Stevia, Corp. (OTCMKTS:STEV) Strikes Upward Trend on Harvest News
Stevia, Corp. (OTCMKTS:STEV) at first sight seems like one of the better-functioning companies that aim to expand into the marijuana business. After all, STEV already has agricultural experience with the natural sweetener stevia. But now STEV is having another fight- to come out of the price hole after a significant correction. 
On Wednesday, STEV added another 6.7% to its stock price, reaching $0.18 on buying volumes of $516,000, a bit more robust compared to the previous days. STEV helped to achieve that with a couple of recent press releases, outlining its success in isolating cannabinoids in a lab, as well as updates on improved harvest levels.
STEV claims that its subsidiary Stevia Technew Ltd in Hong Kong managed to produce hemp extract from industrial hemp grown in China. We still don’t know how this will translate into a successful legalized cannabis business in the US, but at least the news kept investors interested. STEV also claims to have harvested more than 2,000 tons of crops in the spring of 2014, and mentioned it would supply a so far unnamed large company with stevia. So there is hope that this year may repair some of the holes in the financials of STEV:
- $85,366 cash
- $2.13 million total current assets
- $2.5 million total current liabilities
- $388,746 annual revenues
- $857,342 net loss
Based on the basic information and the promises of the company, investors’ forums remain optimistic, expecting a price run and an easy climb to 20 cents, and even further up. But the same sentiment was seen when STEV was reaching the 30-cent levels. So while STEV is indeed better compared to other MMJ newcomers, there are still enough stock fluctuations to warrant caution.
STEV could be placed in the category of Terra Tech Corp. (OTCBB:TRTC), yet another company with experience in agriculture. TRTC is back up again, vaulting the $0.51 levels after three days of growth. For many tickers, after a bleak Monday the week started to turn out days in the green, but so far the buying and growth are very tentative. TRTC is also beset by doubts on generating marijuana-related revenues, and investors note that so far, the main business is to resell produce for profit.
GreenGro Technologies, Inc. (OTCMKTS:GRNH) also survived rather well the turbulence in March and April, but now stagnated at $0.26. The company was one of the leading selections, along with TRTC, for OTC-traded marijuana stocks, standing at the top of volumes
The agricultural side of the MMJ business so far fails to excite too much enthusiasm, but if you like the longer-term prospects, make sure you can ride out the setbacks as well, while the sector finds its new direction. It is still early to say which companies would be the true winners, so plan the size and timing of your investment accordingly, as most tickers have received a generally grim prognosis for corrections.
