Makism 3D Corp (OTCMKTS:MDDD) Back on the OTCQB, Gets a Re-Pump
Makism 3D Corp (OTCMKTS:MDDD) made a 17% jump yesterday and closed the session at $0.60 per share. It also registered a dollar volume of around $560 thousand. This means that the ticker has popped up on the radar of quite a lot of people and if you are one of them, you might think that the company is actually a relatively solid investment option.
MDDD is working in the 3D printing industry which, as you probably know, is quite hot at the moment. They announced on Monday that they have been forced to postpone the launch of their WideBoy flagship printer, but they also said that the delay was caused by the implementation of a new and exciting piece of technology which should make the devices faster and more reliable.
They also filed the 10-Q covering the forth calendar quarter of 2013 and although it’s far from perfect, it does look quite a lot better when compared to the balance sheets presented by other penny stock enterprises. Here’s a summary of the most important figures:
- cash: $149 thousand
- current assets: $152 thousand
- current liabilities: $56 thousand
- no revenue since inception
- quarterly net loss: $228 thousand
It’s clear that the cash reserves are somewhat limited and the net loss is quite substantial in light of the rest of the figures. That said, MDDD have been able to keep the debt in check and if they manage to get the WideBoy printer on the market, we might just see some more exciting figures in the future financial statements.
At first glance then, MDDD looks like a company that is trying to make a name for itself in an extremely hot industry. They still have a long way to go, but if they succeed, the shareholders might actually have something exciting on their hands.
But all this is at first glance. If you take a closer look into the company’s short history, you’ll see that it has plenty of skeletons in the closet.
MDDD became the target of one of the biggest pumps of the forth quarter of 2013.Touting started in November and at the beginning, it was primarily done through a landing page (which has been brought down) and some emails. Later, rumors about a hard mailer campaign appeared and if you spend some time searching, you’ll have no problem finding photographs and scanned versions of the glossy brochures.
The promotional budget stood at around $2.75 million and was provided by an entity called Edge Strategies LLC. As you can see from the chart at the beginning of the article, the pump drew quite a lot of attention to the stock, but on December 13, the SEC decided to put an end to the fiasco and issued a temporary suspension order on the ticker.
A Caveat Emptor badge was placed on the company profile on the OTC Markets and, a couple of weeks later, trading resumed on the Grey Market. Many people thought that the suspension would be the stock’s undoing, but they were wrong. MDDD went through some wild trading while it was on the lowest tier and a couple of weeks ago, for reasons that are not very well explained, OTC Markets decided to reinstate the ticker. The skulls and crossbones badge was removed on March 21 and on Monday, the management team announced that the stock is now traded on the OTCQB marketplace.
This is one of the very few penny stocks that have managed to come back from the graveyard that is the Grey Market which could be considered by many to be an extremely positive sign.
Before you get too excited, however, you should bear in mind that MDDD is being promoted once again. A few hours after Tuesday’s closing bell, we started receiving email alerts from Stock Freak (who have received $75 thousand) and their affiliated newsletters and although the stock seems to be reacting positively to the touting, the regulatory organs aren’t.
On April 1, just eleven days after it was removed, the Caveat Emptor badge appeared on the company profile once again and right now it looks like the threat of a second SEC suspension is looming. That’s why, treading very carefully and considering all the risks is absolutely essential.
