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OTC stocks more difficult to trade and deposit

  Mina Mar Group helps micro-cap companies structure their growth. Micro-capitalized companies are those with less than $50,000,000 in equity, sometimes under $1,000,000. Restructuring involves raising money (both debt and stock), and planning how they will eventually harvest that wealth. If you’re a founder or investor, the secret to harvesting your equity is to possess assets with a developed market for their sale; up until recently, that market was the public market. Now, Over-The-Counter Securities (“OTC Securities”) don’t serve that purpose since, unless you’re a tech unicorn doing an IPO, there are essentially no ways to sell the shares you’ve invested in. OTC securities – how they were deposited five years ago. Brokerages all around the country have tightened compliance over the past five years to the point where no one may deposit share certificates into their brokerage accounts, even if they can prove that they paid for them. Consider the following demand from a secondary ...

Equity

Equity Shares  They are categorized under long-term sources of finance because legally they are irredeemable in nature. For an investor, these shares are a certificate of ownership in the company by virtue of which investors are entitled to share the net profits and have a residual claim over the assets of the company in the event of liquidation. Various Prices of Equity Shares: - Par or Face Value - Issue Price - Share Premium and Share at Discount - Book Value - Market Value Types of Equity Shares: - Authorized Share Capital - Issued Share Capital - Subscribed Share Capital - Paid-up Capital - Rights Share - Bonus Share - Sweat Equity Share  Equity Share Investment Advantages: - Dividend - Capital Gain - Limited Liability - Exercise Control - Right Shares - Bonus Shares - Liquidity - Stock Split Disadvantages: - Dividend is not fixed/controllable - High Risk - Fluctuation in market price - Limited control - Residual Claim  Equity Financing refers to raising capital by g...

Ratios For Stock Picking

  1. Price to Earnings ratio The price to earnings ratio is one of the most widely used financial ratio analysis among the investors for a very long time. Price to Earning ratio= Price Per Share/Earnings Per Share  As a thumb rule, a low P/E ratio is preferred while buying a stock. 2. Price to Book value Price to book ratio (P/B) is calculated by dividing the current price of the stock by the latest quarter's book value per share. Price to Book ratio=Price per share/Book value per share A lower P/BV ratio could mean that the stock is undervalued, but again the definition of lower varies from sector to sector. 3. Debt to Equity ratio The debt-to-equity ratio measures the relationship between the amount of capital that has been borrowed (i.e. debt) and the amount of capital contributed by shareholders (i.e. equity). Debt to Equity ratio=Total Liabilities/Total Shareholder Equity As a thumb of rule, companies with a debt-to-equity ratio more than  1 are risky. 4. Return on E...

What are the benefits of being Foreign Private Issuer?

Many foreign companies wish to have access to capital market an become publicly traded company in the United States. The reason is that being part of the largest and most liquid capital market bring many benefits including prestige, visibility, ability to attract and retain top talents, etc. To become a part of capital market in the United States and experience all the benefits that it carries, foreign company may undergo reorganization of corporate governance and operations. Foreign issuer in federal securities law is defined as foreign government, foreign national or corporation incorporated by any foreign country. Any foreign issuer (except foreign government) can be considered foreign private issuer except if more than 50% of the issuers outstanding voting securities are held by residents of United States and if any of the following applies: majority of issuer’s executives and directors are residents of United States, more than 50% of issuer’s assets is located in the United S...

Derivatives - explained

Derivative is very complex complex to explain but at its most it is financial contract between two or more parties and it derives its price from an underlying asset. Basically buyer agrees to purchase the asset on a specific date at a specific price. There are numerous types of derivatives and underlying assets can be almost anything but the most common are commodities (oil, gasoline, oil), currencies, stocks, bonds, interest rates and market indexes. They can be traded on unregulated over-the-counter market where transactions happen between private parties or they can be traded on exchange where they are highly regulated and standardized. Bear in mind that OTC constitutes major portion of  derivative market and it caries great counterparty risk - possibility that one of the parties involved might default. Common derivatives are options, futures,swaps and forwards.  Options give the buyer right but not the obligation to sell or purchase underlying asset at a ce...

What is a Blank-Check company?

Blank-check company is development stage company without specific business plan or purpose or that has business plan to engage in a merger or acquisition with an unnamed company. These type of companies are bound by Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 419 to protect investors therefore they may be subjected to additional requirements if they are registering securities for public offering. Because SEC views them as penny stock  or microcap stock there is more rules and restrictions imposed upon them. For instance blank-check companies are not allowed to use Rule 504 of regulation D that exempts companies from registration of securities for offerings up to $1 million. Companies are also required to fully disclose all terms and condition of the offering. Popular type of blank-check company is special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), created to pull funds in order to finance merger or acquisition within certain time frame. It is publicly listed company that rises money...

What is a Roll-Up?

Roll -Up is a type of Merger&Acquisition strategy. It happens when smaller companies in the same market or industry sector are merged into one large entity. Reasons for consolidation include economy of scale, expanded geographical coverage, better name recognition and increase in value. Merger of smaller companies happens in fragmented industries where there is no dominant company or where is one dominant player and none of the small companies can challenge its dominance. Usually it is the private equity firm that does investment thesis, using analysis to identify target companies for an acquisition. If you as an owner want to buy more smaller companies and merge them into one entity the deal is most often done as a combination of cash and equity in exchange for ownership stake at the acquired company. Before the deal is done there are several very important questions that need to be answered. Are the target companies good match? What additional products/services/value...

Securities Act of 1934

Companies raise capital by issuing shares on the primary market which is regulated by Securities Exchange Act of 1933. The following year Securities exchange Act of 1934 was enacted by Roosevelt administration which regulates securities on the secondary market, where they are traded after original issuance. This Act created Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and gave it broad power to register, regulate and oversee securities, markets and financial professionals. SEC has disciplinary power over regulated entities and person associated with them if they engage in prohibited conducts in the market. Requirements outlined in securities Act of 1934 must be followed by all companies that are listed on stock exchange. Primary requirements include corporate reporting, proxy solicitation, tender offers, insider trading and registration of exchanges and associations. Companies that have more than $10 million is assets and more than 500 shareholders must do annual and periodic ...

Importance of Securities Act of 1933

The Securities and Exchange Act of 1933 one of the laws that govern the securities industry. It was the first major legislation regarding the sale of securities, that shifted power from states to the federal government. It is known as the "truth in securities" law which President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed as a part of the New Deal.The Act was created to protect investors after the stock market crash of 1929, biggest bear market in Wall Street 's history. The Securities Act of 1933 had two main objectives: requirement that investors receive financial and other significant information regarding securities that are being offered for public sale. prohibition of deceit, misrepresentation and other fraud in the sale of securities Securities and Exchange Commission that was created year later, in 1934 governs the Securities Act of 1933. In order to accomplish set objectives SEC requires companies to register their securities and disclose essential information...

Investing strategies

Investing strategy can be understood as set of rules that guide investor in his decisions regarding investment portfolio. Investors use strategies to balance risks and rewards in accordance with his risk tolerance investing goal and investment horizon. Taking time to understand which strategy suits you the best can also help you avoid unwanted expenses. You can look at it as existence of two extremes where on one side are investment strategies that seek rapid growth which includes greater amount or risk and on the other side is low risk strategy with regular dividends payment that is more concentrated on wealth protection. In other words there is always some kind of  trade off between risk and return on investment and most investors are not in the one of those two extremes but somewhere in between. You should honestly assess your current financial situation, your expenses and debt and how much you are able to invest. Investors using value inves...

Exchange traded funds

An exchange traded fund is an investment fund that comprises different securities and is traded on exchange much like a stock. This type of fund track stock or bond index like Standard&Poor's. Similarly like mutual funds ETFs have mixed portfolio consisting of various types of securities like stocks, bonds and commodities. Funds hold different underlying assets that are divided in shares with attached price which makes them marketable security that trades on exchange so its price can change during the trading day. Exchange  traded funds differ depending on their focus on different aspects of the market. Some funds have stock from hundreds and even thousands different industries while some other may focus on one particular industry  sector. In the same manner some are interested in exclusively on U.S. securities while others have more global approach. Some examples of ETFs are bond ETFs that include different types of bonds (government, corporate and...

Common investing mistakes

When trying to learn any skill and reach excellence, mistakes are the natural part of process. There is no way around it, but beginner investor are usually more prone to making these mistakes. Even famous and successful investor have made some of these mistakes at least once. We will look over some of the most common mistakes in hope to raise awareness among future and current investors and help them avoid repeating them. First of all, investing in business and industry that you don't know that well is not a good idea. There is always some "hot" and "up and coming" industry sector but if you don't have much knowledge about that particular industry and don't understand its business model avoid it. For example crypotocurrencies were massive hit, year and a half ago when bitcoin reached its all-time high of $19,500 and then fell to $3,000 a year later. Inexperienced investor could suffer a massive loss if he doesn't fully understand complexity ...

What is a hedge fund?

A hedge fund is an investment fund that collects pools capital from accredited and institutional investors and invest in securities or other type of investments with a goal to generate high returns. What makes them different from mutual funds besides type of investors and diversity of investments is that they are less regulated and have more freedom when utilizing  investing strategies that carry greater risk and potential for loss. Reason why it is available to wealthy investors is their knowledge and understanding of risks involved and ability to afford higher fees and potential loses. This means they can use short selling and other speculative activities unlike mutual funds. To be considered accredited investor individual must have a net worth of $1,000,000 at least or annual income of at least $200,000. Term accredited investor is defined in Rule 501 of Regulation D of Securities and Exchange Commission. Even though hedge funds are not subject to some regulation that...

What is a mutual fund?

Mutual funds is professionally managed company that collects money from many investors to purchase different types of securities such as stocks and bonds. Those combined holdings make fund's portfolio.Shareholders buy shares, parts of portfolio's value and participate proportionally in fund's gains and losses. Money managers allocate assets and try to produce gains for investors. Portfolios are managed differently in accordance with investment goals formulated in prospectus. Because funds invest in huge number of securities, its price of share is called net asset value (NAV) which is calculated by dividing total value of securities on the fund by total amount of shares outstanding. Price is settled at the end of the trading day so it doesn't fluctuate during market hours like regular stock. There is more types of mutual funds that are  classified according to the kind of securities that they invest in, investment goals and type of return they seek. Equity f...

Market value ratios

Often when you read the business section of newspaper or when you are doing research about particular company on the stock market you come across different ratios. There is so many of them so if you are not accredit investors there is a chance that zou sometimes get confused but these metric are actually helpful if zou know how to interpret them. Bascically they measure quantitive assesments commonly used for comparing and tracking performance. That is why are so widely used by analysts in assesing performance and investing recomendation and by company's mangement also. Depending on the goal of analysts he will choose from range of available data to build metric suitable for that same goal. Company's executive and project managers have differenet goals so they will use different metrics, while the first will concentrate on corporate finance the other will focus on strategec projects. Following the previous article on due diligence we will primarily focus on the positio...

Due Diligence - basics

Due diligence is defined as investigation or audit that reasonable business and person undertakes before potential investment or before entering an agreement to confirm all facts. Most investor are doing research before buying a security but due diligence can be done by a seller who investigates buyer's capability to complete the purchase. After the Securities Act of 1933 due diligence become common practice in United States when brokers and dealers became responsible for disclosing all relevant information about securities they were selling or they will otherwise be accountable and liable for prosecution. This put brokers into sensitive position where they could be unfairly prosecuted. In response creators of the Act set rule that says if broker performed due diligence when investigating companies whose securities they are going to sell and disclose that information to the public they are not held accountable. Not only prospective investors perform due diligence but also ...

What is the difference between options and warrants?

Warrants are similar to options but there are few key differences. Warrants are derivatives that give the right but not the obligation to the holder to buy or sell security before expiration date. The price at which underlying security can be bought is called strike price and should be bought before an expiration date. Like option there are call warrants that give holder the right to buy a security and pit warrants that give the right to sell security. Underlying securities are commonly equity but they can also be currencies, commodities and other financial instruments. Warrants are issued directly by the company and not the third party. Investors can write options but they can't write warrants. Finding and trading warrants is also more difficult because they usually trade on over-the-counter market and not stock exchanges. If they however trade on exchange they have a thicker of an underlying stock but with letter W attached at the end of the ticker. Warrants are dilutive...

Options - explained

In short, option gives the buyer the right but not the obligation to buy or sell an underlying asset at a set price during the life of the contract. They are considered financial derivative namely derivative is a financial instrument with a price that is based on an underlying asset. In other words price of the option derives its value from the underlying assets that can be futures, commodities, currencies, securities or indexes. Usually they are purchased through online or retail broker. We will discuss stock options where underlying asset is stock. For example option on stock ABC gives option holder the right to buy or sell ABC stock at a strike price up until expiration date. In this case underlying asset is ABC stock because the price of the option is based on the stock price. Writing an option refers to investment contract in which fee is paid for the right to buy or sell shares at a predetermined future date. The fee paid depends on several factors like current price...

What is short selling?

Simple definition of short selling  is the sale of an asset that the seller has borrowed in order to profit later from  fall in the price of the asset. In other words trader sells securities at one price and buys it back at a lower price making gain in the price difference. in this article we are referring to stock although you ca short any instrument or asset, bonds, commodities, currencies, etc. There is usually certain amount of speculation that causes traders to short sell or the need to protect oneself against loss on investment by balancing transaction. Basically there are two basic types of investors, buy-and-hold investors and  day traders. The first hold their portfolio stocks for the long term expecting to see significant rise in price over time which will result in gains. Other category of investors trade on the short term basis. Unlike investors that go long and wait for stock price to build up traders buy stock that will possibly fall in price....