Market Movers: Remark Holdings Sees Sudden Drop

Remark Holdings (NASDAQ: MARK) this afternoon saw its equity halted as a result of volatility in its share price, after having fallen 20.59% on the day. At the time of the halt, the company was down $0.70 per share to trade at a price of $2.70 on the Nasdaq.

The halt itself came after over 500,000 common shares of the equity trading hands in the time span of a minute, taking the equity down with it. By all appearances, a shareholder placed a market sell order which resulted in the fall. By comparison, over 39 million shares had traded hands during the regular session at the time of the halt.

Remark has been on a wild swing as of late given its recent involvement in working towards finding a solution for public spaces in relation to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The company has developed a series of thermal imaging devices to monitor body temperatures of persons in public spaces through the use of thermal cameras. The company was really set on a run at the start of March, when it was rumoured that the company had managed to get its technology into Wynn Resorts locations.

Just yesterday, the company announced the launch of RemarkThermal.com, a hub for the new line of products from the company. Commenting on the launch, CEO Kai-Shing Tao stated, “What differentiates Remark’s thermal cameras are its capabilities beyond thermal temperature scanning. Our proprietary AI software enables monitoring various tasks including people counting, PPE enforcement such as mask wearing, social distancing compliance, contactless access to doors and gates, attendance management, touchless employee check in, object counts, behavior detection, intelligent surveillance and theft control.“

While the solution offers several forms of perceived security, the use of thermal cameras has recently been brought into privacy-related discussions as a result of the ability to track individuals movements. This is a result of the facial recognition abilities of the tech, as well as concerns on dragnet surveillance. The preferred solution here by many is that of thermal sensors, which don’t track the movement of persons, but rather only measure thermal temperatures. Solutions such as ThermalPass by The Internet of Things, Inc (TSXV: ITT) therefore offer less intrusive solutions to the same problem.

Remark Holdings has since rebounded following the removal of the trading halt, and last traded at $3.01 on the Nasdaq, with 49.3 million shares having traded hands.

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Information for this briefing was found via Sedar, Casino.org, Internet of Things and Remark Holdings. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.