Not good news...
But not unexpected.
Once the dust settles it may actually become a non event. With ECN trading on the OTCBB soon, a reality will be that companies like ASTN will be as free trading as they ever were. Anyone following ASTN should have considered delisting a matter of "when" not "if". This only comes at about the appropriate time frame as was projected earlier on this thread. Based on those suppositions the actual delisting should take place December 5, 2001.
The delay for presenting the news release concerning the notification is most likely nothing sinister at all. It is not unusual for such a delivery to arrive late in the day. The notification would then require time to wend it's way through the office mail system. The companies rightful first action would be to hold a quick meeting (conference call) to finalize the company response to that notification. then the response would have to be drafted, reviewed and corrected before being sent. This process could easily have eaten up several days of last week. Lastly, I know of no rule that says the company MUST issue a PR upon receipt of a notification letter, much less that it must be released immediately. Many firms might never release a PR at all, since an expense is incurred to do so.
As for this weeks decline in the stock price...It is a well known fact that this delisting was imminent. It is also a well known fact that a dilutive financing package is in place. It is also a well known fact that this stock is down 95% from its all time high and is still moving lower. It is reasonable to presume that a significant amount of shorting and selling is taking place. To attribute any one week's trading activity to the actions of a few regular shareholders posting on this message board is pointless and without merit.
A review of the referenced chart reveals a slight rise on limited volume in the early part of the week followed by a decline on average to above average volume later in the week.
It is difficult to divine much of anything from such a pattern. One could just as easily postulate that the short interest got wind of the notification letter in Mid week and increased their shorting activities, further one could correlate this info to the strong return mid week of the message board bashing as evidence of the increase in short activity. No way of knowing how far shorters/bashers will stoop to turn a buck.
David Weed
aka the Bird of Prey
www.warp-drive.com
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