I am not sure why people compare this to 2016, it's completely different. And MUCH better. Well done POET. 

1. POET issues shares at their discretion on their terms. That means if the company seems the SP as bad (manipulated, shorted, too low, you name it) there is no offering - as simple as that

2. There are NO warrants attached. Not even half warrants. That means no dealings with overhangs any longer after the August warrants are gone

3. No warrant based shorting is possible any more - that’s great News to me 

4. There is no fixed price on the way up, this means, that the higher the price the lower the dilution

5. Selling shares (hence lowering the SP) to participate in the offering might be dangerous and certainly not safe bet, as the company just may not issue shares if the price is too low, when you sell your shares there is no guarantee to get part of the offering - therefore it is quite unlikely that the company would offer new shares at lower than today’s price, that means selling pressure from those “sold shares” should be dealt with this ATM offering

6. This time we have a reputable Agent doing the offering, not even close to compare with HC BrainWrong. Those Agents will prove coverage on the stock and promote the offering to their clients - FRESH money and not left pocket / right pocket money (selling shares to buy the offering)

7. The uncertainty about funding has been dealt with, but is just not completely removed as we don’t know yet how the offering will be purchased, whether there is demand or not. I think there will be - see 8.

8. Institutional Investors that want a bigger stake in POET got now the chance to do so, it would have been better at the time of NAS Listing (hindsight is a wonderful thing), but hey, that’s what the stock market is made for - give small companies the chance to raise money when they need to. Now those Instis can buy their stake, without running the SP up like crazy, they get it at the market, at the discretion of the company, once deemed valuable for the company.

9. The company, knows when news are coming and how the development is going, therefore it is unlikely that they will do an ATM just before an anticipated higher SP (as it might be seen as unfavorable to the company). 

10. To me this all looks like, if one want a bigger portion of the shares, it’s a kind of who comes first, gets cheapest, as we all assume that the SP will be much higher by year end. So, who wants a chunk can pony up the money now, back the company with this funding and hence support their new investment the best way possible. I think, that it’s unwise to manipulate the SP, as I am pretty sure the company wouldn’t let them “steal” the company and the current SP is the floor and bottom for the ATM (at least I hope so). If that’s the case, every ATM does make the company stronger as they get the money to develop and orders start to come in. This in turn means, that every ATM would basically support the SP, as the company gets more and more derisked with each ATM and each week.

11. As this offering is set to a one year duration, there is NO NEED to sell ATM shares on a low SP and the institutional investors know that, same with retail. So, a lower SP than today, to me makes no sense. However, once the run start to take place to buy those shares, we might see a buying Spree but the investors, as they know that the next stake will get more and more expensive. So, who buys first will most likely buy cheapest.

12. We knew the Street wants an offering. Here it is, now it’s up to them to take up on it and get the chance to invest in an absolutely hot AI market via POET or not. But this ATM offering this time shows to me that the company knows their cards, and is playing the really well now. If this is in the books of TM, well done and full respect.

13. We knew a financing and money will be needed. This ATM removes uncertainty and is IMO the best option that could have been thought off. The company HAS learnt. I reappear again - NO warrants. Enough with the shenanigans of the last years, holding the company and the SP hostage with all those warrants and dirty games (warrant backed shorting, etc.). I know not all of the warrant holders have done that, but enough to keep the SP at where we are today. That is not due to development issues or the company. This is due to previous bad financings and enough people that have used that in their favor which wasn’t in the best interest of the company. Now POET has played their trump cards.

I hope this clarifies a bit. There is no need for fear. It’s not any similar to 2016 and the company has the best hand here for this “game”.

Not all of the above might be 100% correct, but at least this is my interpretation of the experience that I had with previous ATM offerings. They haven’t drowned the SP though of these companies. Some have even more than doubled in SP after an ATM was in place. 

Now it’s due to the company to time the offering wise, because even here you can make some

mistakes. Like:

a) it could kill a rally (short term though, not to worry IMO). But better to offer at high’s and not at lows. 

b) Offer a lot (at least enough) with the first chunk so that their is no desperate NEED for money any longer and it doesn’t need to be offered at lower prices than today

c) when the price is high, make use of the ATM, even if not needed at that time, one never knows what happens to the wider market and in worst case the terms could turn worse, so make use of it when the time is right, so you don’t NEED to use it when the time isn’t right/favorable.

I have seen companies that missed the timing and had to offer ATM at lows rather than highs. So TEAM POET, well done, now use those strong cards, well. Good luck to us all.