say the same thing.”

And then the part that I think provides some real rollout potential…

“… the co-founder of Taser… recently signed on as the president of this tiny company…

“And went on-air saying he plans to use the exact same rollout strategy.”

And a little dreaming about the market potential:

“Right now, these devices sell for about $800.

“There are a little over 12 million cops in the world.

“You can do the math.

“We’re talking about potential sales in the billions of dollars.”

So yes, this is certainly an easy ID — don’t need the Thinkolator, and barely even need a few seconds on Google, so I imagine you already know the name… but in case you didn’t bother to figure it out, this is little Wrap Technologies (WRTC), makeer of the BolaWrap.

And though the device is new and does not have any traction yet in financial terms (they had only about $100,000 in revenue in the first quarter, which was their first quarter with any measurable revenue at all), it has been around for more than a year as they try to build a market for the product.

The BolaWrap uses a 9mm cartridge with a small amount of gunpowder to propel a kevlar bola — not unlike the strings with weighted balls on the end that early hunters would use to take down deer or buffalo, only instead of weights it uses propulsion to wrap around people who are within 25 feet or so, and has little barbs on the end of the wrap, like small fishhooks, to stick to the target as it tangles peoples arms to their body or their legs together.

I think we aren’t yet clear on exactly what the best use will be, but the device has now been used “in the field” at least once — to subdue someone who had apparently left his house willingly after being barricaded in by SWAT. It seems that they’re pushing for it to be an “early intervention” to incapacitate people so that police officers can move in with much less risk — particularly for people who might be mentally ill, which is a major area of concern for police right now, or unpredictable but not so dangerous that they need to be tasered or shot or even dosed with pepper spray.

Frank was an earlier shareholder in Wrap, he bought in one of their private placements and his shares were registered to sell in their first S-1 filings back in November, though I don’t know if he actually sold any. Given his enthusiasm for the stock I assume he still holds both the shares and the warrants, but I don’t know.

Wrap went public using a reverse merger late in 2017 and traded OTC for most of last year, so that’s why you see the share price chart going back a while, but they actually got “uplisted” on the Nasdaq about six months ago, in December. That gives them a much larger platform for future fundraising, which will certainly be needed if they’re going to dramatically ramp up production and marketing (though if things don’t ramp up, at the current spending rate, the $10 million or so they currently have should last them a few more quarters). Here’s what the shares have looked like since they started trading:

WRTC Chart

So no one is entirely clear on what the price should be, since the stock is entirely a story right now and has no real financial performance yet. You can’t make a real fundamental argument for whether the company should be worth $20 million or $200 million or $2 billion at this point (it’s valued at just under $200 million right now), what we have at the moment is really just investors placing bets on whether they will be able to roll this out to a large customer base of police departments, and if they can, on how quickly.

Wrap Technologies doesn’t know how fast the takeup will be either, of course, but they are absolutely modeling themselves on Taser — and they did hire Tom Smith, one of the Taser co-founders who had spent the past several years trying to build up a hard-plate armor company for police (Achilles Technology Solutions — that company seems to no longer exist, not sure why). Smith is certainly a key hire because of his role in building up the sales force for Taser and expanding sales through distributors and internationally, and they are explicitly trying to follow that same strategy with Wrap Technologies… that doesn’t mean it will work, but they do have a strategy that has worked before, with a similar product that will require a lot of training and gradual marketplace acceptance if it’s going to become a success.

The rosy scenario essentially just mimics the early years of Taser rollout — they say they have more than 1,500 police departments and other agencies who have requested demos or purchases (2/3 in the US), and the assumption is that the orders build up pretty quickly as pilot projects come online. Here’s the chart from their investor presentation that models how it will work if they have a rollout that is the same as Taser in terms of volume of devices sold in the first few years of commercialization:

That’s obviously just a guess, but it would mean that the stock today is trading at about 17X the (guessed at) 2020 revenue number, and that they could double their revenue every year for the next several years after that. If that’s more than a guess, it’s clearly worth a gamble… even with high selling costs in the first few years (training, distribution, building the market demand) they should see some decent cash flow from the 50%+ gross margins on the device and, presumably over time, the higher margins on the cartridge refills.

The risk, of course, is that it might fail pretty completely. Police departments might not order it. The next person who gets “Bola’d” might catch the barbs in an eye and scare departments away from using it in “lower risk” situations (there is a laser aiming system, but I’m sure there are some “uh oh” scenarios that could arise). Some competing product might come along. Police might hate it once they’ve carried it for a few months, and revolt against adding another doodad to their utility belts. I have no idea.

And the stock-price risk is also that they’re likely to need a lot more capital if they’re going to “go big,” so they could roll out a secondary offering at any time, and management might find that particularly tempting now that the shares have doubled so far this year,… and though that shouldn’t be a huge factor over the long term, since it’s obvious that building a large company will require more capital, it’s certainly true that investors often panic about share offerings and dilution when they’re speculating on little stocks like this.

But the upside potential is tempting, and the reality is that there does seem to be a widely-discussed “gap” in available non-violent and painless methods for subduing people who aren’t super-dangerous but might flee or, particularly, the mentally ill who can’t be talked into submission with threats and who police officers don’t particularly want to wrestle, or to hit with pepper spray or a club. Especially not on camera.

So after thinking this over for a couple weeks, and particularly because I think getting a bunch of distributors lined up and having Tom Smith from Taser on board could help them to get to commercialization relatively quickly, I’ll bite — I’m taking on a small position in Wrap Technologies and will watch with interest as they try to roll it out. This is one that will be volatile and will likely either be a huge success in a few years or an abject failure, so I’ll just assume a 100% risk and size my little position accordingly, with the intention of ignoring the share price action for at least a year or two.

And yes, in case you’re wondering, it’s not just Frank Curzio — other newsletters are also starting to be intrigued by this “story stock” and some others have issued promos to that effect, Bill Patalon at Money Morning’s Private Briefing had a similar teaser pitch for WRTC, also in mid-May as the press coverage of the company was heating up (you can see lots of videos and media coverage on WRTC’s page here), and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see others if the company becomes more “real” with some meaningful order announcements over the next year or so.

It’s your money, so it’s your choice — I find this one interesting though pretty high-risk, what do you think? Expect to see BolaWrap in the hands of your local police in a year or two? Think it will remain a niche device and fail to catch on? Not so intrigued by a company with no real orders yet? Those are all reasonable stances, and I’m sure we’ll have a hundred different opinions among the vast legions of Gumshoe readers — let us know your thoughts with a comment below, please.

Irregulars Quick Take

Paid members get a quick summary of the stocks teased and our thoughts here. Join as a Stock Gumshoe Irregular today (already a member? Log in)
guest

12345

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

27 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
iltrus
Irregular
June 13, 2019 3:18 pm

This rookie (me) just purchased 150 shares to keep for a long time to come 🙂

👍 240
kfoehr
kfoehr
June 13, 2019 3:31 pm

There is definitely a need for something to restrain people without shooting pieces of metal into their bodies, but the Bolawrap doesn’t sound adequate to me. “BolaWrap 100 enables law enforcement to remotely and temporarily control an individual or impede flight by targeting and wrapping an individual’s legs.”

So, if they have a gun, they can still shoot. That’s not good. Something more high-tech is needed, imo, to incapacitate or encapsulate a person entirely, not just their legs. I’ll watch this one from the sidelines and see what happens…

Good luck with it.

👍 17
👍 21650
marc
Guest
marc
June 13, 2019 3:31 pm

First paragraph: the name of the newsletter is Curzio Research Advisory, not opportunities.
However, the stock you’re talking about here is part of the more expensive one mailing list, Curzio Venture Opportunities. It’s possible he’s moving the stock the cheaper CRA list. I think I heard him say he would do this sometime.

Add a Topic
5453
👍 21650
marc
Guest
marc
June 19, 2019 12:47 pm

My apologies, I didn’t check for replies.
I do not recall a private placement, it was just a buy on the Curzio Venture Opportunity’s October 2018 issue.

dafons
dafons
June 13, 2019 4:06 pm

I’m a retired Atlanta cop of 24 years, and wish I had something like this while I was on the job. Cops are creatures of habit and don’t readily adapt to change. However, if sold on a product like this their word of mouth is invaluable.

👍 21650
William Butkovich
Guest
William Butkovich
June 13, 2019 4:18 pm

you should take a look at LLLI Lamper lesslethal

👍 21650
david drukarz
Member
david drukarz
June 13, 2019 4:45 pm

All the videos show the target standing still. I wonder how well it would work with the suspect running all over the place, or waving his arms about. And if you miss with the first shot, that’s it!

👍 21650
blackjack69
Irregular
blackjack69
June 13, 2019 8:07 pm

I’m in!

I had a small 0.1% of my portfolio open for a sky-high risk small-cap stock and this one caught my attention.

Many PDs across the country are facing civil suits with damages awarded in cases where police have been deemed to have used overly-aggressive means of subduing suspects who resist arrest. A relatively safe less than lethal tool like the BolaWrap may save the police from needing to wrestle with resisting suspects or having to resort to chokeholds or “tasing” to subdue suspects, all of which have on occasion led to accidental deaths. The price is not so high as to make it unaffordable, particularly when it may prevent unnecessary loss of life and the potential multi-million $ lawsuits that may financially cripple municipalities.

I took a risk-adjusted 1/2-position in the stock, with a VQ-based stop-loss at 83.48%. I’m never keen on taking 100% losses on anything, but I do admire your very bold approach. I, too, am willing to go away for 2-3 years without having to fret over what this stock may do, but I’m sure Trade Stops will alert me if WRTC hits my stop-loss or hits a 2VQ in the other direction.

Good luck with the pick!

Add a Topic
907
Add a Topic
285
Add a Topic
4932
👍 4
bunion132
June 13, 2019 8:41 pm

Thank you, Travis, for sleuthing a stock tease that isn’t in the realm of cyberspace or cannabis and for giving WRTC a realistic treatment. Just as crimes in major cities run the full gamut of minor to violent, adapting the correct restraining device to match the crime is imperative in this age of lawsuits. So when an opportunity presents itself to invest in a device suited for certain (lesser-type) offenses, I find it worth looking into.

To keep personal sentiment in check, I ran WRTC through my usual set of free stock screeners. To my surprise (stock screeners often do not think alike), the results were in the neutral-to-buy range, mostly the latter. A topical view of its price chart since the start of this year reflects their analyses: the normal wave-like action, staying within its price range, seemingly not subject to trade wars and tweets. From an investment perspective, I’m in.

Add a Topic
7741
👍 441
👍 21650
bunion132
June 14, 2019 3:46 pm

True, the analysts do not have much to report on fundamentals as yet, but here’s a very brief announcement today (6/14) on Seeking Alpha that I found interesting and would appreciate your thoughts on:

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3471470-wrap-announces-12_5m-financing-led-existing-investors?mod=mw_quote_news

As for tech characteristics, I find basic chart-reading invaluable when determining a good entry point for opening a position or adding shares. No matter how good the fundamentals are, if one does not buy in at a reasonable price, the trade becomes a loser.

Add a Topic
3551
👍 441
slinkyspine39
slinkyspine39
June 14, 2019 9:10 am
Reply to  bunion132

Only negatives I see so far is inventory is high as product may not be selling yet. If so though, guess will be ready with great delivery times and prepared as if this will take off. Also think the entry point is a bit higher now at this point. Going back looks like end of 2018 when stock was half this price when insider invested. I’m definitely putting on my watch list, you had mentioned may be volatile.

Dave
Member
Dave
June 13, 2019 9:35 pm

I was a cop for 33 years. When you deal with the deranged, physically excited, drug induced hysterias, physically aggressive, mentally ill etc. and you decide it is time to restrain they aren’t generally standing still with their arms at their sides and their feet together – in fact that is rare. You decide to use restraint tools because they are attacking or fleeing. They are moving and their arms and hands are up and moving also. A taser drops a person regardless of this if you can manage to land both prongs. A cop often has seconds to react and this sounds to me like a tool that has very limited applications. If it fails then you may have little choice than to move to higher levels of force and you might have to defend that decision in court so it better not be a wrong decision. I am gonna guess that the folks at Axon are sleeping just fine. Also remember that cops are running out of room on those duty belts (gun, 2 spare magazines, baton, pepper spray, radio, flashlight, handcuffs and 3 to 4 belt keepers that attach your tool belt to your trouser belt – and that is the minimum). Anything you put on the back of the belt will mess up your back in the cruiser over repeated 10 + hour shifts so you try to keep that area clear. It is precious real estate on that duty belt especially for cops without 44 inch waists. I wouldn’t take one of the things I listed off my belt, nor a taser, to make room for this. Departments might buy a few of these things so their ERT/SWAT teams have the option available but I don’t see a chance that this ends up on every patrol officers belt. Just saying – this is not the next taser.

Add a Topic
282
Add a Topic
4956
Add a Topic
409
👍 21650
traderj44
Irregular
June 13, 2019 9:50 pm

I also bot the stock not to put it away as an investment but to tease it for 30 orc40% I don’t think it will catch because of the barbs involved I think someone will lose an eye and I don’t think the cops would want to use it unless they could be further away they 25 feet that’s pretty close in a high tension situation so I’ll just wait and hopefully cash in on the hype that will be coming down the pike any agree or disagree with me? Thanks Joe

Add a Topic
5845
👍 21
Braulio
June 14, 2019 10:04 am

Of course, the moment I buy a few shares, I see the secondary announced at $6.50/share.

👍 20
R K LAKHOTIA
Guest
R K LAKHOTIA
June 14, 2019 1:49 pm

If I remember, Frank Curzio several years ago worked for Stansberry under the banner ‘Small Stocks Specialist’. He was booted out as he made losses in his recommendations and customers deserted the sinking ship. I wonder if he should be given the second chance as an experienced guy.
Taser gun; Though it is not ‘the next big thing’ it certainly deserves attention. Their lab is working on upgraded model whereby the Taser does not touch the culprit but its beam (may be laser) from a distance of about few feet are directed and immobilizes the other person. If the experiment is successful, the demand of Taser will find orders from other countries as well.

Add a Topic
1326
Wombat
Guest
Wombat
June 19, 2019 12:15 pm
Reply to  R K LAKHOTIA

I was a Curzio newsletter subscriber for one yr. I learned one thing, I should short his recommendation and I would make a lot more money.

g13man
June 14, 2019 2:50 pm

has made the recommendation of another MM newsletter
his legs were not together ,
each leg got bollo wrapped individually
on video , u could not see it happen , it was like that quick !

👍 32
Tom
Tom
June 14, 2019 3:35 pm

After a cop Tasers they pull out the barbs … how does the cop get this off to get the now-cuffed person in the cruiser? And if the arms are involved, can they get the cuffs on?

Salvatore
June 21, 2019 2:11 am

Curzio is a great salesman but tends to push lackluster stocks that sound great in theory but fall short in practice. This Bolawrap is chock full of downsides. Notice the anchors are sharp metal fish hooks. What if the perp is wearing shorts or is shirtless or wearing a light tee or thin trousers, ouch!
Every demonstration either shows a mannequin or person standing like one. Sorry but it looks like a cheesy Ron Popeil product. I wouldn’t buy one so why would I buy it’s stock.

👍 8
Philip L Franckel
Guest
January 29, 2020 11:13 pm

Curzio reminds me of a friend who owed the US $100M in restitution for pump/dump stocks. My friend passed away and the US never saw any money. After his arrest, my friend made a lot of money promoting stocks on the internet. He charged the company $100K plus shares to promote the stock. When the price went up, he sold the shares. He did it a few times until the FBI told him to knock it off.

As for the BolaWrap, I like it but I see it as a device that either would be kept in a car (where it wouldn’t be of much use) or possessed by only some officers or some SWAT officers. The videos I have seen show a perp standing still. I would like to see a demo of a real-life situation where the perp is moving around or running. I don’t see it being used at a vehicle stop where people generally don’t look threatening and when things go bad it’s very quick without time to use the BolaWrap. When things go bad at a vehicle stop it will likely involve an officer physically fighting or using a gun. An officer wouldn’t want his or her hand on the BolaWrap at a vehicle stop. When concerned at a stop an officer’s hand will be on a gun.

I could see limited use of the BolaWrap but no officer will carry a gun, Taser and the BolaWrap.

I am an Auxilliary Police Officer and do not carry a gun on duty.

We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience. By clicking any link on this page you are giving your consent for us to set cookies.

More Info  
32
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x