Just checked, it's still there...but here's an excert anyway, the last paragraph will be directly applicable to our situation:
1,200 percent gain for ADSL stock
Net stocks jump again, but tiny AvTel steals the show
By Bob Sullivan
MSNBC
Nov. 12 — Let's put this in perspective. Say last night, on a
whim, you invested $10,000 in thinly-traded AvTel
Communications Inc. at 2 1/4 a share. Tonight those shares
would be worth about $127,000, after the stock closed at
31. The reason: AvTel announced it's offering high speed
Internet access in downtown Santa Barbara.
Wall Street Watch bulletin board
Nasdaq Combined
Composite Index (COMP)
level
change
1,852.57
+1.51
Data: Microsoft Investor and S&P
Comstock
HERE'S THE STORY on AvTel, which before today rarely had
trading volume in 5 digits. The California company with annual
revenues of $34 million specializes in data and telcomunications for
small and mid-sized companies. But today, it announced the launch
of an ADSL service called DSlink. ADSL allows high-speed Internet
access over traditional phone lines.
AvTel's service is currently available only in downtown Santa
Barbara. Deployment through Goleta and Carpinteria is due by the
end of November. Todd Greene, AvTel's vice president, said the
service currently passes 12,000 homes and businesses, and he
wouldn't describe how ambitous expansion plans are or what kind
of revenue AvTel expected from its ADSL business.
He said he couldn't comment on the stock's run-up, and that
the ADSL press release announcement which apparently created all
the furor on Wall Street was really targeted at the Southern
California business wire.
“As part of the business wire, they released on national wires,”
he said.
AvTel Communications, Inc.
(AVCO)
price
change
$31.00
unch
Data: Microsoft Investor and S&P
Comstock 20 min.delay
The announcement was, well, well-received on Wall Street.
Yesterday, 1,700 shares of AvTel changed hands. Today, 3.6 million
shares changed hands as the stock shot up 28 3/4, about 20 of that
in the last half-hour of the session.
A look at AvTel trading for the day reveals an end-of-day panic
typical of a short squeeze. In the last 15 minutes of the trading day,
as short-sellers scrambled to cover their positions, the stock
rocketed from 17 to 31. |
