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Ok, here’s a better one. Mylan Labs (MYL) was going for 75 cents a share in 1976. Since then it’s split 11 times (one 5-for-4, four 2-for-1 and six 3-for-2) for a total of 227.8125 for 1. Which means that adjusted for splits, the stock was going for less than one-third of a penny per share. The stock is now going for $13.72 which is about half what it was five years ago. Still, it’s a nice 400,000% return for its low.

If $5 or under qualifies. Imclone traded around $5 a share in the 90’s.

Xerox was a penny stock .

SoftQuad Software, Ltd . (OTCBB:SXML), an internationally recognized internet software developer, had its start as a public company via a reverse merger into The American Sports Machine, Inc.

Initial trading of AMRP was at $.03125 per share and soared to a high of $50 per share or 159,900% six weeks later.

Floyd Norris replies: I looked this company up on Bloomberg, and this is how I read the history. (If I am mistaken, please let me know.)

That move to $50 was an unusual one, to say the least. According to Bloomberg, the stock closed at $4.19 on Feb. 17, 2000, and then did not trade at all until Feb. 29. In between, there was a 4-for-1 split, so the old price was adjusted to $1.05.

On Feb. 29, 1,600 shares traded. The high, as the commenter reports, was $50. The low was $7.50, and that was also the closing price.

There was no trading on March 1, but on March 2 there were 1.7 million shares traded, at prices in the $30’s. The volume and price declined thereafter.

SXML was acquired by Corel Corp. on March 19, 2002, for 0.519 shares of Corel for each SXML share. On Sept. 3, 2003, Corel itself was acquired by a venture capital firm for $1.42 per share. That values each SXML share at about 74 cents.

In other words, virtually no one who bought in the public market, after the promotion began, made any money at all. Was it a classic pump-and-dump stock? I don’t know, but it does not strike me as a penny stock success story for public investors, or as a company that met the stated criteria, of becoming a major, successful company.

Floyd, this is a foolish excercise.

1. Can you define penny stock as I am sure you are not referring to the regulatory definition relating to securities selling below $5.00.

2. Are you talking about companies that fell to penny stock levels or companies that began as a penny and moved forward? Delta, UAL, etc… were all penny stocks listed on the OTCBB markets at one time as have been many others like them.

3. Do you understand that there are more companies trading on the OTCBB and pink sheets than either the NASDAQ or the NYSE?

4. Do you know how many reverse mergers were created from penny stocks?

I guess in the end one must question what point it is you are driving home. You track singular companies like USXP and CMKX and somehow make those companies out to be the stereotypical penny stock. In reality that is far from the truth. not every company grows to be an Intel or an Amazon but many penny stock companies prosper with jobs and technology that supports our economy. It would help you to understand that simple fact.

exobox is trading at 20 cents at the moment.
it is tech company that certainly has the potential to trade in the dollars if the folks that are naked shorting it would stop.
this company has been off and on the naked short list several times.
as of today it is 16 days on the list.
that is 3 days past t+13.

The price of Intel stock was 1/64th, .01625, on Aug 30 1974

Floyd Norris replies: That is not correct, according to data I can find. But it does appear that my original blog was incorrect on the stock’s split-adjusted low. According to Factiva, the lowest split-adjusted price, of $0.0287 was reached on Sept. 17, 1974. Expressed as a fraction, that price is about 1/35. By the way, 1/64 is 0.15625.

I assume there was an earlier split that I did not find in my search.

The actual bid price that day, for the shares then trading, was $15.50, according to both Factiva and to what the New York Times printed the next day. (The asked price — the price you would have gotten had you put in an order, was $17. In those days, Nasdaq really had spreads.)

On the date you mention, the actual closing bid price was $30. Intel had a very bad couple of weeks after that, losing nearly half of its value.

The fact remains that the lowest price per share — in terms of shares actually trading — that I can find was $14.88. Intel was never a penny stock.

90’s software roll-up Shared Medical went public in a reverse merger into a penny stock, then became wildly successful, much to the dismay of its high short base, and it was ultimately acquired by McKesson. The blogger at #8 above is right about TRLG, too.

You’re right on Intel’s stock on September 17, 1974 (a Tuesday). The stock closed at $15.50 a share. However, there were a few more splits that you realized. All told, Intel split 540-for-1 which means the split-adjusted price was just 2.87 cents! Interestingly, Intel actually underperformed the market during the 1980s! Meaning there’s a difference between a great stock and a great company.

Because of the current market environment, I think that a more interesting question would be: Which stocks, traded for pennies now, that you think would become a big company in several years from now?

Lucent LU traded well under a $1 a share before recovering in price and merging.

Floyd Norris replies: Lucent was, of course, a fallen angel. It traded at almost $65 a share, before falling to a low of 55 cents. Since the merger, things have not worked out that well, either. An old Lucent share is now worth about $1.47, compared to a value of around $2.50 when the merger was completed.