Auri Inc. (OTCMKTS:AURI) Tumbles Back Down

Auri Inc. (OTCMKTS:AURI) went through a few management team changes over the last few months and after the last one, a certain Todd Moore was appointed as the President of the company. In the latest report, AURI describe Mr. Moore as a “high-profile executive with over 25 years’ experience”.

We don’t know what criteria you should meet in order to qualify as a “high-profile executive”, but we do know that Mr. Moore is also at the helm of a company called PBS Holding, Inc. (OTCMKTS:PBHG). And “high-profile” is the last word that comes to our minds when we think of PBHG. The stock is currently glued to the bottom of the chart at $0.0001 per share and it hasn’t seen any active trading in quite a while.

Todd Moore isn’t the only name that can be found in both PBHG‘s and AURI‘s filings. The two companies were run by Edward Vakser not that long ago and he still seems to be quite fond of them. He is especially protective of AURI.

On Thursday, Mr. Vakser’s successors announced that they are starting the process of up-listing AURI to either the OTCQB or OTCQX tier. They seem so confident in the future success, that they are even thinking about a potential NASDAQ listing.

Investors reacted to the announcement and on Thursday, AURI managed to gain a whopping 748%, closing the day at just under $0.007 per share. Apparently, however, some skeptics emerged and we can sort of see why.

In order to have the stock listed on the higher OTC tiers, AURI will need to start reporting their financial situation according to the SEC rules, but a quick look at the company profile at the OTC Markets reveals that they’re currently struggling with the more lax alternative reporting standards. The Q1 report is now out, but the attorney letter is missing which means that there’s a Limited Information stamp. And if they want to go to NASDAQ, they’ll have to maintain a share price of at least $4 (provided they meet a myriad of other conditions), and that, you have to agree, seems a bit far fetched at the moment.

Nevertheless, Mr. Vakser has spent some of his precious time on the message boards in an attempt to convince investors that everything is doable. He said that AURI is about to complete some acquisitions that will result in $60 million in additional revenues per year. Then, he did some calculations and arrived at a conclusion that the ticker can easily achieve a price of $4 per share without the help of a reverse split. But do people actually believe him?

Well, the stock had a pretty tough session on Friday. It opened the day with a small gap up and it even briefly managed to rear its head above the $0.01 per share mark. Sadly, about an hour into the session, it stuttered to a halt and it plummeted back down. It closed the week at $0.004 – 41% in the red.

Clearly, there are people who are not quite ready to trust Mr. Vakser and once again, we can sort of see why.

AURI and PBHG aren’t the only companies Mr. Vakser has been involved with. His name can be found in the filings of 3D Eye Solutions, In (OTCMKTS:TDEY), ProTek Capital Inc (OTCMKTS:PRPM) as well as a number of other Pennyland sob stories. A few years ago, he was at the helm of Artfest International Inc (once traded under the ARTS ticker symbol) and while he was there, he signed the company’s 2010 annual report. A few months later, the SEC decided that there are some serious questions regarding the accuracy of assertions made in this report and the stock was suspended.

Does this mean that you should take Mr. Vakser’s optimistic projections with a grain of salt? It’s up to you to decide.