Obie Media's stock listing downgraded.Byline: Edward Russo The Register-GuardAssets minus liabilities equal a less prestigious stock market home for Obie Media Corp. The Eugene-based outdoor advertising firm has had to move its stock listing from the Nasdaq National Market listings to the Nasdaq SmallCap Market because its shareholder equity dropped to $9 million in February. Nasdaq approved the move on Tuesday. Nasdaq, a collection of electronic stock markets owned by the National Association of Securities Dealers National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) Nonprofit organization formed under the joint sponsorship of the investment bankers' conference and the SEC to comply with the Maloney Act, which provides for the regulation of the OTC market. , requires companies to have shareholder equity of at least $10 million to stay on the main national Nasdaq board. The demotion de·mote tr.v. de·mot·ed, de·mot·ing, de·motes To reduce in grade, rank, or status. [de- + (pro)mote. to the SmallCap market means less visibility for Obie. For example, most newspapers don't carry SmallCap listings. Also, some brokerage firms do not handle trades of SmallCap listings. The Register-Guard will include Obie's stock trading in its Stocks of Regional Interest section in the stock pages. Paul Rowe Paul "Pappy" Rowe (January 25 1917 – August 28 1990) was a Canadian professional football fullback. Born in Victoria, British Columbia, he played for the Calgary Bronks (1938 to 1940) and Calgary Stampeders (1945 to 1950). , assistant branch manager of Wedbush Morgan Securities in Eugene, said moving to the SmallCap will not affect Obie's long-term investors Long-term investor A person who makes investments for a period of at least five years in order to finance his or her long-term goals. - those people or institutions that want to hold the stock for a long time. But SmallCap securities are generally overlooked by traders Traders Individuals who take positions in securities and their derivatives with the objective of making profits. Traders can make markets by trading the flow. When they do this, their objective is to earn the bid/ask spread. , or market makers, in brokerage firms, Rowe said. SmallCap firms generally aren't well known, the price of such stocks are low and they trade in small volumes. That description fits Obie, which hasn't posted a yearly profit since 2000. Wedbush Morgan, the only brokerage firm with an analyst that followed Obie, dropped its coverage last year. Obie stock closed at $1.90 a share on Thursday. On Friday, no shares traded hands. Rowe said Obie's move to the SmallCap will probably make the stock harder to buy and sell for individuals and institutional investors Institutional Investor A non-bank person or organization that trades securities in large enough share quantities or dollar amounts that they qualify for preferential treatment and lower commissions. . Obie's Chief Financial Officer Gary Livesay said shareholders still will be able to get stock price and other information from Nasdaq. The only possible effect is that there may be less interest in Obie's stock from large institutional investors, such as mutual funds, he said. Some big investors may be reluctant to buy stocks of small capitalized Capitalized Recorded in asset accounts and then depreciated or amortized, as is appropriate for expenditures for items with useful lives longer than one year. firms, Livesay said. |
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