2014-11-07

New gTLD Registry Rightside, Wrongside Still A Downside?

3 month stock chart for Rightside (NASDAQ:NAME)
source: Marketwatch.com
New gTLD Registry Rightside Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: NAME), has had a rough 2014. At left is the most recent 3 month stock chart for this stock [52wk high: $17.00; 52wk low: $8.36] market close yesterday was $9.41. As reported previously on Domain Mondo (New gTLD Registry Rightside, Rename It Wrongside? and Rightside dot Wrongside? Further Downside For New gTLD Registry?) analyst Thunder Capital has been "negative" on Rightside which trades under the symbol "NAME" on the NASDAQ.

Yesterday Rightside had a conference call on its Q3 2014 financial results. Apparently, the only way to make money off the new gTLDs is to withdraw your applications. That's exactly what Rightside reported yesterday that it did in order to realize a one-time gain of $8.6 million which saved the company from having to report a Loss for Q3 2014. However, even with that one-time gain, it reported net income of only $4,097,000 for the quarter, and still reported a LOSS on "Adjusted EBITDA" of (-$593,000).

Oh yes, there was an isolated trade of 100 shares in "after hours" trading on the NASDAQ that excited at  least one domaining blogger--Time: 17:58    Price: $12.53   Number of Shares: 100

Note that the "after hours" trade that preceded the above was also only 100 shares for a lot less:
Time: 17:46    Price: $10.15  Number of Shares: 100

No other "after hours" trades occurred after 17:58 (5:58pm) until NASDAQ "after hours" trading closed at 20:00 (8:00pm). It will be interesting to watch this stock in the coming days and months.

By the way, you can find all this information and  NASDAQ's clearly stated advisory about "after hours" trades posted on the NASDAQ website:

"Investors may trade in the Pre-Market (4:00-9:30 a.m. ET) and the After Hours Market (4:00-8:00 p.m. ET). Participation from Market Makers and ECNs is strictly voluntary and as a result, these sessions may offer less liquidity and inferior prices. Stock prices may also move more quickly in this environment. Investors who anticipate trading during these times are strongly advised to use limit orders."  source: http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/name/after-hours

As for Thunder Capital, haven't heard from him yet, but whenever we do, it should be enlightening--on October 3, 2014, in the article published on Seeking Alpha, Rightside: The Sky Is Falling Down, he said: "The gTLD initiative has not ramped and will continue to be a short with at least 30% downside." At that time Rightside (NASDAQ:NAME) had fallen from $11.83 when he initiated coverage (Rightside - It's Trending on the Wrong Side) to $10.53 as of 9/26/14, and since then the stock has traded (on some days) below $9 a share. On October 8th, in a reply to a comment on his latter Seeking Alpha article, he wrote: "In my analysis, I actually project 1.5mm domain name sign-ups for 2015. If I used a "look through the windshield analysis," the Company [Rightside] would default in 2015." [According to Rightside's own reported Q3 2014 results, the company had, as of September 30, 2014, 15 of Rightside's owned and operated gTLDs  in "general availability" for an average of 89 days each, with a total of only 80,000 registrations.]

If you have any interest in this stock, a good place to begin "due diligence" is on the NASDAQ website pages for NAME (Note Domain Mondo's Disclaimer near the bottom of the web version of this page).

Caveat Emptor!

UPDATE: see New gTLD Registry Rightside Stock Tanks on NASDAQ (5 Dec 2014)



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