SPYR Inc (OTCMKTS:SPYR) continues to look like an extremely interesting play in the technology sector, especially given the stock’s strong upward trend and recent sharp pullback. The move lower looks like shakeout in the trend. And the catalysts we are seeing lining up here are clearly outlining a story that is still very much developing. Last time, we noted that it had been included the new Gameroom platform, now available in beta, for Windows PC gamers that was recently developed and released by Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). Now, we have word of several other key moves that represent material factors, as we will cover below.
But first, we want to take a moment to point to the sweet technical picture here. This stock has been in a clear upward trend for the past 11 months, with no breaks of the well-drawn line under the lows. Both the 200-day and 50-day simple moving averages are sloped higher with the 50 tracking above the 200. That’s the technical definition of a bullish trend. Finally, RSI actually just tapped the oversold level around a 40 reading. When you get an RSI of 40 in a strong uptrend, the odds favor new money flows into the stock. It’s basic technical analysis 101.
SPYR Inc (OTCMKTS:SPYR) engages in the digital media and restaurant businesses primarily in the United States. The company engages in developing, publishing, co-publishing, and marketing mobile games and applications.
It also owns and operates American Diner theme restaurant under the Eat at Joe’s brand located in the Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company was formerly known as Eat at Joe’s, Ltd. and changed its name to SPYR, Inc. in March 2015. SPYR, Inc. was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
According to the company’s materials, “SPYR, INC. is a holding company that through its wholly owned subsidiary SPYR APPS, LLC, is engaged in mobile application and game publishing and development. SPYR, INC. also owns and operates an “American Diner” theme restaurant located in the Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania called “Eat at Joe’s” through its other wholly-owned subsidiary, E.A.J.: PHL Airport Inc. The Company is currently exploring opportunities for additional acquisitions in these and other verticals, including mobile application and game development, to expand its holdings, to drive and increase revenue and to generate profits and build value for shareholders.”
The Catalysts Continue to Build
As we noted above, there is a swirl of interesting catalysts coming together here. For example, just this week (Wednesday), the company announced that its publishing and development teams are currently attending two games conferences this week in San Francisco (from February 27th through March 3rd), largely to seek out new games for publishing, but also to showcase its flagship game, Pocket Starships.
SPYR will participate in both GDC (Game Developers Conference), the world’s largest professional game industry event, and GCA (Game Connection America).
If you have been out to San Fran for GDC, you know it’s the life blood of the industry. We like to see the company involved in the event in an important capacity.
According to the GDC website, “GDC attracts over 27,000 attendees, and is the primary forum where programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision-makers and others involved in the development of interactive games and virtual reality gather to exchange ideas and shape the future of the industry.”
Game Connection America is the international event where 2700+ developers, publishers, distributors and service providers come to find new partners.
“Our participation in these conferences will further enhance SPYR’s reputation and visibility in the electronic games industry,” said SPYR CEO & President, James R. Thompson. “We have a full schedule of meetings with game developers and others in the industry at these two conferences and we are always seeking an opportunity to partner with upcoming developers to publish some great new games.”
The company also just announced that Farshid Almassizadeh, the former VP and COO of EA Interactive at Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA), will join the SPYR team as its Chief Strategic Advisor. Mr. Almassizadeh will bring his 25+ years of experience in the gaming industry to SPYR as an advisor to SPYR’s management team, the game publishing team, as well as the associated developer community.
James R. Thompson, SPYR’s CEO and President, stated: “Everyone at SPYR is very excited to be working with Farshid. His many years of experience and connections in the gaming industry are going to be invaluable to the company and we believe that he will help us cultivate all of the seeds we have planted over the last year to grow our games business and revenue.”
On top of their admittance into Facebook’s Gameroom, the situation starts to look very saturated with potential narratives all leading in the right direction. In the context of the technical picture outlined above, we are inclined to continue to keep SPYR front and center on our screens.
