Energous Corp (NASDAQ:WATT) shares are in focus Thursday morning after Fugazi Research published a follow-up bearish report that renewed concerns about the company’s reliance on dilution, stock promotion and broader questions around how the WATT story has been distributed to retail investors. Here’s what investors need to know.
- Energous stock is trending Thursday. Why are WATT shares rallying?
Follow-Up Fugazi Report Shifts Focus To Share Issuance And Trading Activity
Thursday’s publication followed Fugazi’s earlier short thesis and focused less on Energous’ technology than on recent share issuance and the market activity surrounding the stock. Benzinga reached out to Energous for comment on the report’s claims and will update if the company responds.
Fugazi said the company issued about 3.3 million new shares between Jan. 2 and March 23 through its at-the-market, or ATM, program, expanding the float from roughly 2.2 million shares reported in a prior quarterly filing to about 5.5 million shares in its latest annual filing.
Energous CEO and CFO Mallorie Burak previously told Benzinga the company remains focused on execution and delivering measurable progress, adding that management believes the most important measure of the business is its performance and customer adoption over time as it works to build a sustainable, scalable business over the long term.
WATT Dilution And Promotional Activity Draw Fresh Scrutiny
The report said those sales generated about $31.9 million in net proceeds and argued they showed WATT remained heavily dependent on shareholder dilution rather than operating performance.
The report also alleged the dilution coincided with promotional activity, including a January public relations push and commentary from social media stock promoter Mark A. Gomes, who Fugazi said previously faced SEC enforcement action in 2017.
Fugazi argued that for speculative small-cap stocks like WATT, narrative distribution can become part of the trading setup itself.
WATT Shares Edge Higher Thursday Morning
WATT Price Action: Energous shares were up 1.94% at $15.24 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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