When I checked out AIM-listedMonitise (LSE: MONI) (NASDAQOTH: MONIF.US) last month, there was only one question that mattered: did the share price collapse make it a buy?
With the share price ending January at just 14p, down from its 52-week high of 80p, thislooked likea tempting opportunity to pick up the troubled mobile payment specialiston the cheap.
I said thepotential multi-baggerwas worth a punt, provided you understood it was an outright gamble. I dont see any reason to change that view.
Buy Or Sell?
If you accepted mybet, your flutter will have paid off, at least so far, with Monitise up 70% in February. But that now leaves two tricky questions begging, rather than one.
First, at this price, is Monitise still a nicely priced buy? And second, should existing investors seize the chance to cut their losses before the next bout of turbulence?
Word Of Warning
Would-be buyers have missed one opportunity to pick up a bargain, with Monitise now up to23p. But that is still well below its 52-week high.
Last week, Monitise reported a 30.8m loss for the six months to 31 December, up from 10.2m the year before.
Management cheered investors by repeatingto its claim that the profits would finally start rolling next year. All we can do is take their word for it.
Cash Is King
Investors who feared Monitise would burn through its cash pile before turning a profit will have been pleased to hearits cash holdings now stand at an improved 127.3m.
That was largely thanks to a much-needed47.6m of investment from long-term agreements with Santander, MasterCard and Telefonica in November.
But it was market talk of interest from potential buyers that hasdriven the share price upwards, following reports that Monitise had met several potentialsuitorsin the US.
Oracle, IBM and existing Monitise client FIS are the names in the frame, but the speculation is now in the price.
Monitise is still a gamble, however, but with fractionally less potential upside than before. Given itsvolatility, I would rather buy on the dips.
The 14p Question
Whether you sell part also depends on your attitude to risk, and emotional factors such as the price you originally paid.
If you bought high dont hang on purely because you are reluctant to sell low. There may be better ways of recovering your losses.
The road ahead remains long and bumpy. Monetiseis still a company with a track record of springing nasty surprises on investors.
What if you were clever enough to buy at 14p? Its never wrong to bank a profit, and who knows, you might get another chance to buy at 14p in the near future.
This is one stock I would rather treat as a trade than an investment.
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Harvey Jones has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of Monitise. We Fools don’t all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.