Shares of many of the leading PIPCOs (public IP licensing companies) significantly under-performed the leading markets indices in 2017, with only a couple showing gains.
Despite annual increases of around 20% for the S&P 500 index and 29% for the NASDAQ composite index, IP CloseUp 30® companies were down for the most part, some by more than 40%..
The PIPX composite index of 13 PIPCOs, which IP CloseUp has run quarterly for the past two years, is no longer being prepared.
“I’m going to stop doing the index,” Dr. Kevin Klein, its founder, wrote to IP CloseUp in an email. “The performance of the companies has not been good, several are going private, changing their business models, and/or issuing additional stock so keeping the index coherent is getting to be a challenge.”
Negative Trend
Acacia Research Corp (ACTG), started the year at $6.70 and ended it at $4.05. Its market capitalization is currently $210 million. Finjan (FNJN) began in January at $1.35 and closed at about $2.24, up 82%. Its market cap is around $62 million. Finjan has survived multiple inter partes reviews.
ACTG, FNJN, NTIP, QTRH, RMBS and XPER stock comparison for 2017
Network-1 Technologies (NTIP), a solid performer until an adverse district court decision this year, dropped from $3.45 to $2.35, down 28%. Its market cap remains around $57 million. Quarterhill (QTRH), formerly WiLAN, dropped from $2.32 to $1.82. Market value is $220 million.
A larger player, with a $1.5 billion capitalization, Rambus (RMBS), finished the year at $14.30, up slightly from $13.80. However, Xperi, the former Tessera (XPER), saw its shares drop from $44.95 to $24.70, down 44%.
Some attribute the poor PIPCO performance to the passage of the America Invents Act, adverse decisions by the courts and weak demand for patent licensing because of diminished litigation threat. There were, however, momentary bright spots throughout the year for some of these companies’ shares, but, on the whole, 2017 was not a good year, even for larger and historically better performing PIPCOs. With a new Director of the USPTO and fairer PTAB 2018 will hopefully be better.
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