Media Analytics Corp (OTCMKTS:MEDA) Quadruples on Rumored APS Comeback
Media Analytics Corp (OTCMKTS:MEDA) got pumped last year. The promotional budget was $3.8 million and touting was done both through email alerts and through landing pages. The excitement did support the stock for a while, but at one point in September 2013, the whole thing fell to pieces and the ticker managed to wipe out 54% of its value in a matter of a single session.
Over the following months, some paid outfits tried to lift the stock off the ground several times, but they failed miserably. It looked like MEDA will simply be left as a bitter memory and a lesson of just how dangerous promoted stocks can be for some people.
Yesterday, however, another wave of pump emails flooded investors’ inboxes and this time, the touting worked. Investors went absolutely crazy for MEDA, and they traded nearly 46 million shares while the price jumped from last week’s close of just $0.015 all the way to $0.06.
So, what’s the difference between yesterday’s pump and the ones before it?
Well, the budget is not that huge. $33 thousand was paid for the whole thing and we normally see 300% moves only from promotions whose budget stands in the seven-digits range. The outfits, however, are different from before, and it would appear that this is affecting investors’ mindset.
According to various people around message boards and social networks, Smart Stock Choices (who pocketed $18 thousand) as well as its affiliated newsletters have ties to the infamous Awesome Penny Stocks (APS). What’s more, some people have apparently set up a Twitter profile, and they now claim that they are, in fact, APS, and that “they’re back”. Rumor has it that MEDA is their new pick.
APS were, without a shadow of a doubt, the most influential promotional outfit back in their days, and we’re not too surprised by the fact that many people want to take their place at the moment. After all, it was discovered several months after APS’ demise that the owner of the newsletter, John Babikian, drove some very exotic automobiles. Then again, not many people wanted to be in his place when he found himself on the wrong end of an SEC complaint.
Nobody can say for sure whether the people who are now touting MEDA have anything to do with Awesome Penny Stocks, but there’s no getting away from the fact that the ticker is behaving like a typical APS pick.
And like all good APS picks, MEDA has its enormous red flags. The latest 10-Q, for example, tells us that on September 30 the company had:
- $300 thousand in intangible assets
- $157 thousand in current liabilities
- NO revenue since inception
- a quarterly net loss of around $55 thousand
The financial report also tells us that plenty of discounted stock has been issued in the past. Page F-7, for example, says that back on August 30, 2011, some unnamed investors paid $12,000 and in exchange, they received 24,000,000 shares of MEDA common stock.
The 24,000,000 shares were turned into 72,000,000 last month when MEDA decided to effectuate a 3-for-1 forward split. For the record, each and every one of those 72 million shares cost the unnamed investors just $0.00016.
