Chicago Atlantic Real Estate ate Finance Inc (REFI) Risk Analysis

Subject to the approval of our Manager, our Board (which must include a majority of our independent directors) may change our investment strategies or guidelines, financing strategies or leverage policies with respect to loans, originations, acquisitions, growth, operations, indebtedness, capitalization and distributions at any time without the consent of our stockholders, which could result in a loan portfolio with a different risk profile than that of our existing portfolio or of a portfolio comprised of our target loans. A change in our investment strategy may increase our exposure to interest rate risk, default risk and real estate market and cannabis industry fluctuations. Furthermore, a change in our asset allocation could result in our making loans in asset categories different from those described in this annual report on Form 10-K. These changes could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our equity and our ability to make distributions to our stockholders.

Our Charter and our Bylaws contain provisions that may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of us or changes in our management. Our Charter and Bylaws include, among others, provisions that: - authorize our Board, without stockholder approval, to cause us to issue additional shares of our common stock or to raise capital through the creation and issuance of our preferred stock, debt securities convertible into common stock, options, warrants and other rights, on terms and for consideration as our Board in its sole discretion may determine;- authorize "blank check" preferred stock, which could be issued by our Board without stockholder approval, subject to certain specified limitations, and may contain voting, liquidation, dividend and other rights senior to our common stock;- specify that only our Board, the chairman of our Board, our chief executive officer or president or, upon the written request of stockholders entitled to cast not less than a majority of the votes entitled to be cast, our secretary can call special meetings of our stockholders;- establish advance notice procedures for stockholder proposals to be brought before an annual or special meeting of our stockholders, including proposed nominations of individuals for election to our Board;- provide that a majority of directors then in office, even though less than a quorum, may fill any vacancy on our Board, whether resulting from an increase in the number of directors or otherwise; and - provide our Board the exclusive power to adopt, alter or repeal any provision of our Bylaws and to make new Bylaws. These provisions, alone or together, could delay or prevent hostile takeovers and changes in control or changes in our management. Any provision of our Charter or Bylaws that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit your opportunity to receive a premium for your shares of our common stock, and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our stock shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the provisions of our Charter and Bylaws described above.

Our Charter permits our Board, without any action by our stockholders, to authorize the issuance of stock in one or more classes or series. Our Board may also classify or reclassify any unissued shares of stock and set or change the preferences, conversion and other rights, voting powers, restrictions, limitations as to dividends and other distributions, qualifications and terms and conditions of redemption of any such stock, which rights may be superior to those of our common stock. Thus, our Board could authorize the issuance of shares of a class or series of stock with terms and conditions which could have the effect of discouraging a takeover or other transaction in which holders of some or a majority of our outstanding common stock might receive a premium for their shares over the then current market price of our common stock.

We are a Maryland corporation and subject to the MGCL. Under the MGCL, certain "business combinations" between a Maryland corporation and an "interested stockholder" or an affiliate of an interested stockholder are prohibited for five years after the most recent date on which the interested stockholder becomes an interested stockholder. These business combinations include a merger, consolidation, share exchange or, in circumstances specified in the statute, an asset transfer or issuance or reclassification of equity securities. An interested stockholder is defined as: (a) any person who beneficially owns, directly or indirectly, 10% or more of the voting power of the then-outstanding voting stock of a corporation; or (b) an affiliate or associate of a corporation who, at any time within the two-year period prior to the date in question, was the beneficial owner, directly or indirectly, of 10% or more of the voting power of the then-outstanding stock of such corporation. A person is not an interested stockholder under the statute if the board of directors approved in advance the transaction by which the person otherwise would have become an interested stockholder. However, in approving a transaction, the board of directors may provide that its approval is subject to compliance, at or after the time of approval, with any terms and conditions determined by the board of directors. After the expiration of the five-year period described above, any business combination between a Maryland corporation and an interested stockholder must generally be recommended by the board of directors of such corporation and approved by the affirmative vote of at least: - 80% of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of the then-outstanding shares of voting stock of such corporation; and - two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of voting stock of such corporation, other than shares held by the interested stockholder with whom or with whose affiliate the business combination is to be effected, or held by an affiliate or associate of the interested stockholder. These supermajority vote requirements do not apply if the corporation's common stockholders receive a minimum price, as defined under the MGCL, for their shares in the form of cash or other consideration in the same form as previously paid by the interested stockholder for its shares. The MGCL also permits various exemptions from these provisions, including business combinations that are exempted by the board of directors before the time that the interested stockholder becomes an interested stockholder. By resolution of our Board, we have opted out of the business combination provisions of the MGCL and provide that any business combination between us and any other person is exempt from the business combination provisions of the MGCL, provided that the business combination is first approved by our Board (including a majority of directors who are not affiliates or associates of such persons). In addition, under the MGCL, holders of our "control shares" (defined as voting shares of stock that, if aggregated with all other shares of stock owned or controlled by the acquirer, would entitle the acquirer to exercise one of three increasing ranges of voting power in electing directors) acquired in a "control share acquisition" (defined as the direct or indirect acquisition of issued and outstanding "control shares") have no voting rights except to the extent approved by our stockholders by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of all of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter, excluding all interested shares. Our Bylaws contain a provision exempting from the Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act any and all acquisitions by any person of shares of our stock. There can be no assurance that this exemption will not be amended or eliminated at any time in the future. Additionally, Title 3, Subtitle 8 of the MGCL permits our Board, without stockholder approval and regardless of what is currently provided in our Charter or Bylaws, to implement certain takeover defenses, such as a classified board, some of which we do not have.

Our Bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland, or, if that court does not have jurisdiction, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, Northern Division, will be the sole and exclusive forum for (a) any Internal Corporate Claim, as such term is defined in the MGCL, (b) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf (other than actions arising under federal securities laws), (c) any action asserting a claim of breach of any duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to us or to our stockholders, (d) any action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors, officers or other employees arising pursuant to any provision of the MGCL or our Charter or Bylaws or (e) any other action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors, officers or other employees that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. These choice of forum provisions will not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Securities Act, the Exchange Act, or any other claim for which federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Furthermore, our Bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for the resolution of any claim arising under the Securities Act. These exclusive forum provisions may limit the ability of our stockholders to bring a claim in a judicial forum that such stockholders find favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees, if any, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers, and employees, if any. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provisions contained in our Bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and operating results. For example, under the Securities Act, federal courts have concurrent jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act, and investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. In addition, the exclusive forum provisions described above do not apply to any actions brought under the Exchange Act.

For us to qualify as a REIT under the Code, not more than 50% of the value of our outstanding stock may be owned directly or indirectly, by five or fewer individuals (including certain entities treated as individuals for this purpose) at any time during the last half of a taxable year. For the purpose of assisting our qualification as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes, among other purposes, our Charter prohibits beneficial or constructive ownership by any person of more than a certain percentage, currently 9.8%, in value or by number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of the outstanding shares of our common stock or 9.8% in value of our outstanding shares of all classes or series of our stock, which we refer to as the "ownership limits." The constructive ownership rules under the Code and our Charter are complex and may cause shares of the outstanding common stock owned by a group of related persons to be deemed to be constructively owned by one person. As a result, the acquisition of less than 9.8% of our outstanding common stock or all classes or series of our stock by a person could cause a person to own constructively in excess of 9.8% of the outstanding shares of our common stock or in excess of 9.8% of the outstanding shares of all class and series of our stock, respectively, and thus violate the ownership limits. There can be no assurance that our Board, as permitted in the Charter, will not decrease the ownership limits in the future. Any attempt to own or transfer shares of our common stock in excess of the ownership limits without the consent of our Board will result either in the shares in excess of the limit being transferred by operation of the Charter to a charitable trust, and the person who attempted to acquire such excess shares will not have any rights in such shares, or in the transfer being void. The ownership limits may have the effect of precluding a change in control of us by a third party, even if such change in control would be in the best interests of our stockholders or would result in receipt of a premium to the price of our common stock (and even if such change in control would not reasonably jeopardize our REIT status). In addition, our Board has granted conditional exceptions to the ownership limits to affiliates of our Sponsor, which may limit our Board's power to increase the ownership limits or grant further exemptions in the future.

We have conducted and intend to continue to conduct our operations so that we will be exempt from the provisions of the Investment Company Act pursuant to an exemption contained in Section 3(c)(5)(C) thereunder. The Investment Company Act provides certain protections to investors and imposes certain restrictions on registered investment companies (including, for example, limitations on the ability of registered investment companies to incur leverage), none of which will be applicable to us. We rely on the exception set forth in Section 3(c)(5) of the Investment Company Act, which excludes from the definition of investment company "[a]ny person who is not engaged in the business of issuing redeemable securities, face-amount certificates of the installment type or periodic payment plan certificates, and who is primarily engaged in one or more of the following businesses . . . (C) purchasing or otherwise acquiring mortgages and other liens on and interests in real estate." The SEC generally requires that, for the exception provided by Section 3(c)(5) to be available, at least 55% of an entity's assets be comprised of mortgages and other liens on and interests in real estate, also known as "qualifying interests," and at least another 25% of the entity's assets must be comprised of additional qualifying interests or real estate-type interests (with no more than 20% of the entity's assets comprised of miscellaneous assets). We classify our assets for purposes of our 3(c)(5)(C) exemption based upon no-action positions taken by the SEC staff and interpretive guidance provided by the SEC and its staff. These no-action positions are based on specific factual situations that may be substantially or entirely different from the factual situations we may face and a number of these no-action positions were issued more than twenty years ago. There may be no guidance from the SEC or its staff that applies directly to our factual situations and as a result we may have to apply SEC staff guidance that relates to other factual situations by analogy. No assurance can be given that the SEC or its staff will concur with our classification of our assets. In addition, the SEC or its staff may, in the future, issue further guidance that may require us to re-classify our assets for purposes of the Investment Company Act. If we are required to reclassify our assets, we may no longer be in compliance with the exemption from the definition of an investment company provided by Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the Investment Company Act. A change in the value of any of our assets could negatively affect our ability to maintain our exemption from regulation under the Investment Company Act. To maintain compliance with the applicable exemption under the Investment Company Act, we may be unable to sell assets we would otherwise want to sell and may need to sell assets we would otherwise wish to retain. In addition, we may have to acquire additional assets that we might not otherwise have acquired or may have to forego opportunities to acquire assets that we would otherwise want to acquire and would be important to our investment strategy. A failure by us to maintain this exemption would require us to significantly restructure our investment strategy. For example, because affiliated transactions are generally prohibited under the Investment Company Act, we would not be able to enter into transactions with any of our affiliates if we are required to register as an investment company, which could have a material adverse effect on our ability to operate the business and pay distributions. If we were required to register as an investment company but failed to do so, we would be prohibited from engaging in our business, and criminal and civil actions could be brought against us. In addition, our contracts would be unenforceable unless a court required enforcement, and a court could appoint a receiver to take control of such entity and liquidate its business.

Our Charter eliminates the liability of our directors and officers to us and our stockholders for money damages to the maximum extent permitted under Maryland law. Under current Maryland law and our Charter, our directors and officers will not have any liability to us or our stockholders for money damages other than liability resulting from: - actual receipt of an improper benefit or profit in money, property or services; or - active and deliberate dishonesty by the director or officer that was established by a final judgment and is material to the cause of action adjudicated. Our Charter obligates us to indemnify each of our directors or officers who is or is threatened to be made a party to or witness in a proceeding by reason of his or her service in those or certain other capacities, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law, from and against any claim or liability to which such person may become subject or which such person may incur by reason of his or her status as a present or former director or officer of us or serving in such other capacities. In addition, we may be obligated to pay or reimburse the expenses incurred by our present and former directors and officers without requiring a preliminary determination of their ultimate entitlement to indemnification. As a result, we and our stockholders may have more limited rights to recover money damages from our directors and officers than might otherwise exist absent these provisions in our Charter or that might exist with other companies, which could limit your recourse in the event of actions that are not in our best interests.

We are subject to conflicts of interest arising out of our relationship with our Manager and its affiliates. We are managed by our Manager, and our executive officers are employees of our Manager. There is no guarantee that the policies and procedures adopted by us, the terms and conditions of the Management Agreement or the policies and procedures adopted by our Manager and its affiliates, will enable us to identify, adequately address or mitigate these conflicts of interest. Some examples of conflicts of interest that may arise by virtue of our relationship with our Manager include: Manager's advisory activities. While our Manager and its affiliates have agreed that for so long as our Manager is managing us, neither it nor any of its affiliates will sponsor or manage any other mortgage REIT that invests primarily in loans of the same kind as our Company, our Manager and its affiliates may otherwise manage other investment vehicles that have investment objectives that compete or overlap with, and may from time to time invest in, our target asset classes. For example, in October 2024, an affiliate of our Manager acquired a controlling interest in Chicago Atlantic BDC Advisers, LLC (fka Silver Spike Adviser, LLC), which serves as the investment adviser to Chicago Atlantic BDC, Inc. (fka Silver Spike Investment Corporation) ("CA BDC"), a business development company whose shares trade on the Nasdaq Global Market. CA BDC's investment strategy is substantially similar to ours, except that its operations are regulated under the Investment Company Act and it is taxed as a regulated investment company (RIC), rather than as a REIT. This may apply to existing investment vehicles or investment vehicles that may be organized in the future. Consequently, we, on the one hand, and these other investment vehicles, on the other hand, may from time to time pursue the same or similar loan opportunities. To the extent such other investment vehicles seek to acquire the same target assets as us, the scope of opportunities otherwise available to us may be adversely affected and/or reduced. Our Manager or its affiliates may also give advice to such other investment vehicles that may differ from the advice given to us even though their investment objectives may be the same or similar to ours. Allocation of loans. Our Manager and its affiliates endeavor to allocate loan opportunities in a fair and equitable manner, subject to their internal policies. The internal policies of our Manager and its affiliates, which may be amended without our consent, are intended to enable us to participate equitably in investment opportunities with any other investment vehicles that are managed by our Manager or affiliates of our Manager. In general, loan opportunities are allocated taking into consideration various factors, including, among others, the relevant investment vehicles' available capital, their investment objectives or strategies, their risk profiles and their existing or prior positions in a borrower or particular loan, their potential conflicts of interest, the nature of the opportunity and market conditions, as well as the rotation of loan opportunities. Nevertheless, it is possible that we may not be given the opportunity to participate in certain loans made by investment vehicles managed by our Manager or affiliates of our Manager. In addition, there may be conflicts in the allocation of loan opportunities among us and the investment vehicles that our Manager or affiliates of our Manager manage in the future. Co-investments. Investment vehicles managed by our Manager or affiliates of our Manager may co-invest with us or hold positions in a loan where we have also invested, including by means of splitting commitments, participating in loans or other means of syndicating loans. Such loans may raise potential conflicts of interest between us and such other investment vehicles. To the extent such investment vehicles seek to acquire the same target assets as us, subject to the internal policies of our Manager and its affiliates described above, the scope of opportunities otherwise available to us may be adversely affected and/or reduced. In such circumstances, the size of the investment opportunity in loans otherwise available to us may be less than it would otherwise have been, and we may participate in such opportunities on different and potentially less favorable economic terms than such other parties if our Manager deems such participation as being otherwise in our best interests. Furthermore, when such other investment vehicles have interests or requirements that do not align with our interests, including differing liquidity needs or desired investment horizons, conflicts may arise in the manner in which any voting or control rights are exercised with respect to the relevant borrower, potentially resulting in an adverse impact on us. If we participate in a co-investment with an investment vehicle managed by our Manager or an affiliate of our Manager and such vehicle fails to fund a future advance on a loan, we may be required to, or we may elect to, cover such advance and invest additional funds. In addition, if we and such other investment vehicles invest in different classes or types of debt, equity or other investments relating to the same borrower, actions may be taken by such other investment vehicles that are adverse to our interests, including, but not limited to, during a work-out, restructuring or insolvency proceeding or similar matter occurring with respect to such loan. To the extent CA BDC co-invests with us, the transaction must comply with the terms of an exemptive order obtained by CA BDC and affiliated entities. As of December 31, 2025, our affiliates and affiliates of our Manager hold co-investments in 17 of the 26 portfolio companies in which we hold an investment. Loans in which other investment vehicles managed by our Manager or affiliates of our Manager hold different loans. We may invest in, acquire, sell assets to or provide financing to investment vehicles managed by our Manager or affiliates of our Manager and their borrowers or purchase assets from, sell assets to, or arrange financing from any such investment vehicles and their borrowers. Any such transactions will require approval by a majority of our independent directors. There can be no assurance that any procedural protections will be sufficient to ensure that these transactions will be made on terms that will be at least as favorable to us as those that would have been obtained in an arm's-length transaction. Fees and expenses. We will be responsible for certain fees and expenses as determined by our Manager, including due diligence costs, legal, accounting and financial advisor fees and related costs, incurred in connection with evaluating and consummating loan opportunities, regardless of whether such loans are ultimately consummated by the parties thereto.

Our Manager may change its investment process without the consent of our stockholders and at any time. In addition, there can be no assurance that our Manager will follow its investment process in relation to the identification and underwriting of prospective loans. Changes in our Manager's investment process may result in inferior, among other things, due diligence and underwriting standards, which may adversely affect the performance of our portfolio.

Pursuant to the Management Agreement, our Manager does not assume any responsibility other than to render the services called for thereunder in good faith and will not be responsible for any action of our Board in following or declining to follow its advice or recommendations. Under the terms of the Management Agreement, our Manager, its affiliates, and any of their respective members, stockholders, managers, partners, trustees, personnel, officers, directors, employees, consultants and any person providing sub-advisory services to our Manager (collectively, the "Manager Parties") will not be liable to us for acts or omissions performed in accordance with and pursuant to the Management Agreement, except by reason of acts constituting bad faith, willful misconduct, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of their duties under the relevant Management Agreement. In addition, we have agreed to indemnify the Manager Parties with respect to all losses, damages, liabilities, demands, charges and claims of any nature whatsoever, and any and all expenses, costs and fees related thereto, arising from acts or omissions of the Manager Parties not constituting bad faith, willful misconduct, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of duties, performed in good faith in accordance with and pursuant to the Management Agreement. We have also entered into indemnification agreements with the members of the Manager's Investment Committee to indemnify and advance certain fees, costs and expenses to such individuals, subject to certain standards to be met and certain other limitations and conditions as set forth in such indemnification agreements. These protections may lead our Manager to act in a riskier manner when acting on our behalf than it would when acting for its own account.

The Charter provides that our Board may revoke or otherwise terminate our REIT election, without the approval of our stockholders, if our Board determines that it is no longer in our best interest to attempt to, or continue to, qualify as a REIT. If we cease to qualify as a REIT, we would become subject to U.S. federal income tax on our net taxable income and we generally would no longer be required to distribute any of our net taxable income to our stockholders, which may have adverse consequences on the total return to our stockholders.

The founders of Chicago Atlantic, Mr. Mazarakis, our Executive Chairman, Mr. Cappell, our Co-Chief Executive Officer, and Dr. Bodmeier, our former President and former Chief Investment Officer, beneficially own approximately 5.7% of our common stock on a fully-diluted basis as of December 31, 2025. The founders of Chicago Atlantic also own 100% of the outstanding equity of our Manager. The founders of Chicago Atlantic could therefore exert substantial influence over our corporate matters, such as electing directors and approving material mergers, acquisitions, strategic partnerships or other business combination transactions, as applicable. This concentration of ownership may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control which could have the dual effect of depriving our stockholders from an opportunity to receive a premium for their equity as part of a sale of our Company and otherwise reducing the price of such equity.

The market price and liquidity of the market for our common stock may be significantly affected by numerous factors, some of which are beyond our control and may not be directly related to our operating performance. Some of the factors that could negatively affect or result in fluctuations in the market price of our common stock include: - our actual or projected operating results, financial condition, cash flows and liquidity or changes in business strategy or prospects;- changes in governmental policies, regulations or laws;- loss of a major funding source or inability to obtain new favorable funding sources in the future;- equity issuances by us, or share resales by our stockholders, or the perception that such issuances or resales may occur;- actual, anticipated or perceived accounting or internal control problems;- publication of research reports about us, the real estate industry or the cannabis industry;- our value of the properties securing our loans;- changes in market valuations of similar companies;- adverse market reaction to any increased indebtedness we may incur in the future;- additions to or departures of the executive officers or key personnel supporting or assisting us from our Manager or its affiliates, including our Manager's investment professionals;- speculation in the press or investment community about us or other similar companies;- our failure to meet, or the lowering of, our earnings estimates or those of any securities analysts;- increases in market interest rates, which may lead investors to demand a higher distribution yield for our common stock (if we have begun to make distributions to our stockholders) and which could cause the cost of our interest expenses on our debt to increase;- failure to qualify or maintain our qualification as a REIT or exclusion from the Investment Company Act;- price and volume fluctuations in the stock market generally; and - general market and economic conditions, including the state of the credit and capital markets. Any of the factors listed above could materially adversely affect your investment in our common stock, and our common stock may trade at prices significantly below the initial public offering price, which could contribute to a loss of all or part of your investment. In such circumstances the trading price of our common stock may not recover and may experience a further decline. In addition, broad market and industry factors could materially adversely affect the market price of our common stock, irrespective of our operating performance. The stock market in general, and Nasdaq and the market for cannabis-related companies and REITs have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of the particular companies affected. The trading prices and valuations of these stocks, and of ours, may not be predictable. A loss of investor confidence in the market for finance companies or for those companies in the cannabis industry or the stocks of other companies which investors perceive to be similar to us, the opportunities in the finance or cannabis market or the stock market in general, could depress our stock price regardless of our business, financial condition, results of operations or growth prospects.

We are an "emerging growth company" as defined in the JOBS Act, and we have elected to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of (i) the last day of the fiscal year during which our total annual revenue equals or exceeds $1.235 billion (subject to adjustment for inflation), (ii) the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of our initial public offering, (iii) the date on which we have, during the previous three year period, more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt or (iv) the date issued on which we are deemed to be a "large accelerated filer" under the Exchange Act. Similarly, as a "smaller reporting company" under federal securities laws, we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not smaller reporting companies, including, but not limited to, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements. We may be a smaller reporting company even after we are no longer an emerging growth company. We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile. We may take advantage of these reporting exemptions until we are no longer an emerging growth company and/or smaller reporting company, as applicable.

The trading market for our common stock will rely in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us, our business, our markets and our competitors. We do not control these analysts. If securities analysts do not cover our common stock, the lack of research coverage may materially adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Furthermore, if one or more of the analysts who do cover us downgrade our stock or if those analysts issue other unfavorable commentary about us or our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fails to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the market and interest in our stock could decrease, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline and may also impair our ability to expand our business with existing customers and attract new customers.