Montalvo Spirits Inc. (OTCMKTS:TQLA) Jumps On Marijuana And Pumps
Montalvo Spirits Inc. (OTCMKTS:TQLA) jumped 37.50% yesterday, propelled skyward by the news that it is entering the marijuana branch, and aided by a barrage of pump e-mails.
TQLA‘s painful and lasting downfall started with an thorough pump campaign that began last August. After the peak that took it beyond one dollar, the affair quickly turned sour and managed to push the ticker off-balance for long enough for investors to actually begin doubting the company.
As a direct result of the controversy that the pumps caused, some serious due diligence was done, and consequently the company lost all support, spiraling down to the bottom of the charts. It remained there, fluctuating around $0.15 for the last four months, but now it is back again, driven to a high of $0.22 by the announcement that it is joining the cannabis industry.
TQLA‘s decision to include “hemp products in addition to medical marijuana products” to its portfolio is hardly surprising. This move seems to be popular among dubious companies in recent days – after all, it’s easy publicity that can push the ticker up the charts without much effort on the company’s part. Many companies have hopped on the marijuana train for a while, just to see how high hype can take them, if nothing else.
Some, like Minerco Resources Inc. (OTCMKTS:MINE) and Primco Management Inc. (OTCBB:PMCM) have been taken far indeed. Others, like Growlife Inc. (OTCMKTS:PHOT) have ended up on the Gray Market.
However, no matter how tempting a marijuana “MONSTER!!!” pick may seem in the unpaid pumps of promoters such as StockPreacher, PennyStockCraze and InvestorSoup investors should never forgo doing their due diligence.
And once some proper research is done, it becomes painfully obvious why TQLA stock has fallen so far in the last 52 weeks – the company’s finance can be called shaky at best. Its latest 10-Q, for the period ended Dec 31, 2013 showed the following disconcerting figures:
- Cash – $11 thousand
- Total Current Assets – $359 thousand
- Total Current Liabilities – $544 thousand
- Revenues – $16 thousand
- Net loss – $123 thousand
Whether the company will continue its ascent, keep the high it has attained once the dust settles or crash back to the bottom of the charts remains to be seen. However the fact that the company is exploiting the cannabis hype to get a better market value and is being pumped to boot certainly does not bode well.
