REFR RESEARCH FRONTIERS INC

Nasdaq Patent Owners & Lessors DE CIK: 0000793524
AI RATING
STRONG_SELL
92% Confidence

Investment Thesis

Research Frontiers is a financially distressed company with a fundamentally broken business model, burning nearly 6x its annual revenue in cash while revenues decline 16% YoY. With only 1.3M in cash reserves against annual operating burn of 760K, the company will face critical liquidity crisis within approximately 20 months absent significant operational turnaround or capital infusion.

Strengths

  • + Strong immediate liquidity with 6.38x current/quick ratio providing near-term solvency buffer
  • + Zero long-term debt (0.00x debt/equity) eliminating leverage risk and providing maximum balance sheet flexibility
  • + 1.3M in remaining cash reserves provides runway for potential restructuring, asset liquidation, or strategic pivot

Risks

  • ! Catastrophic operating losses at -389% margin with accelerating net losses declining 56% YoY indicates fundamental business model failure
  • ! Negative operating cash flow of -760K annually will completely exhaust 1.3M cash position within ~20 months without revenue improvement
  • ! Collapsed revenue base of only 136.3K with -16% YoY decline suggests severe market rejection of patent licensing business and inability to generate new contracts

Key Metrics to Watch

Financial Metrics

Revenue
136.3K
Net Income
-525.4K
EPS (Diluted)
$-0.02
Free Cash Flow
-760.0K
Total Assets
3.1M
Cash
1.3M

Profitability Ratios

Gross Margin N/A
Operating Margin -389.1%
Net Margin -385.4%
ROE -29.5%
ROA -17.1%
FCF Margin -557.5%

Balance Sheet & Liquidity

Current Ratio
6.38x
Quick Ratio
6.38x
Debt/Equity
0.00x
Debt/Assets
42.1%
Interest Coverage
N/A
Long-term Debt
N/A
Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI based on publicly available SEC EDGAR filings. It does not include stock price data and should not be considered financial advice. All fundamental data is sourced from SEC public domain filings. Always conduct your own research before making investment decisions.
Data Source: SEC EDGAR | Analysis Date: 2026-05-09T12:50:17.853853 | Data as of: 2026-03-31 | Powered by Claude AI