Start Scientific Inc (OTCMKTS:STSC) is Still Active
Writing in all-capital letters is often utilized by message board users who want to convey strong emotions. A succession of exclamation marks can also be used to express extreme excitement or anger. A combination of these two popular internet phenomena can be observed on the boards dedicated to Start Scientific Inc (OTCMKTS:STSC), and the people displaying it are not angry. At least not yet.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen quite a lot of STSC-related activity on the internet forums and social networks. People suddenly began telling everybody that the stock is about to explode. That was (and still is) a bit strange. None of STSC‘s supporters has disclosed any compensation which means that they really must like the company they’re touting. And that’s a bit hard.
Take the latest 10-Q, for example, it covers the second quarter of this year and it lists the following figures:
- total assets: $47 (that’s forty-seven US dollars, and not a penny more)
- current liabilities: $2,259,195
- NO revenue since inception
- quarterly net loss: $69,303
As you can see, the 10-Q doesn’t really give you much confidence. What it does give you, however, is a brief summary of the company’s historical endeavors. It says that in May 2012, STSC signed an agreement to acquire an entity called Carpathian Energy. It also says that almost three and a half years later, the acquisition still hasn’t been completed.
Despite this, back in April, STSC announced that they’re going after another acquisition – the one of Quality Energy Solutions LLC. When the press release came out, Norris Harris who acted as a CEO back then said that Quality Energy is a serious company with millions of dollars of annual revenues and he promised that the deal will be closed before the beginning of May. He then failed to keep his promise.
The deadline was missed and in September Mr. Harris was replaced by a person called Jim Frazier. One of Mr. Frazier’s first jobs as a CEO was to inform the shareholders through an official SEC filing that the letter of intent with Quality Energy has been terminated.
The people with the exclamation marks and the all-capital posts, however, never got the memo. They still seem to be talking about the millions of dollars of revenues that Quality Energy is going to bring which should really give you an overall idea of how much due diligence they’ve done.
A closer look at the latest report will clear things up even further. None of the people with the bold letters and even bolder price projections will tell you that between February 10 and April 29, STSC borrowed a grand total of $194 thousand and none of them will tell you that the debt is convertible into stock at discounts that range from 40% to 45%.
Despite all the red flags outlined above, the stock is still hanging on. In fact, although it suffered a couple of heavy blows last week, it bounced back up yesterday and it’s now sitting very close to the $0.002 barrier. The volumes are quite strong as well, and if this trend continues, the note holders might soon be faced with a profit opportunity that is too hard to pass by.
