Please name all public companies that have had more than 33
consecutive quarters of losses.

ParkerVision (NASDAQ:PRKR) is heading toward it's 34th consecutive
quarter of losses.  See
<http://www.asensio.com/Reports/ReportView.aspx?ReportId=549&CompanyId=119&CompanyName=ParkerVision,%20Inc.>.

What public companies have had losses for a longer consecutive period?

A 50% bonus is available if you can also name all once public
companies that at some point had a longer streak of consecutive losses
but are now private or defunct.

rainbow-ga was generous enough to offer the following:

"Descartes' announced Q4 numbers turned out to have been prepared by
the Brothers Grimm, with a bottom line that turned out to be off by
US$6.3 million. Lawsuits were filed in the U.S. claiming the company
had issued false and misleading statements to the market. Descartes
settled the suits by agreeing to pay US$1.5 million. For the fourth
straight year, the company announced major layoffs, this time cutting
130 jobs and firing its CEO. It gave the job to the last remaining
member of its old guard. Through the year, Descartes racked up four
more quarters of losses, running its streak to 35."

Source: Waterloo Tech Digest
December 2004 
http://www.garywill.com/digest/wtd0412.htm

I reviewed a database of more than 8,000 public companies and
discovered the following:

Only 100 of those companies had 34 or more consecutive quarters of
losses. Frankly, that's more than I expected to find, as operating a
business at a loss for more than eight years is as good a recipe for
bankruptcy as I've ever seen.

Most of the companies that approach this streak never survive as going
entities, and I'm afraid I won't be able to get you historical
earnings data on dead companies. However, I have listed the 100
companies with 34 consecutive quarterly losses below:

AASTROM BIOSCIENCES INC
ACCERIS COMMUNICATIONS INC
AMERALIA INC
AMERICAN SUPERCONDUCTOR CP
AMERICAN TECHNOLOGY CORP
AMYLIN PHARMACEUTICALS INC
ANTARES PHARMA INC
APHTON CORP
ARADIGM CORP
AVALON GOLD CORP
AVANT IMMUNOTHERAPEUTICS INC
AVI BIOPHARMA INC
AVIGEN INC
BESTNET COMMUNICATIONS CORP
BIO-KEY INTERNATIONAL INC
BOSTON LIFE SCIENCES INC
CALYPTE BIOMEDICAL CORP
CAMBRIDGE HEART INC
CANARC RESOURCE CORP
CELLEGY PHARMACEUTICALS INC
CEL-SCI CORP
CELSION CORP
CERUS CORP
CHROMAVISION MEDICAL SYS INC
COLT TELECOM GROUP PLC  -ADR
CONCEPTUS INC
CUBIST PHARMACEUTICALS INC
CV THERAPEUTICS INC
CYBER DIGITAL INC
DESCARTES SYSTEMS GROUP INC
DEXTERITY SURGICAL INC
DIAMETRICS MEDICAL INC
DISCOVERY LABORATORIES INC
DYNAMOTIVE ENERGY SYS CORP
E DIGITAL CORP
EP MEDSYSTEMS INC
EXEGENICS INC
FIRST AVE NETWORKS INC
GENAERA CORP
GENELABS TECHNOLOGIES INC
GERON CORP
GLYCOGENESYS INC
GOLD STANDARD INC
GTC BIOTHERAPEUTICS INC
HEMISPHERX BIOPHARMA INC
HOLLIS-EDEN PHARMACEUTICALS
IFT CORP
IGENE BIOTECHNOLOGY INC
INTERNET COMMERCE CP  -CL A
ISCO INTERNATIONAL INC
ISIS PHARMACEUTICALS INC
ITRONICS INC
JUNIPER GROUP INC
LA JOLLA PHARMACEUTICAL CO
LIGHTPATH TECH INC  -CL A
LORUS THERAPEUTICS INC
MACROCHEM CORP/DE
MATRITECH INC
MICROVISION INC
MOUNTAIN PROVINCE DIAMONDS
NORTH AMER TECHNOL GROUP INC
NORTHFIELD LABORATORIES INC
NOVAVAX INC
NPS PHARMACEUTICALS INC
NUVELO INC
NYMOX PHARMACEUTICAL CORP
ONSTREAM MEDIA CORP
OPTICAL SENSORS INC
ORTEC INTERNATIONAL INC
OXIS INTERNATIONAL INC
PALATIN TECHNOLOGIES INC
PARKERVISION INC
PATIENT INFOSYSTEMS INC
PHARMACYCLICS INC
PHARMANETICS INC
PHOTOMEDEX INC
PHYSIOMETRIX INC
PROFILE TECHNOLOGIES INC
PROTEIN POLYMER TECHNOLOGIES
RENTECH INC
RESEARCH FRONTIERS INC
SATCON TECHNOLOGY CORP
SILVERADO GOLD MINES LTD
SIRNA THERAPEUTICS INC
SPATIALIGHT INC
SPECTRE GAMING INC
SPECTRUM PHARMACEUTICALS INC
SUPERGEN INC
TASTY FRIES INC
THERMOGENESIS CORP
UNIVERSAL DISPLAY CORP
VALENCE TECHNOLOGY INC
VCAMPUS CORP
VICAL INC
VIEWCAST.COM INC
VIRAGEN INC
VIRAGEN INTERNATIONAL INC
VISTA MED TECHNOLOGIES INC
WAVE SYSTEMS CORP  -CL A
XYBERNAUT CORP

The vast majority of these companies are tiny. The average market
value is $144 million, and only two are valued at more than $1
billion.

V

---

Request for Answer Clarification by afriend-ga on 06 Mar 2005 14:08 PST

vercingatorix-ga, thank you for the thorough answer.  Unfortunately, I
have since discovered that the ParkerVision website incorrectly showed
their IPO as occurring in 1997, and has been updated this month to
show the correct date of November 1993
<http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=75404&p=irol-faq>. 
Therefore, ParkerVision has had 46 consecutive quarters of losses. 
Would it be possible to rerun your analysis with the 46 number?

Also, could you please confirm that your search was only running on
quarters of losses as public companies?  The reason is that
ParkerVision was incorporated in August 1989, so if you're calculating
total consecutive quarters of losses as a public and private company,
ParkerVision would be up to 62.

Separately, would you mind sharing the name of the database you're using?

---

Clarification of Answer by vercingatorix-ga on 07 Mar 2005 05:21 PST

I'm afraid I can't get you back as far as 46 quarters. I don't have
quarterly data back that far. I can verify that I'm only providing
data on public companies -- I don't have data on private companies.

V

This may be helpful:

"...Bottom Line: Conductus has had 25 straight quarters of losses. It
will not make a dime this year. If the field trials go well, it could
make some money in 2001, but that is sheer conjecture at this point.
At $19, I think investors are giving Conductus too much credit."

Carl Nelson Consulting 
http://www.carl-nelson.com/companystoryBE.htm

Best regards,
Rainbow