Top Promoted Penny Stocks: ETAK, FVSTA

Yesterday, the US benchmark indexes did not move in the same direction. Yet, what was typical for the last trading session was that the sale-out impulse, which had been troubling the US markets for a whole week now, looked like it started to subside. So at present the stock markets are consolidating around the achieved levels.

Thus, the major US stock indexes finished the last trading session with a modest decline, except for Nasdaq which climbed 0.27% to 2,669.95. As far as OTC Markets are concerned, investors copied the general mood on the other markets so at the end of the day the OTCM ADR Index fell 0.04% to 1,452.74.

Today, investors are expecting a very important market data to come out, Retail Sales, which will determine whether the downward correction will continue in the short term. Another factor which will play a role on the OTC Markets, is the overall promotional activity for Tuesday Aug 13, 2013.

In this regard, online databases show that penny stock promoters have not been idle since the last closing bell, so today speculators trading with OTC Market securities will have enough promotional materials to digest before deciding on a trading strategy:

Elephant Talk Communications, Inc. (ETAK) – It is a very rare event to see a promotion on a company traded outside the OTC and Pink Sheets Markets, but today we have such occasion. The highest paid promotion is dedicated to ETAK, a small-cap company whose stock is traded on AMEX.

There have been almost two years since the last promotion of the company but today ETAK is once again featured in paid newsletters bearing the pompous headline: “Something new with big Revenue!” The campaign is led by three promoters called Stock Edge, the Stock Brainiac and Premier Equity Reports.

According to disclaimers, the promoting group had received $100 thousand directly from ETAK for market awareness services. The stock promotion of ETAK comes at a time when the company’s share price has been consolidating within a range between $0.80 and $0.90 after a sharp upward spike in mid-June.

ETAK stock has been testing the support at $0.80 for the last three trading sessions, and it seems that the company and its promoters have decided this is the ideal moment to provide some artificial support for the share value.

Thus, besides the stock promotion the company has just published an 8-K containing a presentation relating to ETAK and its recent developments.

ETAK has been posting significant quarterly net losses which was the reason why ETAK stock made such a precipitous roll down the chart between February and June this year. During this period ETAK stock value fell from $1.70 to $0.55 per share but in the last 30 days the stock rebounded suddenly and it is now trading at $0.80 per share. Thus, as of the last closing bell the company had a market cap of $94.5 million.

However, in order to maintain this market capitalization, the company will have to convince investors that it really has a vision and business strategy that will eventually prevent ETAK from hemorrhaging money at such a high pace.

Far Vista Petroleum Corp. (FVSTA) – The next big promotion for today is dedicated to FVSTA. The campaign is led by Psycho Penny Stocks, Marquee Penny Stocks, Breaking Bulls and Stock Cabin. According to disclaimers, the campaign had been ordered by a third party called RTF Inc. which had invested $25,000 in the market awareness effort on FVSTA.

Now that the FVSTA stock has been consolidating for nearly a month, stock promoters have apparently seen this technical set-up as another good chance to try pumping the stock. The last time FVSTA got promoted was nearly one month ago, on July 15, when FVSTA declined 2% on a trading volume almost 20 times higher than the monthly average.

Stock promoters will not be alone in their effort to inflate the company’s share price today, as FVSTA, on its part, issued a press release earlier today announcing that it had completed the acquisition of the outstanding shares of CJSC Chedty Neft and had also provided a complete report on current oil reserves.

FVSTA closed the last trading session 7% higher at $0.027 per share on a higher than average volume of 366 thousand, which translates into a trade value of only $9 thousand. Today, however, the trading with FVSTA stockwill likely get hotter, at least as regards share volume, after market players fully digest the current corporate press release and the message of the paid newsletters.