ART Stock

Remote work technology is hot right now, which makes a play on holographic technology company ARHT Media (ARHT Media Stock Quote, Chart, News TSXV:ART) an interesting play —at least for a quarter-position at the moment, says portfolio manager Kim Bolton of Black Swan Dexteritas. Toronto-based ARHT Media has a holopresence technology which allows for virtually simultaneous two-way communication with a 3D presenter, in a high-quality, ultra-low latency presence. ARHT has a number of platforms including ARHT Engine and Virtual Global Stage, launched in March of this year and giving users the ability to hold a panel presentations, conference and the like without the associated expenses of setting up a venue and having guests travel to a location, not to mention the thorny issue of gatherings during the age of social distancing and travel restrictions. Earlier this month, ARHT announced a partnership with cybersecurity and Internet of Things company WISeKey International to integrate their technologies for the delivery of secure transmissions of hologram and digital content with third-party authentication. In July of this year, ARHT had its first order in the United States for ten ARHT Engine servers through its reseller partner Almo Professional A/V. ARHT Media’s president and CEO Larry O’Reilly called the order for ten Engine Servers a testament to Almo’s belief in the ARHT business model, saying, “One month into this partnership we couldn’t be more pleased with the commitment at all levels of Almo Pro AV to bring our products and services to the US market in the most professional way possible.” For his part, Bolton said ARHT’s technology works so well that he’s now one of the converted. “I said to Larry O’Brian that I feel like I’ve drunk the Kool Aid,” said Bolton, in conversation with BNN Bloomberg on Monday. “I’ve seen what they do, especially with their big enterprise clients, some of whom are very multinational financial groups and pharmaceutical companies.” O’Brian, who took up the reins as CEO in 2018, has made a number of moves to set up ARHT Media’s expansion efforts, according to Bolton. “Larry has come in and he has gotten a control on costs and he’s really taken hold and built out a sales force and he has taken hold of some very big enterprise clients,” Bolton said. “Their ambition is to be a high end enterprise video conferencing interface.” Micro-cap stock ARHT Media once had its share price up in the $2 - $3 range but basically has been treading water below $0.50 in recent years. But Bolton thinks there’s upside from here with ART. “We’re sitting around 40 cents and we have a 12-month price target of 90 cents,” Bolton said. “What I’d recommend is I’d buy some here, maybe a quarter of the position that you want to own. Get it on your radar and then add to it when it’s down to 30 cents, 20 cents and then at ten cents, if it ever goes there. That’s what I would recommend.”