Altamira Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CYTO) stock is up 180% on the news that it has regained Nasdaq compliance. This is not to do with the CYTO stock price itself, the $1 minimum bid price. Rather, this is about the capital requirements necessary to maintain a listing. OK, so that means that Altamira will not be relegated down to the OTC, or at least not yet - fine. But the news which led to this we already knew, so the stock price reaction seems excessive.
The business line: “Altamira Therapeutics Ltd., a clinical-and commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of therapeutics that address various unmet medical needs in Switzerland, the United States, Europe, and Australia. The company develops OligoPhore/SemaPhore, a platform for delivery of oligonucleotides, such as small interfering ribonucleic acid or messenger RNA into target cells. Its commercial products include Bentrio, a drug-free nasal spray for personal protection against airborne viruses and allergens.” It’s that last part that is important here. For: “informing the Company that it has regained compliance with the minimum stockholders' equity requirement as set forth under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(b)(1) for continued listing on Nasdaq. The Company had boosted its equity position through a public offering of common shares in July, the partial amortization of convertible debt granted by FiveT Investment Management as well as, most recently, the partial spin-off of its Bentrio® activities.”
Altamira Therapeutics stock price from Google Finance
Well, OK, regaining compliance is good. But we knew all of that information already - the stock issue, the convertible amortisation and yes, we knew about the Bentrio deal too: “Altamira Therapeutics Ltd. ("Altamira") (Nasdaq: CYTO), a company dedicated to developing therapeutics that address important unmet medical needs, today announced that it has entered into a binding agreement for the sale of a 51% stake in its subsidiary Altamira Medica AG (“Medica”) to a Swiss private equity investor as part of its strategic repositioning around its RNA delivery technology. Medica’s key asset is Bentrio®, a drug-free OTC nasal spray utilized for the treatment of allergic rhinitis, which has been cleared by the FDA and is being commercialized in a growing number of countries.”
So, the 180% leap is on the basis of things that were already known before the 180% leap? This would seem to violate the principle that it is new news which moves share prices. Thing already known are already in stock prices.
We’d therefore suggest that at least some of this excitement is likely to fade away. After all, the market capitalisation here is around the $2 million mark - it doesn’t take much excited buying to move a nanocap stock price. But excitements fade, as do such stock prices.
