What is REFR and why is it of interest?

REFR is the stock symbol of Research Frontiers Inc., of Woodbury, NY. In this blog "REFR" will be the shorthand method of referring to the company.

REFR is a very unique company in a lot of respects, the foremost one being that is has been in business for just under 40 years, including 18 as a public company, without posting a single profitable quarter.

This fact might be somewhat understandable in a fledgling biotech company, where it is well understood that a product may be years away, and even then might be shot down at some point during the testing phases.

But REFR is no biotech. Their product, so to speak, is a technology called suspended particle devices, on which they hold various patents, and license them out to various companies in the hope that they will decide to produce and/or market products based on the technology, of their own volition.

In nearly four decades, this has not happened. But that's not the surprising part. The surprising part is, the company has consistently sought to leave the impression that the four decades of futility are not only about to end, but to end in a way so spectacular it will immediately vindicate every person who ever had faith in the company.

Ding, ding! The train's leaving the station, better get on board now!

Sound familiar?

I'm certain it does, if you've ever done any research into stock promotional outfits and the grey world of stock fraud.

There are so many facets to this story that I strongly suspect it will provide years of material, or at least for as long as this blog is allowed to continue to exist. Not that I expect immediate trouble for these words, but you know how companies can get when someone treads on their toes the wrong way.

The primary visible thrust of the effort in promoting REFR stock is through the message boards on Yahoo! and Silicon Investor. As such I will be deriving the bulk of my topic choice from what is being discussed there.

Tomorrow, March 16th, is the deadline for REFR to file its 10-K annual report to the SEC. A conference call to discuss the results, such as they are, is scheduled for after the market close on Thursday, St. Patrick's Day, March 17th. I'm sure there will be plenty to talk about then, if I don't get to it sooner.

One last thing, my "name", Bamass, was adopted from the description of a mythical organization dedicated to criticism, or "bashing" of public companies, invented by one of REFR's promoters. It stands for Bashers And Manipulators ASSociation. It's intended as derogatory, but as I'll soon show, being derided by this lot is more a badge of honor than anything else.