Intertainment Media’s upside not Lost in Translation

Bigger than Facebook? Maybe not, but in a breathless press release Monday, previously little known Intertainment Media (TSXV:INT) compared the growth of its real time translation platform, Ortsbo, to the trajectory of the world’s most popular social network. Intertainment’s CEO David Lucatch reported the company was seeing “…almost four million active users on a monthly basis, increasing 83 per cent month over month, and is currently tracking at over 1.2 million per week, well on its way to Facebook’s 2005 second year results of 5.5 million active users.”

On Tuesday, investors were buying the comparison; Intertainment Media today posted a more than 100% gain as more than 48 million shares changed hands.

Richmond Hill, Ontario’s Intertainment listed on the TSXV in 2006 and is divided into four divisions; itiBiti, a social media app that allows company’s to change the look and feel of their marketing platform in real time, Adtaffy, a georgaphy based IP engagement tool and Magnum, a traditional print shop. But it’s Ortsbo, which was launched last July 22nd and works seamlessly across instant messaging platforms such as AIM, Facebook Yahoo! that has driven the company to a near $50 million market cap in a matter of days.

Intertainment Media reported revenues of $1.37 million in the quarter ended September 30th, 2010, a number that was more than a million dollars higher than the previous year. But investors lapping up the company’s shares on Tuesday may be betting it is a buyout target rather than revenue growth play. At the bottom of Monday’s press release the company announced it had engaged software M&A firm The Corum Group to “assist with its strategic opportunities”

Below: David Lucatch demonstrates Ortsbo on WebNation