International Stem Cell Corp, Inc. (OTCMKTS:ISCO) Bought Up After Investor Conference
After selling a new issue of shares and warrants below market price, International Stem Cell Corp, Inc. (OTCMKTS:ISCO) disappeared from the volumes radar for a while. Now, ISCO is back on a new bunch of PR pieces, and volumes shot up to above $763,000. ISCO now stands at $0.173, after adding more than 14% on the day. Tuesday was the most active day of buying since the gap was created on July 22nd. 
ISCO is another addition to the very active biotech sector that started to boost its positions after the summer ended. And the ticker received an extra boost, being mentioned in an email on September 25th that activated trading in the days afterwards. The email is a small-scale, $8,000 promotion, which nevertheless marked a move to a more active position.
Wall Street Surfers was the name behind the email promotion, and an alert also came from Stock Aviator. Still, the end of September was a subdued period for ISCO. The latest movement may have been caused by ISCO‘s presentation at the 12th Annual BIO Investor Forum in San Francisco, an event which brought other tickers in the sector to light.
Now, ISCO has another upcoming event that could give the shares a boost- on October 14th, a presentation at the American Neurological Association’s 2013 Annual Meeting. There, ISCO will expand on its primate model research on the usage of stem cells for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
And at the end of August, the company shared the newest financial results, which shed a light on how equipped ISCO is to deal with the ambitious research task. ISCO holds:
- $654,000 cash
- $5.3 million total assets
- $2.1 million total liabilities
- $4.5 million revenues for 2012
- $9.8 million annual net loss
So far, ISCO is not quite sustainable, though it has not mounted debt. But the company is capped at a relatively low $22 million, with 132 million shares outstanding, and an authorization to issue a further 300 million. Share financing is not unusual for ISCO, as in July the company made a public offering to boost its balance sheet. ISCO then sold 20 million units consisting of one common stock and a warrant to buy one more share 15 cents. With all those promises, ISCO is seeing some negative commentary on message boards, a possibility for a short-term spike, but also a great threat for wiping out investments.
Biozone Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCBB:BZNE) was another ticker that showed unusual activity after it presented at the Forum in San Francisco. But after that, around 20 million shares were sold in a few days, with buying appearing only in the past two days, for very tentative daily gains. BZNE stands around 54 cents.
A strong climber of the past few days seems to be losing steam. Soligenix, Inc. (OTCBB:SNGX) now slid back to $2, as only a few days ago it was peaking around $2.40.
ISCO seems to be entering a new stage, and while this may benefit the stock, it is best to decide for yourself if you can afford to lose your investment in whole or in part if the good times don’t last.
