Over 30 Virtual Reality Stocks - Which are the Purest Plays?

Virtual reality is the creation of an artificial environment that looks very realistic, through the use of computer technology. Virtual reality, or VR as it is commonly referred to, is one of the fastest growing industries in the areas of electronic gaming, entertainment, medical services, and military applications.

The key product utilized in the VR world is the headset, originally prohibitively expensive, but currently dropping in price. As a matter of fact, you can buy a D-scope Pro Google Cardboard 3D Virtual Reality Kit for less than $20.

Historically, one might consider the stereoscope as the first step towards virtual reality. It was invented in the 1800's and consisted of a viewer which allowed the left and right eyes to view two separate but identical pictures, giving a three dimensional effect.

The more modern version is the View-Master, created in 1939, which gave the users the same effect but gave the ability to click through a series of pictures.

Of course, Oculus is considered to be one of the largest virtual reality technology companies, with its popular Oculus Rift, a virtual reality head-mounted display for video gaming. Mark Zuckerberg saw the writing on the wall and Facebook ended up paying $2 billion for the company in 2014.

Many other companies are involved in virtual reality and augmented reality, such as Adobe (ADBE), Alphabet/Google (GOOGL), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Sony (SNE), but it is currently only a small part of their business. A list of over 30 virtual reality and augmented reality stocks can be found at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

However, although there are no truly pure plays, there are a few smaller companies where the VR business can bring a substantial amount of money to their bottom line.

One example is Immersion (IMMR) which is working on force feedback for virtual reality. Force feedback, also called haptic technology and kinesthetic communication, is the creation of the sense of touch to the user, through the use of vibrations or motions.

Immersion is one of the leaders in haptic technology. The stock has a nosebleed high trailing price to earnings ratio of 901, but a more reasonable forward P/E of 26. The company is debt free and has $2.11 in cash per share.

Kopin (KOPN) develops, makes, and markets virtual and augmented reality gaming, training and simulation products. The company is currently generating negative earnings but is debt free with $1.42 in cash per share.

Microvision (MVIS) makes PicoP scanning technology for three-dimensional sensing and image capture. This company, like Kopin, also generates negative earnings, but is also debt free. It has 22 cents in cash per share. On the positive side, Macrovision's quarterly revenues jumped 311% year over year.

These three companies are small cap, and should therefore be considered very speculative. Many other VR stocks can be found at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. Hopefully a virtual reality stock will make your profits a reality.

By Stockerblog.com

Disclosure: Author owned AAPL and MSFT at the time the article was written.

Modern picture courtesy of Pixabay.

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Second Week of December

 Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends'. This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets, and can work in flat or choppy markets, but you need to avoid the technique during bear markets.

In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend in the near future. The list contains many dividend paying companies, many with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, and the yield.

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BankFinancial	BFIN	12/9/2013	3.5%
Laclede Group	LG	12/9/2013	3.7%
Telus Corp	TU	12/9/2013	4.0%
Ameren Corp	AEE	12/9/2013	4.4%

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Parkway Properties	PKY	12/10/2013	4.2%
Mercury General	MCY	12/10/2013	5.1%
El Paso Electric Co.	EE	12/11/2013	3.0%
Sotherly Hotels Inc	SOHO	12/11/2013	3.0%
Validus Holdings Ltd.	VR	12/11/2013	3.0%
BRE Properties	BRE	12/11/2013	3.1%
Quality Systems	QSII	12/11/2013	3.1%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn't show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out some of the other high yield stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com. Most of the lists are free.
Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.


Monthly Dividend Stock List
Record date: the day when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks at two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Book now available: Buying Dividends Revised and Expanded

Book now available: Stock Market Trivia
A Great Stocking Stuffer!

Don't forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com