The Knight operation sits in an 1974 airstream trailer with a cinder block bail bondsman on one side and a leakin' roof pawn shop on the other. A pit bull with a diamond collar barks viciously at the end of a rusty chain. The dog keeps an wary eye on the company lookout, standing on the corner taking a drag on his last Pall Mall. The skinny man nervously squints down the street for looking for SEC investigators . . . . After all, they are headquartered in Jersey City, NJ for goodness sakes! Isn't that also where the evil Cornell Capital lurks (YAGI)?. Maybe the two share a double wide and print stock together in the basement!?!What is a market maker?
A market maker in a security is a broker-dealer that regularly and continuously holds itself out to its clients as ready, willing and able to buy or sell that security from or to its clients in amounts less than block size; (i.e., in amounts less than 10,000 shares). A market maker continuously publishes (quotes) a bid price and an ask price and must honor the quote by trading at that price when an incoming order satisfies that price. A Specialist performs a similar role when the transaction occurs on an Exchange.
A decentralized market (as opposed to an exchange market) where geographically-dispersed dealers are linked by telephones and computer screens. The market is for securities not listed on a stock or bond exchange. The Nasdaq market is an over-the-counter (OTC) market for US stocks.
What is the over-the-counter bulletin board (OTCBB)?
The OTC Bulletin Board® (OTCBB) is a regulated quotation service that displays real-time quotes, last-sale prices, and volume information in over-the-counter (OTC) equity securities. An OTC equity security generally is any equity that is not listed or traded on Nasdaq® or a national securities exchange. OTCBB securities include national, regional, and foreign equity issues, warrants, units, American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), and Direct Participation Programs (DPPs).
White? Knight? Not Quite?
Does a company as large as Knight get into court once and a while? You bet. Seems the SEC was forced to drop charges this summer against a former CEO and John Leighton, the former head of institutional sales at Knight. The federal judge said the SEC failed to prove their case. The Judge said witness testimony “undermined” the SEC’s theory of the case. (Dang witnesses!) The SEC had alleged that the CEO failed to execute customers’ stock orders at the best price and made millions of dollars in “excessive” comp from the trades. Knight 1/ Govt 0. http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/07/01/grasso-knight-equity-others-the-summer-of-vindication/
Now if we go back to 2004 we see a $79M Settlement that Knight paid to "settle charges that it defrauded its institutional investors by delaying trades and intervening in transactions to raise the price, regulators said yesterday." These were institutional trades by a former institutional sales trader. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9803E0DE1530F934A25751C1A9629C8B63&fta=y
And that's all I could find on a billion dollar business that makes deals for a living.What is your point Skunk? My point is Knight is one HUGE! market maker. Sure they are HQ in New Jersey - but they have offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and London (among others.) Although they trade a large percentage of shares of GERS - The sale of GERS stock is an insignificant amount of their revenues. They may well make a market for you, me, Mr. Kreisler, YAGI and all the various members of the Board - this is not in itself any kind of bad thing. They are the YTD #1 0r #2 market maker for all the Biofuels Digest Index listings on the OB or PK sheets. They trade nearly every domestic stock except their own. GERS stock is one of thousands that they handle. Sorry to disappoint - now off to the next conspiracy!
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Up Against the Boards:
The SkunK's unspoken policy has been to report on this stock (which includes the boards) and stay away from the boards themselves. (Nothing worse than a reporter thinking he makes the news.) Well the SkunK has occasionally strayed from that wise decision. In one recent instance the SkunK pointed out the same post by "two" people - separated by a few months. I have also come on the boards with information when people have asked and when they seemed to actually want an answer.
Having read the financial news lately it is really hard to keep a sane perspective. When responsible adults in government talk of massive recession and even the big "D" (depression) it is easy to see how nerves can get frayed. Some great banking institutions have crumbled and many jobs have been lost in the last few days and weeks. They talk of hundreds of thousands of people losing their homes. I am sure that for those close to the financial world the pain may have hit home already. For my part I will assume the recent craziness on the boards is somehow related to this Wall Street mess and hope everyone is able to bounce back quickly from any challenges they now face.
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The 18 component stocks of the Biofuels Digest Index:
Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) Andersons (ANDE) Aventine Renewable Energy (AVR) Better Biodiesel (BBDS.OB) Bluefire Ethanol (BFRE.OB) Bio Solutions Manufacturing (BSLM.OB) Environmental Power (EPG) Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE) Green Energy Resources (GRGR.PK) GreenShift (GERS.OB) Intrepid Technology & Resource (IESV.OB) MGP Ingredients (MGPI) Nova Biosource Fuels (NBF) Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) Texcom (TEXC.PK) US BioEnergy (USBE) V erasun Energy (VSE) Xethanol (XNL)
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The Chart continues to improve over the previous weeks. Forget Friday - nothing traded and the ask stood firm all day at 4.7 cents. It is true nobody bought at the higher price - but then no one is selling at the +3 cent bid either. We had 9 trading days in a row closing at 4 cents or higher. It certainly seems the huge selling is over for now and we find most trades are between 4 and 5 cents the last couple weeks. Four cents is a double over the famous 200K traded after hours and would be a great place to start firming up a low. This week will be interesting in both GERS and in the broader market. The end of the third quarter is only a few days away. . . .
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In case you missed it - here is end of last weeks blog - still pertains so put it on your GERS worry list.
1 October 2008
Does GERS have about $2.25M due at the begining of October?
"Commencing on October 1, 2008, GS COES must pay to YAGI on account of the principal amount of the Loans an amount equal to the greater of (a) $100,000 and (b) 30% of its EBITDA for the month." 2Q
Bollheimer & Associates
As a result of its acquisition of 100% of the stock of Bollheimer & Associates, Inc., the Company entered into a purchase obligation of $320,000. This amount does not bear interest and is payable in the amount of $80,000 on or before July 1, October, 2008 and January 1, 2009 with the remaining $80,000 due on or before January 1, 2011 subject to certain sales based hurdles. 2Q
Stillwater
According to the amended terms, all amounts of principal and interest not previously satisfied will be due on September 30, 2008. Annual '07
The balance due to Stillwater at June 30, 2008 was 2,071,886. 2Q p23
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EOY FORECAST**24 cents per share (18-30 cent trading range)
Long Range Forecast Feb 2010: **$3.72.
**Note: I am a shareholder - I do not work for, nor do I receive any direct or indirect payment from GERS or anyone associated with them. (But it would be Kapitalist Kool if I did) I will not intentionally mislead - but I can be wrong (ask Mrs. SkunK for specific frequencies) - so do your own due diligence - and take responsibility for your own financial decisions – (and your own life in general) good or bad. I have been rightfully accused of being a rather cheery, positive individual who laughs at every opportunity. These tendencies may cause me to overlook deficiencies in this stock that are painfully obvious to others. Celebrate today - and some good garage logic luck to ya.SkunK - (Blogger formerly know as Skunk)
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