Letmo

Research Reports

PCT - PureCycle Technologies, Inc.

Last updated

Long-Term Notes

Overall notes: A lot of my judgment about whether this business model makes sense does not come from my own work. I am not very confident in the judgment. The company's historical dilution is low. My view is that the company has real demand and a real product, but there are problems with unit cost and quality. The opposing stock community does not feel especially pure in its stupidity. There is currently a cost to borrow.

Technical path: Renewable recycled plastic.

  • I do not understand this market, the technology, or the commercial viability well enough to be very confident.
  • The technology itself was developed by PG, then sold to PCT, and then PG buys it back from PCT? If it works, why does PG not do it itself?
  • Are the unit economics unviable?

How it keeps going:

  • It keeps burning cash, but why is dilution so low? Where is the money coming from? 2025 Convertible Preferred. Warrants.

Stock communities:

  • Reddit. # Somehow this community actually gave me a somewhat rational impression.
  • SA comments.

Signals that I am wrong:

  • The unit economics are proven, or vaguely proven.
  • The company stops burning cash like crazy.
  • Revenue rises substantially and PS is no longer absurd.

Learning Notes

Online Thesis

2026-05-08 BBM video

  • The estimated cost of producing recycled plastic is more than three times the cost of virgin plastic. | Estimated in two ways.
  • The two government-related news items highlighted by management are misleading.

Time-Sensitive Notes

Created Notes

StockPCT
Latest Earnings26Q1
Current Price10.68
Diluted Shares180.48 M
Market Cap1.93 B# The market cap is not especially large, but it is at least above 1B
Revenue10.90 M
Earning-224.8 M
PS176.84# Completely insignificant
PE-8.57# The rate of cash loss is okay, not especially fast
Cash121.10 M
FCF (-SBC)-189.9 M
Cash Runway0.64# Less than one year; there may be something here
Dilution - 3 Years3.33%# It has barely diluted at all, which really worries me
Dilution - 1 Year1.11%
Short Float %28.58%
Days to Cover10.37
Borrow Fee5.20%
My MC Forecast - 3 Years1.02 B
CAGR13.67%
Confidence It Is Unviable2.50%# Not confident. After all, there is a real product and real demand; the problems are cost and quality
Crash Catalyst Exists1.00%# Less than one year of cash, so give it a 1
No Short-Squeeze Risk2.50%# Short-squeeze risk is pretty high, the highest among the companies I have looked at so far
Letmo Score7.67%
SS CalculationPCT
Expiration Date2028-01-21
Time to Expiration - Years1.62
Strike Price10.00
Current Price10.64
Credit - Worst-1.60
Credit - Matching0.10
Credit - Best1.80
Annual Return - Worst, Incl. Fee-11.77%
Annual Return - Matching, Incl. Fee-3.24%# Right now I would have to pay to borrow shares, and the fee is even higher than Fidelity's, so I am not considering SS for now
Annual Return - Midpoint, Incl. Fee-3.24%
Annual Loss - One-Way Commission0.08%
Annual Loss - One-Way Spread9.87%

67% of the current position is SS, thankfully.

Current position:

Total Gain Total Return Exposure Weight

-13,807.14 -75.52% -32,089.30 -2.42%

Decision: Hold the position. A lot of factors are moving in directions I do not want. Watch for now; if I am truly wrong, then cut the loss when it is time to cut the loss.