Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB:LQMT) Calms Down
Last week was a tumultuous one for the manufacturer of amorphous alloys Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB:LQMT). Monday and Tuesday were uneventful and saw little movement in either direction but come Wednesday everything changed. LQMT literally exploded boasting a gain of more than 237%, closing at $0.20 on record volume of 91 million traded shares.
The surge was most likely caused by a patent application submitted by their wholly-owned subsidiary Crucible Intellectual Property, LLC. This subsidiary was specifically created after the license transaction with Apple. Inc. (NASDQ:AAPL) back in 2010. Since then rumors that LQMT may be creating the cases for the iPhone series have cropped up several times but were ultimately disproved. The reason was that creating sufficiently large amounts of liquidmetal was almost impossible and that is precisely why Apple has been using the material for the sole purpose of creating SIM eject tools.
But now with the new patent for bulk production of the alloy speculations are on the rise once again. Some believe the next iPhone will for sure feature a casing made from the robust material that is scratch and dent resistant while others have gone one step further and are projecting that the metal will be part of the rumored iWatch.
With the initial enthusiasm cooling off and investors starting to list through the company’s filings, things once again took a dramatic turn. On the very next day LQMT crashed and wiped out 40% of their value to stop at $0.13. Traders must have found the 8-K report disclosing 18 million shares being issued after a conversion of the remaining principal and interest of a Senior Convertible Note. And the people who got the shares had the perfect opportunity to sell them all last Thursday when the traded volume reached 116 million shares.
On Friday the ticker managed to recover and even rose by 8% on much lesser interest shown by the market.
Leaving speculations aside LQMT‘s financials are stable for now. They have adequate cash reserves and generate revenues but the net loss is still quite serious reaching 3.4 million. The issuance of common stock is also concerning and they were forced to increase the authorized amount to 500 million shares, up from 400 million.
The company remains a risky venture due to its volatility. It is susceptible to sudden climbs on PR news followed by sharp corrections so deciding on appropriate time horizons is paramount.
Friday also saw Xumanii, Inc. (OTCMKTS:XUII) put another 20% to their value. The company has been pumped for months by Awesome Penny Stocks, who even promised to retire if the stock doesn’t reach $1 per share. The same day TechnoConcepts, Inc. (OTCMKTS:TCPS) nearly tripled in value to close at $0.029. Apparently bearing OTCMarkets’ STOP sign for failing to file a financial report since 2007 isn’t enough of a deterrent for investors.
