Stop Sign Defined: No Big Deal:
A Stop Sign Usually Means The Issuer is Simply Behind in its Quarterly and Annual Filings
When a Pink Sheet Issuer falls behind on the filing of its OTCMarkets financials and disclosures, it can be marked a stop sign (Pink No Information) on OTCMarkets.com. This also happens when a former OTCQB, or bulletin board Issuer ceases to fulfill its SEC reporting obligations. The bottom line here is that a Stop Sign is not in itself a “bad sign.”
Securities Attorneys Can Help Bring OTCMarkets Filings Current
If the only reason for the Stop Sign is that the Issuer is behind in its filing, and if those filings can be made current, then this presents an opportunity for new management. A securities attorney can call the helpful staff at OTCMarkets.com to review the history of the Issuer and find out if there is another other substantive issue that caused the Stop Sign. If not, then the matter is simple enough: the Issuer needs to subscribe to OTCMarkets’ Disclosure and News Service, and bring its filings current. The costs involved are easily quantifiable by securities lawyers like Matheau J. W. Stout, and it always makes sense to find out, even if an Issuer is not ready today to begin posting past due filings.
Issuers Marked Caveat Emptor Are Not Always Guilty of Wrongdoing
In contrast, Caveat Emptor (Skull and Crossbones) stocks are believed to have some negative element in their past history, which is significant enough for OTCMarkets.com to warn all prospective investors: Buyer Beware. In some cases, past management or promoters associated with the Issuer have become entangled in SEC problems unrelated to the Company, or are the subject of state inquiries. Sometimes there were actual violations of securities law that are connected to the Issuer itself, and sometimes there is simply a misunderstanding that can be fixed by presenting evidence to the regulatory authorities involved.
