FIRM'S ASSETS DUBIOUS : NASDAQ SUSPENDS COMPARATOR TRADE.Byline: Floyd Norris The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Under pressure from the Nasdaq Stock Market Nasdaq stock market The first electronic stock market listing over 5000 companies. The Nasdaq stock market comprises two separate markets, namely the Nasdaq National Market, which trades large, active securities and the Nasdaq Smallcap Market that trades emerging growth companies. , Comparator comparator Instrument for comparing something with a similar thing or with a standard measure, in particular to measure small displacements in mechanical devices. In astronomy, the blink comparator is used to examine photographic plates for signs of moving bodies. Systems Corp. disclosed Friday that some of its largest assets are of questionable value and added that it had not arranged the funding needed to market its latest product. Comparator, which is listed on Nasdaq's small cap market, had zoomed from 3 cents to $1.75 a share, a peak price that valued the company at more than $1 billion. It makes equipment to recognize fingerprints but has had limited sales and no profits in its 18 years of existence. Comparator's rise in price, on the volume of hundreds of millions of shares, raised suspicions of market manipulation and caught the attention of Nasdaq, which halted trading Thursday morning, with the price at 56 cents, and asked the company to clarify some issues. Trading is expected to resume Monday, a Nasdaq spokesman said. Comparator conceded in its statement that it had never corrected a press release issued a year ago saying that a cash infusion from a foreign investor was imminent, even though no such infusion was received. Comparator also said that its newest system had not been sold to anyone, although it had announced two marketing agreements. The company's latest balance sheet shows a net worth of $3.4 million, but most of that comes from assets that the company admitted Friday might be overstated. It said it was reviewing the carrying value Carrying Value Also know as "book value," it is a company's total assets minus intangible assets and liabilities, such as debt. Notes: This is different than market value, as it can be higher or lower depending on the circumstances. of patents and said it might write down an account receivable account receivable Any amount owed to a business as the result of a purchase of goods or services from it on a credit basis. Although the firm making the sale receives no written promise of payment, it enters the amount due as a current asset in its books. carried to reflect what the company is owed by a former officer who, the company says, embezzled em·bez·zle tr.v. em·bez·zled, em·bez·zling, em·bez·zles To take (money, for example) for one's own use in violation of a trust. funds. Such writedowns could threaten the company's Nasdaq listing. It is listed based on an exemption that allows stocks trading for under $1 to keep their listing if the company has a net worth of more than $2 million and a trading value of more than $1 million. |
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