SEC Public Reference is an Important Number

Almost all of us have invested in a company that has completed a registration for additional stock. SEC filings such as SB-2 and an S-3 are examples of registrations. In most cases, the stock that is linked to that registration has been or will be purchased at a discount to the market price of the stock.

Typically, a stock registration will be effective about 3-4 months after the registration statement was filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Unfortunately, this is just an estimate and there are many things that can affect the timeframe such as missing information on the registration statement. Additional information requests by the SEC to the issuer (the public company) and the general SEC workload could also affect the time that is takes for a registration statement to be effective.

I would make it my business to have the SEC Public Reference in my list of important numbers and here's why. Can you think of any more important information to an investor than to know when the stock that was sold at a significant discount to the market will be eligible for sale? If a stock now is $1.00 and the stock was sold at $0.40, don't you think that there will be pressure on the stock when that stock is eligible for resale? For small cap stock investors, this can be the difference between success and failure.

Here's how it works and FYI, it's free. Just go to any site on the internet that lists SEC filings. If the company that you invested in has filed an SB-2 (typical for small companies), then I would begin calling the SEC number to find out if that registration statement is effective. Effective means that it is now registered stock, the registration statement has been accepted by the SEC and most importantly, the stock is now eligible for sale. Just give the file number for that registration statement to the SEC representative and tell them that you want to know if it is effective.. If it is, watch for pressure on the stock. OK?

And the number is ……………………………… (202) 942-8090