IMGG is a penny stock...................................
I hope this won't be considered off topic, as it pertains DIRECTLY to the penny stock IMGG.
You will note many "warnings" here, and hopefully take your experience with IMGG with you if, and when, you consider another penny stock.
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A Fortune for a Penny?
What makes penny stocks risky? Four major factors make these securities riskier than blue chip stocks.
1. Lack of Information Available to the Public
The key to any successful investment strategy is acquiring enough tangible information to make informed decisions. For micro cap stocks, information is much more difficult to find. Companies listed on the pink sheets are not required to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and are thus not as publicly scrutinized or regulated as the stocks represented on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq; furthermore, much of the information available about micro cap stocks is typically not from credible sources.
2. No Minimum Standards
Stocks on the OTCBB and pink sheets do not have to fulfill minimum standard requirements to remain on the exchange. Sometimes, this is why the stock is on one of these exchanges. Once a company can no longer maintain its position on one of the major exchanges, the company moves to one of these smaller exchanges. While the OTCBB does require companies to file timely documents with the SEC, the pink sheets have no such requirement. Minimum standards act as a safety cushion for some investors and as a benchmark for some companies.
3. Lack of History
Many of the companies considered to be micro cap stocks are either newly formed or approaching bankruptcy. These companies will generally have poor track records or none at all. As you can imagine, this lack of historical information makes it difficult to determine a stock's potential.
4. Liquidity
When stocks don't have much liquidity, two problems arise: first, there is the possibility that you won't be able to sell the stock. If there is a low level of liquidity, it may be hard to find a buyer for a particular stock, and you may be required to lower your price until it is considered attractive to another buyer. Second, low liquidity levels provide opportunities for some traders to manipulate stock prices, which is done in many different ways - the easiest is to buy large amounts of stock, hype it up and then sell it after other investors find it attractive (also known as pump and dump).
The Penny Stock Fallacy
Two common fallacies pertaining to penny stocks are that many of today's stocks were once penny stocks and that there is a positive correlation between the number of stocks a person owns and his or her returns.
Investors who have fallen into the trap of the first fallacy believe Wal-Mart, Microsoft and many other large companies were once penny stocks that have appreciated to high dollar values. Many investors make this mistake because they are looking at the "adjusted stock price", which takes into account all stock splits. By taking a look at both Microsoft and Wal-Mart, you can see that the respective prices on their first days of trading were $21 and $16.50, even though the prices adjusted for splits was about 8 cents and 1 cent, respectively. Rather than starting at a low market price, these companies actually started pretty high, continually rising until they needed to be split.
The second reason that many investors may be attracted to penny stocks is the notion that there is more room for appreciation and more opportunity to own more stock. If a stock is at 10 cents and rises by five cents, you will have made a 50% return. This, together with the with the fact that a $1,000 investment can buy 10,000 shares, convinces investors that micro cap stock are a rapid, surefire way to increase profits. Unfortunately, people tend to see only the upside of penny stocks, while forgetting about the downside. A 10 cent stock can just as easily go down by 5 cents and lose half its value. Most often, these stocks do not succeed, and there is a high probability that you will lose your entire investment.
Conclusion
Sure, some companies on the OTCBB and pink sheets might be good quality, and many OTCBB companies are working extremely hard to make their way up to the more reputable Nasdaq and NYSE. However, the flip-side is that there are many good opportunities in stocks that aren't trading for pennies.
Penny stocks aren't a lost cause, but they are very high-risk investments that aren't suitable for all investors. If you can't resist the lure of micro caps, make sure you do extensive research and understand what you are getting into.
AI
